New Living Translation NLT
Common English Bible CEB
1 This message came to me concerning Damascus: “Look, the city of Damascus will disappear! It will become a heap of ruins.
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An oracle about Damascus. Look! Damascus is finished as a city; it will become a fallen ruin.
2 The towns of Aroer will be deserted. Flocks will graze in the streets and lie down undisturbed, with no one to chase them away.
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The villages of Aroer are abandoned forever. They will be pastures for flocks, which will lie down undisturbed.
3 The fortified towns of Israel will also be destroyed, and the royal power of Damascus will end. All that remains of Syria will share the fate of Israel’s departed glory,” declares the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
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Ephraim's security will cease, as will Damascus' rule. What's left of Aram will resemble the glory of the Israelites, says the LORD of heavenly forces.
4 “In that day Israel’s glory will grow dim; its robust body will waste away.
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On that day, Jacob's glory will dwindle; his sleek body will waste away.
5 The whole land will look like a grainfield after the harvesters have gathered the grain. It will be desolate, like the fields in the valley of Rephaim after the harvest.
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It will be as when harvesters gather grain. God will harvest armfuls at a time, like one who gathers grain in the Rephaim Valley.
6 Only a few of its people will be left, like stray olives left on a tree after the harvest. Only two or three remain in the highest branches, four or five scattered here and there on the limbs,” declares the LORD, the God of Israel.
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Only remaining bits are left, like an olive tree that has been shaken: two or three olives on the highest branch; four or five on a fruitful twig, says the LORD God of Israel.
7 Then at last the people will look to their Creator and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
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On that day, people will have regard for their maker, and their eyes will look to the holy one of Israel.
8 They will no longer look to their idols for help or worship what their own hands have made. They will never again bow down to their Asherah poles or worship at the pagan shrines they have built.
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They will have no regard for altars, the work of their hands, or look to what their fingers made: sacred poles and incense stands.
9 Their largest cities will be like a deserted forest, like the land the Hivites and Amorites abandoned when the Israelites came here so long ago. It will be utterly desolate.
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On that day, their strong cities will be like those abandoned by the Hivites and the Amorites; abandoned because of the Israelites. They will be a wasteland,
10 Why? Because you have turned from the God who can save you. You have forgotten the Rock who can hide you. So you may plant the finest grapevines and import the most expensive seedlings.
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because you forgot the God who saves you, and didn't remember the rock who shelters you. Therefore, plant your pleasant plants, and set out exotic sprouts;
11 They may sprout on the day you set them out; yes, they may blossom on the very morning you plant them, but you will never pick any grapes from them. Your only harvest will be a load of grief and unrelieved pain.
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make them grow the day you plant them, and make them bloom the morning you start them. But the harvest will disappear on a day of sickness and incurable pain.
12 Listen! The armies of many nations roar like the roaring of the sea. Hear the thunder of the mighty forces as they rush forward like thundering waves.
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Doom to the raging of many peoples; like the thundering seas they thunder. Doom to the roar of nations, like the roaring of mighty waters.
13 But though they thunder like breakers on a beach, God will silence them, and they will run away. They will flee like chaff scattered by the wind, like a tumbleweed whirling before a storm.
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Nations roar like the roaring of rushing waters. But God will rebuke them, and they will flee far away, pursued like chaff by wind in the mountains, like tumbleweeds before a storm.
14 In the evening Israel waits in terror, but by dawn its enemies are dead. This is the just reward of those who plunder us, a fitting end for those who destroy us.
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In the evening, there is terror; but before morning it is gone. This is the fate of those who loot us, the destiny of those who rob us.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible