Revised Standard Version RSV
GOD'S WORD Translation GW
1 An oracle concerning Damascus. Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city, and will become a heap of ruins.
1
This is the divine revelation about Damascus. "Damascus will no longer be a city. It will become a pile of rubble.
2 Her cities will be deserted for ever; they will be for flocks, which will lie down, and none will make them afraid.
2
The cities of Aroer will be deserted. These cities will be used for sheep, which will lie down in them. There will be no one to disturb those sheep.
3 The fortress will disappear from E'phraim, and the kingdom from Damascus; and the remnant of Syria will be like the glory of the children of Israel, says the LORD of hosts.
3
Fortified cities will disappear from Ephraim, and the kingdom will disappear from Damascus. The remaining few from Aram will share Israel's honor," declares the LORD of Armies.
4 And in that day the glory of Jacob will be brought low, and the fat of his flesh will grow lean.
4
"When that day comes, the honor of Jacob's people will fade away, and they will become skin and bones.
5 And it shall be as when the reaper gathers standing grain and his arm harvests the ears, and as when one gleans the ears of grain in the Valley of Reph'aim.
5
That time will be like harvesting bundles of grain by the armful. It will be like gathering grain in the Rephaim Valley.
6 Gleanings will be left in it, as when an olive tree is beaten--two or three berries in the top of the highest bough, four or five on the branches of a fruit tree, says the LORD God of Israel.
6
Only a few people will survive. They will be like an olive tree that has been beaten. Only two or three olives are left at the top of the highest branch, four or five olives on the rest of the branches," declares the LORD God of Israel.
7 In that day men will regard their Maker, and their eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel;
7
When that day comes, they will look to their maker, and their eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel.
8 they will not have regard for the altars, the work of their hands, and they will not look to what their own fingers have made, either the Ashe'rim or the altars of incense.
8
They won't look to the altars made by their hands or to the Asherah poles or incense altars which their fingers molded.
9 In that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the Hivites and the Amorites, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.
9
When that day comes, the fortified cities which other people abandoned because of the Israelites will be like abandoned woods and undergrowth. So it will become a wasteland.
10 For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge; therefore, though you plant pleasant plants and set out slips of an alien god,
10
You have forgotten the God of your salvation. You haven't remembered the rock, your stronghold. Instead, you have planted the best plants and have set out the imported grapevines.
11 though you make them grow on the day that you plant them, and make them blossom in the morning that you sow; yet the harvest will flee away in a day of grief and incurable pain.
11
On the day you plant, you will make it grow. On the morning you set out the seedling, you will make it sprout. But the harvest will become a [rotting] pile on a day of grief and incurable pain.
12 Ah, the thunder of many peoples, they thunder like the thundering of the sea! Ah, the roar of nations, they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!
12
How horrible it will be for many people! They will roar like the roaring sea. The noise that the people make will be like the noise from rushing water.
13 The nations roar like the roaring of many waters, but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away, chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind and whirling dust before the storm.
13
The people will make noise like raging water. But the LORD will yell at them, and they will run far away. They will be chased away like husks on the mountains being blown by the wind, like whirling dust being blown by a storm.
14 At evening time, behold, terror! Before morning, they are no more! This is the portion of those who despoil us, and the lot of those who plunder us.
14
In the evening there will be sudden terror. Before morning they will be gone. This will be the fate of those who looted us, the destiny of those who robbed us.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved. Used by permission.