Isaiah 17:9-14

9 In that day the cities of his strength shall be as the gleanings which remain on the shoots and on the branches, which were left of the sons of Israel; and there shall be desolation.

10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy saving health and hast not been mindful of the Rock of thy strength; therefore thou shalt plant pleasant plants and set it with strange slips:

11 In the day that thou shalt plant them, thou shalt make them to grow and shalt make thy seed to flourish early; but in the day of gathering, the harvest shall flee and shall be desperate sorrow.

12 Woe to the multitude of many peoples, which shall make a noise like the noise of the sea; and the rushing of nations, that make an uprising like the rushing of mighty waters!

13 The peoples shall make noise like the rushing of great waters, but God shall reprehend them, and they shall flee far off and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind and like the tumbleweed before the whirlwind.

14 And behold at eveningtide trouble, and before the morning she is not. This is the portion of them that tread on us and the lot of them that spoil us.

Isaiah 17:9-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 17

This chapter contains a prophecy of the ruin of Syria and Israel, the ten tribes; who were in alliance; and also of the overthrow of the Assyrian army, that should come against Judah. The destruction of Damascus, the metropolis of Syria, and of other cities, is threatened, Isa 17:1,2 yea, of the whole kingdom of Syria, together with Ephraim or the ten tribes, and Samaria the head of them, Isa 17:3 whose destruction is expressed by various similes, as by thinness and leanness, and by the reaping and gathering of corn, Isa 17:4,5 and yet a remnant should be preserved, compared to gleaning gapes, and a few berries on an olive tree, who should look to the Lord, and not to idols, Isa 17:6-8 and the reason of the desolation of their cities, and of their fields and vineyards, was their forgetfulness of the Lord, Isa 17:9-11 and the chapter is closed with a prophecy of the defeat of the Assyrian army, who are compared for their multitude and noise to the seas, and to mighty waters, and the noise and rushing of them, Isa 17:12 and yet should be, at the rebuke of God, as chaff, or any small light thing, before a blustering wind, Isa 17:13 and who, in the evening, would be a trouble to the Jews, and be dead before morning; which was to be the portion of the spoilers and plunderers of the Lord's people, Isa 17:14.