Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city
    and will become a heap of ruins.
² The cities of ^(C)Aroer are deserted;
    they will be for flocks,
    which will lie down, and ^(D)none will make them afraid.
³ The fortress will disappear from ^(E)Ephraim,
    and the kingdom from ^(F)Damascus;
and the remnant of Syria will be
    like ^(G)the glory of the children of Israel,
declares the Lord of hosts.

⁴ And in that day ^(H)the glory of Jacob will be brought low,
    and ^(I)the fat of his flesh will grow lean.
⁵ And it shall be ^(J)as when the reaper gathers standing grain
    and his arm harvests the ears,
and as when one gleans the ears of grain
    in ^(K)the Valley of Rephaim.
^6 (L)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,
declares the Lord God of Israel.

¹⁰ For ^(Q)you have forgotten the God of your salvation
    and have not remembered the ^(R)Rock of your refuge;
therefore, though you plant pleasant plants
    and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,
¹¹ though you make them grow^[a] on the day that you plant them,
    and make them blossom in the morning that you sow,
yet the harvest will flee away^[b]
    in a day of grief and incurable pain.

¹² Ah, ^(S)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!
^13 (T)The nations roar like the roaring of many waters,
    ^(U)but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
chased ^(V)like chaff on the mountains before the wind
    and ^(W)whirling dust before the storm.
^14 (X)At evening time, behold, terror!
    Before morning, they are no more!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
    and the lot of those who plunder us.

³ All you inhabitants of the world,
    you who dwell on the earth,
when ^(AD)a signal is raised on the mountains, look!
    When a trumpet is blown, hear!
⁴ For thus the Lord said to me:
“I will quietly look ^(AE)from my dwelling
    like clear heat in sunshine,
    like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
^5 (AF)For before the harvest, when the blossom is over,
    and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks,
    and the spreading branches he lops off and clears away.
^6 (AG)They shall all of them be left
    to the birds of prey of the mountains
    and to the beasts of the earth.
And the birds of prey will summer on them,
    and all the beasts of the earth will winter on them.

from a people ^(AI)tall and smooth,
    from a people feared near and far,
a nation mighty and conquering,
    whose land the rivers divide,

¹² “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
    and I find knowledge and ^(S)discretion.
^13 (T)The fear of the Lord is ^(U)hatred of evil.
^(V)Pride and arrogance and the way of evil
    and ^(W)perverted speech I hate.
¹⁴ I have ^(X)counsel and ^(Y)sound wisdom;
    I have insight; ^(Z)I have strength.
¹⁵ By me ^(AA)kings reign,
    and rulers decree what is just;
¹⁶ by me princes rule,
    and nobles, all who govern justly.^[a]
17 (AB)I love those who love me,
    and ^(AC)those who seek me diligently find me.
^18 (AD)Riches and honor are with me,
    ^(AE)enduring wealth and ^(AF)righteousness.
¹⁹ My fruit is ^(AG)better than ^(AH)gold, even fine gold,
    and my yield than ^(AI)choice silver.
²⁰ I walk in the way of righteousness,
    in the paths of justice,
²¹ granting an inheritance to those who love me,
    and filling their treasuries.

^22 (AJ)“The Lord ^(AK)possessed^[b] me at the beginning of his work,^[c]
    the first of his acts ^(AL)of old.
²³ Ages ago I was ^(AM)set up,
    at the first, ^(AN)before the beginning of the earth.
²⁴ When there were no ^(AO)depths I was ^(AP)brought forth,
    when there were no springs abounding with water.
²⁵ Before the mountains ^(AQ)had been shaped,
    ^(AR)before the hills, I was brought forth,
²⁶ before he had made the earth with its fields,
    or the first of the dust of the world.
²⁷ When he ^(AS)established the heavens, I was there;
    when he drew ^(AT)a circle on the face of the deep,
²⁸ when he ^(AU)made firm the skies above,
    when he established^[d] the fountains of the deep,
²⁹ when he ^(AV)assigned to the sea its ^(AW)limit,
    so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out ^(AX)the foundations of the earth,
³⁰     then ^(AY)I was beside him, like a master workman,
and I was daily his^{[e] (AZ)}delight,
    rejoicing before him always,
^31 (BA)rejoicing in his ^(BB)inhabited world
    and delighting in the children of man.

³² “And now, ^(BC)O sons, listen to me:
    ^(BD)blessed are those who keep my ways.
^33 (BE)Hear instruction and be wise,
    and do not neglect it.
^34 (BF)Blessed is the one who listens to me,
    watching daily at my gates,
    waiting beside my doors.
³⁵ For ^(BG)whoever finds me ^(BH)finds life
    and ^(BI)obtains favor from the Lord,
³⁶ but he who fails to find me ^(BJ)injures himself;
    all who ^(BK)hate me ^(BL)love death.”