17 The burden of Damascus. Lo, Damascus is taken away from [being] a city, And it hath been a heap -- a ruin.

² Forsaken are the cities of Aroer, For droves they are, and they have lain down, And there is none troubling.

³ And ceased hath the fortress from Ephraim, And the kingdom from Damascus, And the remnant of Aram are as the honour of the sons of Israel, The affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts!

⁴ And it hath come to pass, in that day, Wax poor doth the honour of Jacob, And the fatness of his flesh doth wax lean.

⁵ And it hath come to pass, As the gathering by the reaper of the standing corn, And his arm the ears reapeth, And it hath come to pass, As the gathering of the ears in the valley of Rephaim,

⁶ And left in him have been gleanings, As the compassing of an olive, Two -- three berries on the top of a branch, Four -- five on the fruitful boughs, The affirmation of Jehovah, God of Israel!

⁷ In that day doth man look to His Maker, Yea, his eyes to the Holy One of Israel look,

⁸ And he looketh not unto the altars. The work of his own hands, And that which his own fingers made He seeth not -- the shrines and the images.

⁹ In that day are the cities of his strength As the forsaken thing of the forest, And the branch that they have left, Because of the sons of Israel, It also hath been a desolation.

¹⁰ Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, And the rock of thy strength hast not remembered, Therefore thou plantest plants of pleasantness, And with a strange slip sowest it,

¹¹ In the day thy plant thou causest to become great, And in the morning thy seed makest to flourish, A heap [is] the harvest in a day of overflowing, And of mortal pain.

¹² Wo [to] the multitude of many peoples, As the sounding of seas they sound; And [to] the wasting of nations, As the wasting of mighty waters they are wasted.

¹³ Nations as the wasting of many waters are wasted, And He hath pushed against it, And it hath fled afar off, And been pursued as chaff of hills before wind, And as a rolling thing before a hurricane.

¹⁴ At even-time, lo, terror, before morning it is not, This [is] the portion of our spoilers, And the lot of our plunderers!

18 Ho, land shadowed [with] wings, That [is] beyond the rivers of Cush,

² That is sending by sea ambassadors, Even with implements of reed on the face of the waters, -- Go, ye light messengers, Unto a nation drawn out and peeled, Unto a people fearful from its beginning and onwards, A nation meeting out by line, and treading down, Whose land floods have spoiled.

³ All ye inhabitants of the world, And ye dwellers of earth, At the lifting up of an ensign on hills ye look, And at the blowing of a trumpet ye hear.

⁴ For thus said Jehovah unto me, `I rest, and I look on My settled place, As a clear heat on an herb. As a thick cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

⁵ For before harvest, when the flower is perfect, And the blossom is producing unripe fruit, Then hath [one] cut the sprigs with pruning hooks, And the branches he hath turned aside, cut down.

⁶ They are left together to the ravenous fowl of the mountains, And to the beast of the earth, And summered on them hath the ravenous fowl, And every beast of the earth wintereth on them.

⁷ At that time brought is a present to Jehovah of Hosts, A nation drawn out and peeled. Even of a people fearful from the beginning hitherto, A nation meting out by line, and treading down, Whose land floods have spoiled, Unto the place of the name of Jehovah of Hosts -- mount Zion!'

2 Having put aside, then, all evil, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envyings, and all evil speakings,

² as new-born babes the word's pure milk desire ye, that in it ye may grow,

³ if so be ye did taste that the Lord [is] gracious,

⁴ to whom coming -- a living stone -- by men, indeed, having been disapproved of, but with God choice, precious,

⁵ and ye yourselves, as living stones, are built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

⁶ Wherefore, also, it is contained in the Writing: `Lo, I lay in Zion a chief corner-stone, choice, precious, and he who is believing on him may not be put to shame;'

⁷ to you, then, who are believing [is] the preciousness; and to the unbelieving, a stone that the builders disapproved of, this one did become for the head of a corner,

⁸ and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence -- who are stumbling at the word, being unbelieving, -- to which also they were set;

⁹ and ye [are] a choice race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired, that the excellences ye may shew forth of Him who out of darkness did call you to His wondrous light;

¹⁰ who [were] once not a people, and [are] now the people of God; who had not found kindness, and now have found kindness.

¹¹ Beloved, I call upon [you], as strangers and sojourners, to keep from the fleshly desires, that war against the soul,

¹² having your behaviour among the nations right, that in that which they speak against you as evil-doers, of the good works having beheld, they may glorify God in a day of inspection.

¹³ Be subject, then, to every human creation, because of the Lord, whether to a king, as the highest,

¹⁴ whether to governors, as to those sent through him, for punishment, indeed, of evil-doers, and a praise of those doing good;

¹⁵ because, so is the will of God, doing good, to put to silence the ignorance of the foolish men;

¹⁶ as free, and not having the freedom as the cloak of the evil, but as servants of God;

¹⁷ to all give ye honour; the brotherhood love ye; God fear ye; the king honour ye.

¹⁸ The domestics! be subjecting yourselves in all fear to the masters, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the cross;

¹⁹ for this [is] gracious, if because of conscience toward God any one doth endure sorrows, suffering unrighteously;

²⁰ for what renown [is it], if sinning and being buffeted, ye do endure [it]? but if, doing good and suffering [for it], ye do endure, this [is] gracious with God,

²¹ for to this ye were called, because Christ also did suffer for you, leaving to you an example, that ye may follow his steps,

²² who did not commit sin, nor was guile found in his mouth,

²³ who being reviled -- was not reviling again, suffering -- was not threatening, and was committing himself to Him who is judging righteously,

²⁴ who our sins himself did bear in his body, upon the tree, that to the sins having died, to the righteousness we may live; by whose stripes ye were healed,

²⁵ for ye were as sheep going astray, but ye turned back now to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.