Isaiah 17-18

New International Version

“See, Damascus will no longer be a city
    but will become a heap of ruins.^(C)
2 The cities of Aroer^(D) will be deserted
    and left to flocks,^(E) which will lie down,^(F)
    with no one to make them afraid.^(G)
3 The fortified^(H) city will disappear from Ephraim,
    and royal power from Damascus;
the remnant of Aram will be
    like the glory^(I) of the Israelites,”^(J)
declares the Lord Almighty.

⁴ “In that day^(K) the glory^(L) of Jacob will fade;
    the fat of his body will waste^(M) away.
⁵ It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain,
    gathering^(N) the grain in their arms—
as when someone gleans heads of grain^(O)
    in the Valley of Rephaim.^(P)
6 Yet some gleanings will remain,^(Q)
    as when an olive tree is beaten,^(R)
leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches,
    four or five on the fruitful boughs,”
declares the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁷ In that day^(S) people will look^(T) to their Maker^(U)
    and turn their eyes to the Holy One^(V) of Israel.
⁸ They will not look to the altars,^(W)
    the work of their hands,^(X)
and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles^[a](Y)
    and the incense altars their fingers^(Z) have made.

¹⁰ You have forgotten^(AB) God your Savior;^(AC)
    you have not remembered the Rock,^(AD) your fortress.^(AE)
Therefore, though you set out the finest plants
    and plant imported vines,^(AF)
11 though on the day you set them out, you make them grow,
    and on the morning^(AG) when you plant them, you bring them to bud,
yet the harvest^(AH) will be as nothing^(AI)
    in the day of disease and incurable^(AJ) pain.^(AK)

¹² Woe to the many nations that rage^(AL)—
    they rage like the raging sea!^(AM)
Woe to the peoples who roar^(AN)—
    they roar like the roaring of great waters!^(AO)
13 Although the peoples roar^(AP) like the roar of surging waters,
    when he rebukes^(AQ) them they flee^(AR) far away,
driven before the wind like chaff^(AS) on the hills,
    like tumbleweed before a gale.^(AT)
14 In the evening, sudden^(AU) terror!^(AV)
    Before the morning, they are gone!^(AW)
This is the portion of those who loot us,
    the lot of those who plunder us.

Go, swift messengers,
to a people tall and smooth-skinned,^(BB)
    to a people feared far and wide,
an aggressive^(BC) nation of strange speech,
    whose land is divided by rivers.^(BD)

³ All you people of the world,^(BE)
    you who live on the earth,
when a banner^(BF) is raised on the mountains,
    you will see it,
and when a trumpet^(BG) sounds,
    you will hear it.
⁴ This is what the Lord says to me:
    “I will remain quiet^(BH) and will look on from my dwelling place,^(BI)
like shimmering heat in the sunshine,^(BJ)
    like a cloud of dew^(BK) in the heat of harvest.”
⁵ For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone
    and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he will cut off^(BL) the shoots with pruning knives,
    and cut down and take away the spreading branches.^(BM)
6 They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey^(BN)
    and to the wild animals;^(BO)
the birds will feed on them all summer,
    the wild animals all winter.

from a people tall and smooth-skinned,^(BQ)
    from a people feared^(BR) far and wide,
an aggressive nation of strange speech,
    whose land is divided by rivers^(BS)—