1 T he mournful, inspired prediction (a burden to be lifted up) concerning Damascus. Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city and will become a heap of ruins.

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

2 T he cities of Aroer are forsaken; they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

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

3 H is bulwark and the fortress shall disappear from Ephraim, 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.

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 A nd in that day the former glory of Jacob shall be enfeebled, and the fat of his flesh shall become lean.

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 A nd it shall be as when the reaper gathers the standing grain and his arm harvests the ears; yes, it shall be as when one gathers the ears of grain in the fertile Valley of Rephaim.

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 Y et gleanings shall be left in it, as after the beating of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outermost branches of the fruitful tree, says the Lord, the God of Israel.

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 I n that day will men look to their Maker, and their eyes shall regard the Holy One of Israel.

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

8 A nd they will not look to the altars, the work of their hands, neither will they have respect for what their fingers have made—either the Asherim or the sun-images.

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 I n that day will their strong cities be like the forsaken places in the wood and on the mountaintop, as they '> Amorites and the Hivites] forsook their because of the children of Israel; and there will be desolation.

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 B ecause you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not been mindful of the Rock of your strength, your Stronghold—therefore, you have planted pleasant nursery grounds and plantings, and have set with vine slips of a strange,

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 A nd in the day of your planting you hedge it in, and in the morning you make your seed to blossom, yet the harvest shall be a heap of ruins and flee away in the day of expected possession and of desperate sorrow and sickening, incurable pain.

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

12 H ark, the uproar of a multitude of peoples! They roar and thunder like the noise of the seas! Ah, the roar of nations! They roar like the roaring of rushing and mighty waters!

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

13 T he nations will rush and roar like the rushing and roaring of many waters—but will rebuke them, and they will flee far off and will be chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind, and like rolling thistledown or whirling dust of the stubble before the storm.

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 A t evening time, behold, terror! And before the morning, they are not. This is the portion of those who strip us of what belongs to us, and the lot of those who rob us.

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