1 T he burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

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

3 T he fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith Jehovah of hosts.

4 A nd in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall become lean.

5 A nd it shall be as when the reaper gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; yea, it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim.

6 A nd a gleaning shall be left in it, as at the shaking of an olive-tree: two, three berries above, in the tree-top; four, five in its fruitful boughs, saith Jehovah, the God of Israel.

7 I n that day shall man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have regard to the Holy One of Israel.

8 A nd he will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, nor have regard to what his fingers have made, neither the Asherahs nor the sun-images.

9 I n that day shall his strong cities be as the forsaken tract in the woodland, and the mountain-top which they forsook before the children of Israel; and there shall be desolation.

10 F or thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength; therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plantations, and shalt set them with foreign slips:

11 i n the day of thy planting wilt thou make to grow, and on the morrow wilt thou make thy seed to flourish; the harvest will flee in the day of taking possession, and the sorrow will be incurable.

12 H a! a tumult of many peoples! they make a noise as the noise of the seas;—and the rushing of nations! they rush as the rushing of mighty waters.

13 T he nations rush as the rushing of many waters; but he will rebuke them, and they shall flee far away, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a whirling before the whirlwind:

14 b ehold, at eventide, trouble; before the morning they are not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.