An Oracle Concerning Damascus
1An soracle concerning tDamascus.
Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city
and will become a heap of ruins.
2The cities of uAroer are deserted;
they will be for flocks,
which will lie down, and vnone will make them afraid.
3The fortress will disappear from wEphraim,
and the kingdom from wDamascus;
and the remnant of Syria will be
like xthe glory of the children of Israel,
declares the Lord of hosts.
4And in that day xthe glory of Jacob will be brought low,
and ythe fat of his flesh will grow lean.
5And it shall be zas when the reaper gathers standing grain
and his arm harvests the ears,
and as when one gleans the ears of grain
in athe Valley of Rephaim.
6bGleanings 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.
7cIn that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel. 8dHe will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the eAsherim or the altars of incense.
9fIn that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the wooded heights and the hilltops, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.
10For gyou have forgotten the God of your salvation
and have not remembered the hRock of your refuge;
therefore, though you plant pleasant plants
and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,
11though you make them grow1 on the day that you plant them,
and make them blossom in the morning that you sow,
yet the harvest will flee away2
in a day of grief and incurable pain.
12Ah, ithe 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!
13jThe nations roar like the roaring of many waters,
kbut he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
chased llike chaff on the mountains before the wind
and mwhirling dust before the storm.
14nAt 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.
The Prophesied Kingdom — Part One
Ezra 1:1 – Malachi 4:6 Sermon • Includes Transcript • 36:31 • ID: 2390The Prophesied Kingdom — Part Two
Ezra 1:1 – Malachi 4:6 Sermon • Includes Transcript • 43:38 • ID: 2391Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.