1. The burden against Damascus.“Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city,And it will be a ruinous heap.
2. The cities of Aroer are forsaken;They will be for flocksWhich lie down, and no one will make them afraid.
3. The fortress also will cease from Ephraim,The kingdom from Damascus,And the remnant of Syria;They will be as the glory of the children of Israel,”Says the Lord of hosts.
4. “In that day it shall come to passThat the glory of Jacob will wane,And the fatness of his flesh grow lean.
5. It shall be as when the harvester gathers the grain,And reaps the heads with his arm;It shall be as he who gathers heads of grainIn the Valley of Rephaim.
6. Yet gleaning grapes will be left in it,Like the shaking of an olive tree,Two or three olives at the top of the uppermost bough,Four or five in its most fruitful branches,”Says the Lord God of Israel.
7. In that day a man will look to his Maker,And his eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel.
8. He will not look to the altars,The work of his hands;He will not respect what his fingers have made,Nor the wooden images nor the incense altars.