Study Desk

The ^[a](a)oracle concerning ^(b)Damascus. "Behold, Damascus is about to be ^(c)removed from being a city And will become a ^(d)fallen ruin.

"The cities ^[b]of ^(e)Aroer are forsaken; They will be for ^(f)flocks ^[c]to lie down in, And there will be ^(g)no one to frighten them.

"The ^[d](h)fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, And ^[e]sovereignty from Damascus And the remnant of Aram; They will be like the ⁽ⁱ⁾glory of the sons of Israel," Declares the Lord of hosts.

Now in that day the ^(j)glory of Jacob will ^[f]fade, And ^(k)the fatness of his flesh will become lean.

It will be ^(l)even like the ^[g]reaper gathering the standing grain, As his arm harvests the ears, Or it will be like one gleaning ears of grain In the ^(m)valley of Rephaim.

Yet ⁽ⁿ⁾gleanings will be left in it like the ^[h]shaking of an olive tree, Two or three olives on the topmost bough, Four or five on the branches of a fruitful tree, Declares the Lord , the God of Israel.

In that day man will ^(o)have regard for his Maker And his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel.

He will not have regard for the ^(p)altars, the work of his hands, Nor will he look to that which his ^(q)fingers have made, Even the ^[i](r)Asherim and ^[j]incense stands.

In that day ^[k]their strong cities will be like ^[l]forsaken places in the forest, Or like ^[m]branches which they abandoned before the sons of Israel; And ^[n]the land will be a desolation.

For ^(s)you have forgotten the ^(t)God of your salvation And have not remembered the ^(u)rock of your refuge. Therefore you plant delightful plants And set them with vine slips of a strange god.

In the day that you plant it you carefully fence it in, And in the ^(v)morning you bring your seed to blossom; But the harvest will ^(w)be a heap In a day of sickliness and incurable pain.

Alas, the uproar of many peoples ^(x)Who roar like the roaring of the seas, And the rumbling of nations Who rush on like the ^(y)rumbling of mighty waters!

The ^(z)nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters, But He will ^(aa)rebuke them and they will flee far away, And be chased ^(ab)like chaff in the mountains before the wind, Or like whirling dust before a gale.

At evening time, behold, there is terror! Before morning ^(ac)they are no more. ^[o]Such will be the portion of those who plunder us And the lot of those who pillage us.