New International Reader s Version - NIrV - 1996
Isaiah 17
1
Here is a message the Lord gave me about Damascus. He said, "Damascus will not be a city anymore. Instead, all of its buildings will be knocked down.
Reference
2
The cities of Aroer will be deserted. They will be left to the flocks that lie down there. No one will make them afraid.
Reference
3
Ephraim's people will no longer have cities with high walls around them. Royal power will disappear from Damascus. Those who are left alive in Aram will be like the glory of the people of Israel," announces the Lord who rules over all.
Reference
4
"In days to come, the glory of Jacob's people will fade. Their strength will get weaker and weaker.
Reference
Glory
Isaiah 10:16
5
It will be as when a worker cuts and gathers grain in the Valley of Rephaim. He gathers up stalks with his arms. Only a few heads of grain are left.
Reference
6
In the same way, only a few people will be left alive. It will be as when workers knock olives off the trees. Only two or three olives are left on the highest branches. Four or five at most are left on the limbs that produce fruit," announces the Lord, the God of Israel.
Reference
Kingdom
Isaiah 24:13
Parallel theme
Judges 8:2
Obadiah 1:5
References Israel
Romans 9:27
References Lord
Deuteronomy 4:27
7
In days to come, men will look to their Maker for help. They will turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
Reference
8
They won't trust in the altars they made with their own hands. They won't pay any attention to the poles they used to worship the goddess Asherah. And they won't depend on the incense altars they made with their own fingers.
Reference
9
At that time the strong cities in Israel will be deserted. They will be as they were when the Israelites drove the Canaanites out of them. They will be like places that are taken over by bushes and weeds. The whole land will become dry and empty.
Reference
Parallel theme
Isaiah 27:10
10
Israel, you have forgotten God, who saves you. You have not remembered the Rock, who keeps you safe. You might set out the finest plants. You might plant vines from other lands.
Reference
Parallel theme
Isaiah 26:4
Jeremiah 2:32
Isaiah 51:13
Psalm 106:13
Jeremiah 17:13
References God
Deuteronomy 32:18
Deuteronomy 32:4
Salvation
Psalm 106:21
Isaiah 12:2
Psalm 85:4
11
The plants might start to grow on the day you set them out. The vines might begin to bud on the morning you plant them. But even if they do, there won't be any harvest. Instead, there will be sickness and pain that won't go away.
Reference
12
How terrible it looks for us! Many nations are marching against us. The noise of their armies is like the sound of the ocean. They are making a lot of noise. It sounds like huge waves crashing on the shore.
Reference
13
It sounds like the roar of rushing waters. But when the Lord speaks out against them, they run far away. The wind blows them away like straw on the hills. A strong wind drives them along like tumbleweeds.
Reference
14
In the evening, the nations terrify us. But before morning comes, they are gone. That's what happens to those who steal our goods. That's what happens to those who take what belongs to us.
Reference
Parallel theme
2 Kings 19:35
Summary of Isaiah 17
Isaiah 17 announces judgment against Damascus and the northern kingdom of Israel, showing how closely their political fortunes had become connected.
Damascus was the capital of Aram-Syria, while Ephraim represented the northern kingdom of Israel.
The two had formed an alliance against Judah during the Syro-Ephraimite crisis of the 730s BC, but Isaiah declares that their combined strength will not save them.
Damascus will become a ruin, while the strength and glory of Ephraim will fade.
Isaiah repeatedly uses agricultural images to explain the coming reduction.
Israel will be like a harvested field with only a few grains remaining and like an olive tree from which most of the fruit has been removed.
These images communicate both judgment and remnant: the nation will suffer greatly, but a small number will remain.
The deeper problem, however, is spiritual.
Israel has forgotten God, the One who created and protected them.
Instead of trusting Him, the people have depended upon military alliances, fortified cities, religious objects, and their own efforts.
Isaiah therefore explains that the coming disaster is not simply a political event but also a spiritual warning.
After their human sources of security collapse, the survivors will look again to their Creator.
The chapter then expands the picture to the surrounding nations, comparing their military movements to roaring seas and powerful waters.
Although these nations appear overwhelming, God can silence them instantly.
The final image is particularly powerful: terror comes in the evening, but by morning the enemy is gone.
The chapter's central message is that political alliances, military strength, fortified cities, prosperity, and human-made religion cannot provide lasting security when people have forgotten God; nations may appear as powerful as a raging sea, but before God's authority their strength can disappear as quickly as chaff carried away by the wind.
Damascus was the capital of Aram-Syria, while Ephraim represented the northern kingdom of Israel.
The two had formed an alliance against Judah during the Syro-Ephraimite crisis of the 730s BC, but Isaiah declares that their combined strength will not save them.
Damascus will become a ruin, while the strength and glory of Ephraim will fade.
Isaiah repeatedly uses agricultural images to explain the coming reduction.
Israel will be like a harvested field with only a few grains remaining and like an olive tree from which most of the fruit has been removed.
These images communicate both judgment and remnant: the nation will suffer greatly, but a small number will remain.
The deeper problem, however, is spiritual.
Israel has forgotten God, the One who created and protected them.
Instead of trusting Him, the people have depended upon military alliances, fortified cities, religious objects, and their own efforts.
Isaiah therefore explains that the coming disaster is not simply a political event but also a spiritual warning.
After their human sources of security collapse, the survivors will look again to their Creator.
The chapter then expands the picture to the surrounding nations, comparing their military movements to roaring seas and powerful waters.
Although these nations appear overwhelming, God can silence them instantly.
The final image is particularly powerful: terror comes in the evening, but by morning the enemy is gone.
The chapter's central message is that political alliances, military strength, fortified cities, prosperity, and human-made religion cannot provide lasting security when people have forgotten God; nations may appear as powerful as a raging sea, but before God's authority their strength can disappear as quickly as chaff carried away by the wind.