| King James Bible | New International Version |
| 1The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. | 1A prophecy against Damascus: "See, Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins. |
| 2The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid. | 2The cities of Aroer will be deserted and left to flocks, which will lie down, with no one to make them afraid. |
| 3The 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 the LORD of hosts. | 3The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, and royal power from Damascus; the remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the Israelites," declares the LORD Almighty. |
| 4And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean. | 4"In that day the glory of Jacob will fade; the fat of his body will waste away. |
| 5And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim. | 5It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain, gathering the grain in their arms-- as when someone gleans heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim. |
| 6Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the LORD God of Israel. | 6Yet some gleanings will remain, as when an olive tree is beaten, leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches, four or five on the fruitful boughs," declares the LORD, the God of Israel. |
| 7At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. | 7In that day people will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel. |
| 8And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images. | 8They will not look to the altars, the work of their hands, and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles and the incense altars their fingers have made. |
| 9In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation. | 9In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth. And all will be desolation. |
| 10Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips: | 10You have forgotten God your Savior; you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress. Therefore, though you set out the finest plants and plant imported vines, |
| 11In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow. | 11though on the day you set them out, you make them grow, and on the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud, yet the harvest will be as nothing in the day of disease and incurable pain. |
| 12Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters! | 12Woe to the many nations that rage-- they rage like the raging sea! Woe to the peoples who roar-- they roar like the roaring of great waters! |
| 13The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. | 13Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters, when he rebukes them they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweed before a gale. |
| 14And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us. | 14In the evening, sudden terror! Before the morning, they are gone! This is the portion of those who loot us, the lot of those who plunder us. |
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