| New King James Version | NET Bible |
| 1The burden against Damascus. “Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city, And it will be a ruinous heap. | 1Here is a message about Damascus: "Look, Damascus is no longer a city, it is a heap of ruins! |
| 2The cities of Aroer are forsaken; They will be for flocks Which lie down, and no one will make them afraid. | 2The cities of Aroer are abandoned. They will be used for herds, which will lie down there in peace. |
| 3The 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. | 3Fortified cities will disappear from Ephraim, and Damascus will lose its kingdom. The survivors in Syria will end up like the splendor of the Israelites," says the LORD who commands armies. |
| 4“In that day it shall come to pass That the glory of Jacob will wane, And the fatness of his flesh grow lean. | 4"At that time Jacob's splendor will be greatly diminished, and he will become skin and bones. |
| 5It 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 grain In the Valley of Rephaim. | 5It will be as when one gathers the grain harvest, and his hand gleans the ear of grain. It will be like one gathering the ears of grain in the Valley of Rephaim. |
| 6Yet 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. | 6There will be some left behind, like when an olive tree is beaten--two or three ripe olives remain toward the very top, four or five on its fruitful branches," says the LORD God of Israel. |
| 7In that day a man will look to his Maker, And his eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel. | 7At that time men will trust in their creator; they will depend on the Holy One of Israel. |
| 8He 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. | 8They will no longer trust in the altars their hands made, or depend on the Asherah poles and incense altars their fingers made. |
| 9In that day his strong cities will be as a forsaken bough And an uppermost branch, Which they left because of the children of Israel; And there will be desolation. | 9At that time their fortified cities will be like the abandoned summits of the Amorites, which they abandoned because of the Israelites; there will be desolation. |
| 10Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, And have not been mindful of the Rock of your stronghold, Therefore you will plant pleasant plants And set out foreign seedlings; | 10For you ignore the God who rescues you; you pay no attention to your strong protector. So this is what happens: You cultivate beautiful plants and plant exotic vines. |
| 11In the day you will make your plant to grow, And in the morning you will make your seed to flourish; But the harvest will be a heap of ruins In the day of grief and desperate sorrow. | 11The day you begin cultivating, you do what you can to make it grow; the morning you begin planting, you do what you can to make it sprout. Yet the harvest will disappear in the day of disease and incurable pain. |
| 12Woe to the multitude of many people Who make a noise like the roar of the seas, And to the rushing of nations That make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters! | 12The many nations massing together are as good as dead, those who make a commotion as loud as the roaring of the sea's waves. The people making such an uproar are as good as dead, those who make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves. |
| 13The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters; But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away, And be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, Like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. | 13Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves, when he shouts at them, they will flee to a distant land, driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills, or like dead thistles before a strong gale. |
| 14Then behold, at eventide, trouble! And before the morning, he is no more. This is the portion of those who plunder us, And the lot of those who rob us. | 14In the evening there is sudden terror; by morning they vanish. This is the fate of those who try to plunder us, the destiny of those who try to loot us! |
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