1The Word against Damascus. Behold, Damascus shall be taken away from among cities, and shall become a ruin;

2abandoned for ever, to be a fold and resting-place for flocks, and there shall be none to go after them.

3And she shall no longer be a strong place for Ephraim to flee to, and there shall no longer be a kingdom in Damascus, or a remnant of Syrians; for thou art no better than the children of Israel, even than their glory; thus saith the Lord of hosts.

4There shall be in that day a failure of the glory of Jacob, and the riches of his glory shall be shaken.

5And it shall be as if one should gather standing corn, and reap the grain of the ears; and it shall be as if one should gather ears in a rich valley;

6and as if there should be left stubble therein, or as it were the berries of an olive tree, two or three on the topmost bough, or as if four or five should be left on their branches; thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel.

7In that day a man shall trust in him that made him, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.

8And they shall not at all trust in their altars, nor in the works of their hands, which their fingers made; and they shall not look to the trees, nor to their abominations.

9In that day thy cities shall be deserted, as the Amorites and the Evæans deserted theirs, because of the children of Israel; and they shall be desolate.

10Because thou hast forsaken God thy Saviour, and hast not been mindful of the Lord thy helper; therefore shalt thou plant a ⁵⁴false plant, and a false seed.

11In the day wherein thou shalt plant thou shalt be deceived; but if thou sow in the morning, the seed shall spring up for a crop in the day wherein thou shalt obtain an inheritance, and as a man's father, thou shalt obtain an inheritance for thy sons.

12Woe to the multitude of many nations, as the swelling sea, so shall ye be confounded; and the ⁵⁵force of many nations shall sound like water;

13many nations like much water, as when much water rushes violently: and they shall drive him away, and pursue him afar, as the dust of chaff when men winnow before the wind, and as a storm whirling the dust of the wheel.

14Toward evening, and there shall be grief; before the morning, and he shall not be. This is the portion of them that spoiled you, and the inheritance to them that robbed you of your inheritance.