¶ The burden¹ of Damascus². Behold, Damascus is³ taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous⁴ heap.

The cities of Aroer⁵ are forsaken: they shall⁶ be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none⁷ shall make them afraid.

The fortress⁸ also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall⁹ be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the LORD of hosts.

And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory¹⁰ of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness¹¹ of his flesh shall wax lean.

And it shall be as when¹² the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley¹³ of Rephaim.

¶¹⁵Yet 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.

¹⁶At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.

And he shall¹⁷ not look to the altars, the work¹⁸ of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images¹⁹.

¶²⁰In 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.

¶ Because thou hast²¹ forgotten the God²² of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock²³ of thy strength, therefore shalt thou²⁴ plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips:

In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest²⁵ shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow²⁶.

¶ Woe to the multitude²⁷ of many people, which make a noise²⁸ like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty²⁹ waters!

The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but³⁰ God shall rebuke³¹ them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be³² chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing³³ before the whirlwind.

And behold at eveningtide³⁴ trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion³⁵ of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.