Isaías 17

¹ The{{See Isa_13:1}}burden ofThe chief city of Syria.Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from [being] a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

² The cities ofIt was a country of Syria by the river Arnon.Aroer [are] forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make [them] afraid.

³ The fortress also shall cease fromIt seems that the prophet would comfort the Church in declaring the destruction of these two kings of Syria and Israel, when as they had conspired the overthrow of Judah.Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as theThe ten tribes gloried in their multitude and alliance with other nations: therefore he says that they will be brought down and the Syrians also.glory of the children of Israel, saith the LORD of hosts.

⁴ And in that day it shall come to pass, [that] the glory ofMeaning, of the ten tribes who boasted themselves of their nobility, prosperity, strength and multitude.Jacob shall be diminished, and the fatness of his flesh shall become lean.

⁵ And it shall be as when the reaper gatherethAs the abundance of corn does not fear the harvest men that would cut it down: no more will the multitude of Israel make the enemies shrink, whom God will appoint to destroy them.the grain, and reapeth the heads with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth heads in the valley ofA valley which was plentiful and fertile.Rephaim.

⁶ Yet gleaning grapes shallBecause God would have his covenant stable, he promises to reserve some of this people, and to bring them to repentance.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 of it, saith the LORD God of Israel.

⁷ At that day shall a man look to hisHe shows that God's corrections always bring fruit, and cause his to turn from their sins and to humble themselves to him.Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.

⁸ And hee shall not looke to the altars, the workes of his owne hands, neither shall he looke to those thinges, which his owne fingers haue made, as groues and images.

⁹ In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, whichAs the Canaanites left their cities when God placed the Israelites there, so the cities of Israel will not be able to defend their inhabitants any more than bushes, when God will send the enemy to plague them.they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.

¹⁰ Because 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 foreignWhich are excellent and brought out of other countries.slips:

¹¹ In 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 dayAs the Lord threatens the wicked in his law, (Lev_26:16).of grief and of desperate sorrow.

¹² The prophet laments, considering the horrible plague that was prepared against Israel by the Assyrians, who were infinite in number, and gathered from many nations.Woe to the multitude of many people, [who] 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!

¹³ The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but [God] shallHe adds this for the consolation of the faithful who were in Israel.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.

¹⁴ And behold at the time of eveningHe compares the Assyrians to a tempest which rises overnight and in the morning is gone.trouble; [and] before the morning he [is] not. This [is] the portion of them that plunder us, and the lot of them that rob us.