Dusk over a ruined city mound of dark basalt stones: a flock of sheep lying down quietly among the fallen blocks, no shepherd, under a calm violet sky.

The nations judged

Isaiah 17

Israel leaned on Damascus against Judah. What do you lean on instead of God?

14 verses≈ 3 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

1–5Zion on trialJudah’s sin, the mountain raised, the vineyard’s song
6Holy, holy, holyIsaiah’s call, in the year King Uzziah died (about 740 BC)
7–12ImmanuelAhaz’s fear, the sign, the Child, the shoot of Jesse
13–23The nations judgedBabylon to Tyre: the LORD is Judge of all the earthChapter 17
24–27The whole earthThe earth laid waste, and death swallowed up
28–35Woe and a KingEgypt’s help or the LORD’s, and the King in His beauty
36–39Hezekiah’s crisisSennacherib, 701 BC: the prayer, the sickness, the envoys
40–48Comfort My peopleTo the exiles ahead: Cyrus, the idols, the Servant
49–55The Servant and ZionPierced for our transgressions; Zion restored
56–66New heavens and earthA house of prayer, the Anointed One, all things new

The Burden against Damascus

God

God

This is the burden against Damascus:

“Behold, Damascus is no longer a city;

it has become a heap of ruins.

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God

The cities of Aroer are forsaken;

they will be left to the flocks,

which will lie down with no one to fear.

God

The fortress will disappear from Ephraim,

and the sovereignty from Damascus.

The remnant of Aram will be

like the splendor of the Israelites,”

declares the LORD of Hosts.

God

“In that day the splendor of Jacob will fade,

and the fat of his body will waste away,

God

Late afternoon in the broad Valley of Rephaim below Jerusalem’s ridge: a reaped field of stubble with a few heads of grain left, one woman gleaner far off with a basket, terraced hills around.

as the reaper gathers the standing grain

and harvests the ears with his arm,

as one gleans heads of grain

in the Valley of Rephaim.

God

God

Yet gleanings will remain,

like an olive tree that has been beaten—

two or three berries atop the tree,

four or five on its fruitful branches,”

declares the LORD, the God of Israel.

Isaiah

In that day men will look to their Maker

and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.

Isaiah 17:7

Isaiah

Isaiah

They will not look to the altars

they have fashioned with their hands

or to the Asherahs and incense altars

they have made with their fingers.

Question

Quick question

After the ruin of Damascus and Ephraim, verse 7 looks ahead to “that day.” Read it again before you answer.

In that day, where will people look?

Isaiah

In that day their strong cities

will be like forsaken thickets and summits,

abandoned to the Israelites

and to utter desolation.

Isaiah

For you have forgotten the God of your salvation

and failed to remember the Rock of your refuge.

Therefore, though you cultivate delightful plots

and set out cuttings from exotic vines—

Isaiah

Early morning in a small walled garden plot: rows of young vine cuttings and seedlings that sprouted fast, now wilted and blighted on their stakes, a clay water jar by the gate.

though on the day you plant

you make them grow,

and on that morning

you help your seed sprout—

yet the harvest will vanish

on the day of disease and incurable pain.

Isaiah

Isaiah

The nations rage like the rush of many waters.

He rebukes them, and they flee far away,

driven before the wind like chaff on the hills,

like tumbleweeds before a gale.

Isaiah

Isaiah

In the evening, there is sudden terror!

Before morning, they are no more!

This is the portion of those who loot us

and the lot of those who plunder us.

Pray

God of my salvation, Rock of my refuge, forgive me for forgetting You. Turn my eyes from what my hands have made to You, my Maker. Amen.

You’ve experienced

Isaiah 17

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A verse to carry with you

In that day men will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.

Isaiah 17:7

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