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Isaías 17

ARC · Chapter 17/66

1Pezo de Damasco. Eis que Damasco será tirada, e mais não será cidade, antes será um montão de ruinas.

2As cidades d'Aroer serão desamparadas: hão de ser para os rebanhos que se deitarão sem que alguem os espante.

3E a fortaleza d'Ephraim cessará, como tambem o reino de Damasco e o residuo da Syria; serão como a gloria dos filhos de Israel, diz o Senhor dos Exercitos.

4E será n'aquelle dia que ficará attenuada a gloria de Jacob, e a gordura da sua carne se emmagrecerá.

5Porque será como o segador que colhe a ceara e com o seu braço sega as espigas: e será tambem como o que colhe espigas no valle de Rephaim.

6Porém ainda ficarão n'elle alguns rabiscos, como no sacudir da oliveira, em que só duas ou tres azeitonas ficam na mais alta ponta dos ramos, e quatro ou cinco em seus ramos fructiferos, diz o Senhor Deus d'Israel.

7N'aquelle dia attentará o homem para o seu Creador, e os seus olhos olharão para o Sancto d'Israel.

8E não attentará para os altares, obra das suas mãos, nem tão pouco olhará para o que fizeram seus dedos, nem para os bosques, nem para as imagens do sol.

9N'aquelle dia serão as suas cidades fortes como plantas desamparadas, e como os mais altos ramos, os quaes vieram a deixar por causa dos filhos d'Israel, e haverá assolação.

10Porquanto te esqueceste do Deus da tua salvação, e não te lembraste da rocha da tua fortaleza: pelo que bem plantarás plantas formosas, e as cercarás de sarmentos estranhos.

11E no dia em que as plantares as farás crescer, e pela manhã farás que a tua semente brote: porém sómente será um montão do segado no dia da enfermidade e das dôres insoffriveis.

12Ai da multidão dos grandes povos que bramam como bramem os mares, e do rugido das nações que rugem como rugem as impetuosas aguas.

13Bem rugirão as nações, como rugem as muitas aguas, porém reprehendel-o-ha e fugirá para longe; e será afugentado como a pragana dos montes diante do vento, e como a bola diante do tufão

14No tempo da tarde eis que ha pavor, mas antes que amanheça já não apparece: esta é a parte d'aquelles que nos despojam, e a sorte d'aquelles que nos saqueiam.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

A prophecy about the fall of Damascus (capital of Syria) and the weakness that would also strike Ephraim (the northern kingdom of Israel), allies at the time against Judah. The chapter ends with an image: just as few olives remain after the harvest, only a small remnant of Israel would survive.

Explanation

Syria and the northern kingdom of Israel (Ephraim) had formed an alliance against Judah (mentioned in Isaiah 7), and here God announces that both would fall together before Assyria — which indeed happened: Damascus fell in 732 BC and Samaria in 722 BC. The image of the 'olive harvest' with only a few fruits left on the topmost branches is a precise agricultural metaphor, recognizable to any farmer of the time, describing how little would remain of the nation after the devastation. The recurring theme of the 'remnant' appears again, showing that even amid total judgment God preserves a seed of hope. The practical application today is that alliances based on political convenience, without regard for God's will, tend to collapse together.

Fun facts

  • The historical fall of Damascus in 732 BC and of Samaria in 722 BC, both to Assyria, confirms with remarkable precision what Isaiah had announced decades earlier.
  • The image of the 'shaking of the olive tree' referred to a real agricultural practice: beating the olive tree's branches with poles to knock down the fruit, always leaving some inaccessible on the highest branches — archaeological evidence of farming tools from the period confirms this method.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Isaías 17:1This oracle mixes Damascus, the capital of Syria, and Ephraim, the northern kingdom of Israel, because the two were allied in the war against Judah. The text treats both as a single package, predicting the fall of both together.
  2. Isaías 17:2The cities of Aroer, in Syrian territory, will be abandoned, turned into quiet pasture for flocks, with no one to scare them away — a sign of land emptied of people.
  3. Isaías 17:3Both Ephraim’s, the kingdom of Israel’s, military strength and the kingdom of Damascus itself, in Syria, will disappear, reduced to the same fate as Israel’s former glory — the two allies against Judah fall together.
  4. Isaías 17:4In that day the glory of Jacob, that is, Israel, will fade, compared to a body losing weight — an image of loss of strength and prosperity.
  5. Isaías 17:5The destruction is compared to a harvest: like a reaper cutting the grain with his arm, or someone gathering the last ears of grain in the Valley of Rephaim — a complete harvest, with nothing left over.
  6. Isaías 17:6The image of gleanings left after the olive harvest describes the few olives that remain on the highest branches once most have been picked. Here it describes the small remnant of Israel that will survive the destruction, small, but not zero.
  7. Isaías 17:7After the destruction, the text changes tone: in that day, at last, people will look to their true Maker, the Holy One of Israel, instead of to idols — a positive outcome coming out of the crisis.
  8. Isaías 17:8Altars, sacred poles dedicated to goddesses, and images of the sun were common Canaanite objects of worship in the region. The verse describes abandoning these foreign religious practices as part of the people’s change of heart.
  9. Isaías 17:9Meanwhile, Israel’s fortified cities will be left abandoned like high branches left behind — the same image of abandonment used elsewhere in the book to describe deserted land.
  10. Isaías 17:10Explains the reason for the fall: the people forgot the God of their salvation, the “rock” of their strength — even planting beautiful gardens with foreign cuttings will not help.
  11. Isaías 17:11Even if the plant grows fast and blooms quickly, the actual harvest will be nothing but a heap of grief and incurable pain — the appearance of growth does not prevent the final ruin.
  12. Isaías 17:12Compares the noise of great enemy nations to the roar of the sea — an image of enemy multitudes that seem unstoppable, like crashing waves.
  13. Isaías 17:13But despite the threatening roar, God only needs to rebuke these nations for them to flee like chaff before the wind or dust in a whirlwind — the seemingly immense power collapses before a simple divine command.
  14. Isaías 17:14In the evening there is terror, but by morning nothing is left of that threat — describes the sudden, swift destruction of the enemy, summing up the fate of whoever plunders God’s people.

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