# Isaiah 17 📖: Oracle Against Damascus [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Isaiah Overview]] | [[Isaiah 16]] | [[Isaiah 18]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### The Lord Will Judge Damascus [[#Verse 01.]] This is an oracle about Damascus: “Look, Damascus is no longer a city, it is a heap of ruins! [[#Verse 02.]] The cities of Aroer are abandoned. They will be used for herds, which will lie down there in peace. [[#Verse 03.]] Fortified cities will disappear from Ephraim, and Damascus will lose its kingdom. The survivors in Syria will end up like the splendor of the Israelites,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. [[#Verse 04.]] “At that time Jacob’s splendor will be greatly diminished, and he will become skin and bones. [[#Verse 05.]] It will be as when one gathers the grain harvest, and his hand gleans the ear of grain. It will be like one gathering the ears of grain in the Valley of Rephaim. [[#Verse 06.]] There will be some left behind, as when an olive tree is beaten— two or three ripe olives remain toward the very top, four or five on its fruitful branches,” says the Lord God of Israel. [[#Verse 07.]] At that time men will trust in their Creator; they will depend on the Holy One of Israel. [[#Verse 08.]] They will no longer trust in the altars their hands made, or depend on the Asherah poles and incense altars their fingers made. [[#Verse 09.]] At that time their fortified cities will be like the abandoned summits of the Amorites, which they abandoned because of the Israelites; there will be desolation. [[#Verse 10.]] For you ignore the God who rescues you; you pay no attention to your strong protector. So this is what happens: You cultivate beautiful plants and plant exotic vines. [[#Verse 11.]] The day you begin cultivating, you do what you can to make it grow; the morning you begin planting, you do what you can to make it sprout. Yet the harvest will disappear in the day of disease and incurable pain. [[#Verse 12.]] Beware, you many nations massing together, those who make a commotion as loud as the roaring of the sea’s waves. Beware, you people making such an uproar, those who make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves. [[#Verse 13.]] Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves, when he shouts at them, they will flee to a distant land, driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills, or like dead thistles before a strong gale. [[#Verse 14.]] In the evening there is sudden terror; by morning they vanish. This is the fate of those who try to plunder us, the destiny of those who try to loot us! ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. Damascus was the capital of Aram (Syria) and allied with Israel (Ephraim) against Judah (7:1). 2. Assyria under Tiglath-pileser III captured Damascus in 732 BC (2 Kings 16:9). 3. Damascus is still one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It was rebuilt after its destruction. 4. The gleanings of two or three olives at the top of a tree (17:6) reflect the law that left gleanings for the poor (Deuteronomy 24:20). 5. The Valley of Rephaim (17:5) was a fertile valley just southwest of Jerusalem. 6. Asherah poles (17:8) were wooden objects connected with the worship of the Canaanite goddess Asherah. 7. The Rock as a name for God (17:10) goes back to the Song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32:4). 8. The roaring of the nations (17:12-13) uses sea imagery, a common biblical picture of chaos that God controls. 9. Many interpreters connect the overnight disappearance of the enemy (17:14) to the sudden defeat of Sennacherib's army (37:36). 10. Ephraim was another name for the northern kingdom of Israel, after its largest tribe. ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the Rock of refuge that God's people forgot (17:10). Paul says the spiritual rock that followed Israel was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4), and He rebukes the roaring nations with a word (17:13; Mark 4:39). ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. Israel forgot the God of its salvation and the Rock of its refuge (17:10). What causes people to forget God when life is going well? 2. In that day people will look to their Maker instead of their altars (17:7-8). What does it take for us to turn from human-made solutions to God? 3. The nations roar like waters, but God rebukes them and they flee (17:12-14). How does this encourage you when the world seems chaotic? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 7: People will look to their Maker and the Holy One of Israel. - 📖 verse 10: You have forgotten the God who saves you and the Rock who protects you. - 📖 verse 13: God rebukes the roaring nations and they flee like chaff. ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 [[1 Corinthians 10#Verse 01.|1 Corinthians 10:1-4]] - The rock was Christ. - 🔗 [[Mark 04#Verse 39.|Mark 4:39-41]] - Jesus rebukes the wind and waves. - 🔗 [[Deuteronomy 32#Verse 15.|Deuteronomy 32:15-18]] - Israel forgot the Rock who fathered them. - 🔗 [[Psalm 46#Verse 01.|Psalm 46:1-6]] - The nations rage, but God is our refuge. - 🔗 [[Deuteronomy 08#Verse 11.|Deuteronomy 8:11-14]] - Do not forget the Lord when you prosper. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[Isaiah 17 - SOAP|Only in Darkness is the Light Most Visible]] ## 📂 Internal Notes