1 The burden {massa: prophetic pronouncement} concerning Damascus. Behold, Damascus is removed from being a city; it will become a heap of ruins {mapalah: utter devastation}.
2 The abandoned cities of Aroer will be for flocks {adarim: grazing herds}; they shall lie down, and none will make them afraid {macharid: one who instills dread}.
3 And the fortress will cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom {mamlakah: ruling authority} from Damascus, and the remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the people of Israel—declares the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tsevaot, Commander of Armies}.
4 And it will come to pass in that day that the glory of Jacob {Ya'aqov: covenant ancestor} will become thin, and from the fatness of his flesh {basar: physical being} it will waste away.
5 And it will be as when a harvester gathers the standing grain {kamah: uncut stalks}, and with his arm he reaps the ears of grain. And it will be as one who picks up ears of grain in the Valley of Rephaim {rephaim: ancient hill-country valley}.
6 And there will remain in it gleanings {olelot: leftover harvest bits} like the shaking of an olive tree—two or three berries at the top of the highest bough, four or five on its fruitful branches—declares the LORD God of Israel {YHWH Elohei Yisrael, Covenant Nation God}.
7 In that day, the man will look to his Maker {oseh: originator}, and his eyes will gaze upon the Holy One of Israel {Qedosh Yisrael: Covenant Guardian}.
8 He will not pay attention to the altars, the work of his hands and that which his fingers have made; he will not look at the Asherim {asherim: sacred wooden poles} or the sun-pillars {chammanim: sun images}.
9 On that day, his fortified cities will be like a forsaken place in the forest {choresh: wooded area} and like a topmost branch {amir: highest bough} which they abandoned because of the children of Israel. And it will be desolation.
10 Because you have forgotten the God {Elohei, Salvation Giver} of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge, therefore you plant pleasing growths {naamanim: cultivated shrubs} and sow a foreign shoot.
11 On the day you plant, you cause it to spring up {tishagshegi: make luxuriant growth}, and in the morning you make your seed flourish; the harvest becomes a heap on the day of grief and incurable {anush: incurable, desperate} pain.
12 Woe to the multitude {hamon: vast throng} of many peoples; they roar like the roaring of the seas, and the noise {sheʼôn: loud commotion} of nations, like the tumult of mighty waters, they surge.
13 The nations will roar like the roar of many waters {mayim: surging floods}, but He {YHWH, Divine Judge} will rebuke them, and they will flee far away; they will be pursued like chaff on the mountains before the wind, and like a wheel before the whirlwind.
14 At the time of evening, behold terror {ballahah: sudden dread}; before morning, it is no more. This is the portion {chelek: allotted share} of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who rob us.