17 This message came to me concerning Damascus: It will become a heap of ruins. 2 The towns of Aroer will be deserted. with no one to chase them away. 3 The fortified towns of Israel will also be destroyed, declares the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. 4 “In that day Israel’s glory will grow dim; its robust body will waste away. 5 The whole land will look like a grainfield like the fields in the valley of Rephaim after the harvest. 6 Only a few of its people will be left, declares the LORD, the God of Israel. 7 Then at last the people will look to their Creator and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel. 8 They will no longer look to their idols for help or worship at the pagan shrines they have built. 9 Their largest cities will be like a deserted forest, It will be utterly desolate. 10 Why? Because you have turned from the God who can save you. and import the most expensive seedlings. 11 They may sprout on the day you set them out; Your only harvest will be a load of grief and unrelieved pain. 12 Listen! The armies of many nations as they rush forward like thundering waves. 13 But though they thunder like breakers on a beach, like a tumbleweed whirling before a storm. 14 In the evening Israel waits in terror, a fitting end for those who destroy us.