Isaiah 17:1
The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
Isaiah 17:1 in other translations
| BSB | This is the burden against Damascus: “Behold, Damascus is no longer a city; it has become a heap of ruins. |
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| WEB | The burden of Damascus. “Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap. |
| ASV | The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. |
| YLT | The burden of Damascus. Lo, Damascus is taken away from being a city, And it hath been a heap--a ruin. |
| DARBY | The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. |
| BBE | The word about Damascus. See, they have made Damascus a town no longer; it has become a waste place. |
| Webster | The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. |
What does Isaiah 17:1 mean?
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
Is 17:1-11. Prophecy Concerning Damascus and Its Ally Samaria, that is, Syria and Israel, which had leagued together (seventh and eighth chapters).
Already, Tiglath-pileser had carried away the people of Damascus to Kir, in the fourth year of Ahaz (2Ki 16:9); but now in Hezekiah's reign a further overthrow is foretold (Jr 49:23; Zec 9:1). Also, Shalmaneser carried away Israel from Samaria to Assyria (2Ki 17:6; 18:10, 11) in the sixth year of Hezekiah of Judah (the ninth year of Hoshea of Israel). This prophecy was, doubtless, given previously in the first years of Hezekiah when the foreign nations came into nearer collision with Judah, owing to the threatening aspect of Assyria. 1. Damascus--put before Israel (Ephraim, Is 17:3), which is chiefly referred to in what follows, because it was the prevailing power in the league; with it Ephraim either stood or fell (Is 7:1-25).Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain
Adam Clarke's Commentary
Introduction
Judgments of God upon Damascus, Isa 17:1-3; and upon Israel, Isa 17:4-6. Good effects of these judgments on the small remnant or gleaning that should escape them, Isa 17:7, Isa 17:8. The same judgments represented in other but stronger terms, and imputed to irreligion and neglect of God, Isa 17:9-11. The remaining verses are a distinct prophecy, a beautiful detached piece, worked up with the greatest elegance, sublimity, and propriety; and forming a noble description of the formidable invasion and sudden overthrow of Sennacherib, exactly suitable to the event, Isa 17:12-14. This prophecy by its title should relate only to Damascus; but it full as much concerns, and more largely treats of, the kingdom of Samaria and the Israelites, confederated with Damascus and the Syrians against the kingdom of Judah. It was delivered probably soon after the prophecies of the seventh and eighth chapters, in the beginning of the reign of Ahaz; and was fulfilled by Tiglath-pileser's taking Damascus, and carrying the people captives to Kir, (2Kgs 16:9), and overrunning great part of the kingdom of Israel, and carrying a great number of the Israelites also captives to Assyria; and still more fully in regard to Israel, by the conquest of the kingdom, and the captivity of the people, effected a few years after by Shalmaneser. - L. Verse 1 The burden of Damascus - Which is, according to the common version, The cities of Aroer are forsaken. It has already been observed by the learned prelate that the prophecy, as it relates to Damascus, was executed in the beginning of the reign of Ahaz, probably about the third year. If we credit Midrash, the Damascenes were the most extensive and flagrant of all idolaters. "There were in Damascus three hundred and sixty-five streets, in each of these was an idol, and each idol had his peculiar day of worship; so that the whole were worshipped in the course of the year." This, or any thing like this, was a sufficient reason for this city's destruction. A ruinous heap - For מעי mei, "a ruinous heap," the Septuagint reads לעי lei, "for a ruin," the Vulgate כעי kei, "as a ruin." I follow the former.Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Isaiah 17:1-11
Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain
Isaiah 17:1 in the original Hebrew
Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.
Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).
Cross references for Isaiah 17:1
- Amos 1:3-5
Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron: But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Ben–hadad. I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden: and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith the Lord.
- Isaiah 25:2
For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.
- Zechariah 9:1
The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach, and Damascus shall be the rest thereof: when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the Lord.
- Jeremiah 49:2
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, saith the Lord.
- Jeremiah 49:23-27
Concerning Damascus. Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet. Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail. How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy! Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the Lord of hosts. …
- Genesis 14:15
And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.
- Acts 9:2
And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
- Micah 1:6
Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof.
- Isaiah 7:8
For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.
- Isaiah 10:9
Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?
- Isaiah 37:26
Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps.
- Isaiah 19:1
The burden of Egypt. Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
6 A remnant shall forsake idolatry.
9 The rest shall be plagued for their impiety.
12 The woe of Israel's enemies.
A.M. cir. 3263. B.C. cir. 741. burden.
15:1; 19:1
Damascus.
7:8; Ge 14:15; 15:2; 1Ki 11:24; 1Ch 18:5; 2Ch 28:5,23; Jer 49:23-27
Am 1:3-5; Zec 9:1; Ac 9:2
Damascus is.
8:4; 10:9; 2Ki 16:9
a ruinous.
25:2; 37:26; Jer 49:2; Mic 1:6; 3:12
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain
Context
- Isaiah 17:1
The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
- Isaiah 17:2
The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
Isaiah 17:1 in other languages
| Spanish Reina-Valera 1909 | CARGA de Damasco. He aquí que Damasco dejó de ser ciudad, y será montón de ruina. |
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| French Bible J.N. Darby 1885 | *L’oracle touchant Damas. Voici, Damas va cesser d’être une ville, et elle sera un monceau de ruines. |
| German Elberfelder 1871 | Ausspruch über Damaskus. Siehe, Damaskus hört auf, eine Stadt zu sein, und wird ein Trümmerhaufen. |
| Latin Clementine Vulgate | Onus Damasci. Ecce Damascus desinet esse civitas, et erit sicut acervus lapidum in ruina. |