Isaiah Chapter 17 verse 1 Holy Bible

ASV Isaiah 17:1

The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
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BBE Isaiah 17:1

The word about Damascus. See, they have made Damascus a town no longer; it has become a waste place.
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DARBY Isaiah 17:1

The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from [being] a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
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KJV Isaiah 17:1

The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
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WBT Isaiah 17:1


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WEB Isaiah 17:1

The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
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YLT Isaiah 17:1

The burden of Damascus. Lo, Damascus is taken away from `being' a city, And it hath been a heap -- a ruin.
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Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerses 1-3. - THE BURDEN OF DAMASCUS. The eye of the prophet travels northwards from Moab, and, passing over Ammon as an enemy of small account, rests once more upon Damascus, already threatened in Isaiah 7:1 - 9, and probably already partially punished. Damascus is seen once more in alliance with Ephraim (ver. 3), and the two are joined with a new power, Aroer (ver. 2), which possesses several "cities." Woe is denounced on all the three powers: desolation on Damascus and Aroer; on Damascus and Ephraim, the complete loss of the last shadow of independence. The Assyrian inscriptions point out, as the probable date of the prophecy, the commencement of Sargun's reign - about B.C. 722 or 721. Verse 1. - Damascus is taken away from being a city. According to Vitringa, Damascus has been destroyed oftener than any other town; but it has a wonderful power of rising again from its ashes. Probably a destruction by Sargon is here intended ('Records of the Past,' vol. 9. p. 6).

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English ReadersXVII.(1) The burden of Damascus.--Syria, it will be remembered, had been "confederate with Ephraim," i.e., with the kingdom of Israel, against Judah in the reign of Ahaz, and the prophet had then foretold its overthrow by Assyria (Isaiah 7:1-16). In 2Kings 16:9, 2 Chron. 28:29, we have a partial fulfilment of that prediction. Writing probably early in the reign of Hezekiah, Isaiah now looks forward to a further fulfilment in the future.Damascus is taken away from being a city . . .--The words emphasise the result of the Assyrian invasion. The city of ancient days (Genesis 15:2) should lose glory and be no more worthy of the name; struck out, as it were, from the list of the great cities of the world.The cities of Aroer are forsaken.--The LXX. and other versions seem to have followed a different text, and give, "The cities are forsaken for ever." Taking Aroer as the right reading, we note that there were two cities of the name, one in the tribe of Reuben (Deuteronomy 2:36; Deuteronomy 3:12), afterwards in the possession of Moab (Jeremiah 48:19), and the other in that of Gad, near Rabbah of Ammon (Numbers 32:34; Joshua 13:25; 2Samuel 24:5). The present passage seems to imply a closer connection with Damascus. and therefore a more northern position than that of either of these cities. The latter of the two Just named may, however, have been in alliance with Damascus, and so have shared its fate during the Assyrian invasion. Possibly it may have been chosen for special mention on account of the significance of its name ("laid bare") as ominous of utter ruin. The picture of the "flocks" wandering through the streets of the city reminds us of that of Babylon in Isaiah 13:21. . . .