以賽亞書17:1-14

17:1 論大馬士革的默示：看哪，大馬士革已被廢棄，不再為城，必變作亂堆。
17:2 亞羅珥的城邑已被撇棄，必成為牧羊之處；羊在那裡躺臥，無人驚嚇。
17:3 以法蓮不再有保障；大馬士革不再有國權；亞蘭所剩下的必像以色列人的榮耀消滅一樣。這是萬軍之耶和華說的。
17:4 到那日，雅各的榮耀必至枵薄；他肥胖的身體必漸瘦弱。
17:5 就必像收割的人收斂禾稼，用手割取穗子，又像人在利乏音谷拾取遺落的穗子。
17:6 其間所剩下的不多，好像人打橄欖樹─在儘上的枝梢上只剩兩三個果子；在多果樹的旁枝上只剩四五個果子。這是耶和華─以色列的上帝說的。
17:7 當那日，人必仰望造他們的主，眼目重看以色列的聖者。
17:8 他們必不仰望祭壇，就是自己手所築的，也不重看自己指頭所做的，無論是木偶是日像。
17:9 在那日，他們的堅固城必像樹林中和山頂上所撇棄的地方，就是從前在以色列人面前被人撇棄的。這樣，地就荒涼了。
17:10 因你忘記救你的上帝，不記念你能力的磐石；所以，你栽上佳美的樹秧子，插上異樣的栽子。
17:11 栽種的日子，你周圍圈上籬笆，又到早晨使你所種的開花；但在愁苦極其傷痛的日子，所收割的都飛去了。
17:12 唉！多民鬨嚷，好像海浪匉訇；列邦奔騰，好像猛水滔滔；
17:13 列邦奔騰，好像多水滔滔；但上帝斥責他們，他們就遠遠逃避，又被追趕，如同山上的風前糠，又如暴風前的旋風土。
17:14 到晚上有驚嚇，未到早晨他們就沒有了。這是擄掠我們之人所得的分，是搶奪我們之人的報應。

An oracle concerning Damascus. 

See, Damascus will cease to be a city,

and will become a heap of ruins.

2

Her towns will be deserted forever;

they will be places for flocks,

which will lie down, and no one will make them afraid.

3

The fortress will disappear from Ephraim,

and the kingdom from Damascus;

and the remnant of Aram will be

like the glory of the children of Israel,

says the Lord of hosts.

4

On that day

the glory of Jacob will be brought low,

and the fat of his flesh will grow lean.

5

And it shall be as when reapers gather standing grain

and their arms harvest the ears,

and as when one gleans the ears of grain

in the Valley of Rephaim.

6

Gleanings will be left in it,

as when an olive tree is beaten—

two or three berries

in the top of the highest bough,

four or five

on the branches of a fruit tree,

says the Lord God of Israel.

⁷ On that day people will regard their Maker, and their eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel; ⁸they will not have regard for the altars, the work of their hands, and they will not look to what their own fingers have made, either the sacred poles or the altars of incense.

⁹ On that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the Hivites and the Amorites, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.

 

10

For you have forgotten the God of your salvation,

and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge;

therefore, though you plant pleasant plants

and set out slips of an alien god,

11

though you make them grow on the day that you plant them,

and make them blossom in the morning that you sow;

yet the harvest will flee away

in a day of grief and incurable pain.

12

Ah, the thunder of many peoples,

they thunder like the thundering of the sea!

Ah, the roar of nations,

they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!

13

The nations roar like the roaring of many waters,

but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,

chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind

and whirling dust before the storm.

14

At evening time, lo, terror!

Before morning, they are no more.

This is the fate of those who despoil us,

and the lot of those who plunder us.

***********

    以色列為了抵擋亞述帝國，竟然和敘利亞、亞蘭等國聯盟，卻不來倚靠上帝。而這樣的聯盟，不僅無法抵擋亞述的侵略，反而一一被亞述所打敗與消滅！所以聖經告訴我們：「不是倚靠勢力，不是倚靠才能，乃是倚靠我的靈方能成事。」

    許多時候，我們就像以色列一般，希望獲得盟友的幫助，卻不盼望上帝的幫助。以為盟友的幫助較實際，上帝的幫助好像飄渺不可得，因為上帝看不見、摸不著。哪知，那看的見的是不牢靠的，那看不見的才是牢靠的！因為看得見的是短暫的，看不見的才是永恆的！

    也因此，我們要藉由聖靈得工作，將耶穌基督的拯救應用在我們，我們才能成為真正倚靠上帝的人，在上帝的恩惠與慈愛中，直到永永遠遠，享受上帝豐盛的恩典！