Isaiah 17:8-14

17:8 They will no longer trust in the altars their hands made,

or depend on the Asherah poles and incense altars their fingers made.

17:9 At that time their fortified cities will be

like the abandoned summits of the Amorites,

which they abandoned because of the Israelites;

there will be desolation.

17:10 For you ignore the God who rescues you;

you pay no attention to your strong protector.

So this is what happens:

You cultivate beautiful plants

and plant exotic vines.

17:11 The day you begin cultivating, you do what you can to make it grow;

the morning you begin planting, you do what you can to make it sprout.

Yet the harvest will disappear in the day of disease

and incurable pain.

17:12 The many nations massing together are as good as dead,

those who make a commotion as loud as the roaring of the sea’s waves.

The people making such an uproar are as good as dead,

those who make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves.

17:13 Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves,

when he shouts at them, they will flee to a distant land,

driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills,

or like dead thistles before a strong gale.

17:14 In the evening there is sudden terror;

by morning they vanish.

This is the fate of those who try to plunder us,

the destiny of those who try to loot us!