In the Lord's day mighty cities will be destroyed and abandoned. The remnant of Jehovah's people who are left will have regard to Him alone.
An oracle concerning Damascus:
Damascus shall cease to be a city
and become a heap of ruins.
2 The cities of Aroer shall lie forsaken
and become places for herds to recline,
where no one will disturb them.
3 When Ephraim’s defense comes to an end,
so shall the sovereignty of Damascus:
as with the glory of the children of Israel,
so shall it be with Aram’s remnant,
says Jehovah of Hosts.
4 In that day Jacob’s glory shall wane,
and his fatness of body become leanness.
5 After being like a harvest of ripe grain,
whose ears are reaped by the armful,
he will become like ears plucked
in the Valley of Rephaim
6 when only the gleanings are left,
or when an olive tree is beaten,
having two or three berries in the topmost bough,
or four or five in its most fruitful branch,
says Jehovah, the God of Israel.
7 In that day men will have regard to their Maker,
and their eyes look to the Holy One of Israel,
8 and regard not the altars,
the works of their hands,
nor look to things their fingers have made—
the idols of prosperity and the shining images.
9 In that day their mighty cities shall be like the deserted towns of the Hivites and Amorites, which they abandoned before the Israelites during the desolation.
10 For you have forgotten your God, your salvation,
and not remembered the Rock, your fortress.
Therefore, though you plant choice crops
and sow hybrid seed,
11 and though you make them thrive
the day you plant them,
causing them to sprout
the very morning you sow them,
yet shall the harvest vanish
in a day of diseases and incurable pain.