A Reading From the Book of Isaiah

1) Oracle on Damascus:

See, Damascus shall cease to be a city

and become a pile of ruins

2) Her cities shall be forever abandoned,

for flocks to lie in undisturbed.

3) The fortress shall vanish from Ephraim

and dominion from Damascus;

The remnant of Aram shall become like the glory

of the Israelites—

oracle of the LORD of hosts.

4) On that day

The glory of Jacob shall fade,

and his full body shall grow thin

5) Like the reaper’s mere armful of stalks,

when he gathers the standing grain;

Or as when one gleans the ears

in the Valley of Rephaim.

6)  Only gleanings shall be left in it,

as when an olive tree has been beaten—

Two or three olives at the very top,

four or five on its most fruitful branches—

oracle of the LORD, the God of Israel.

7) On that day people shall turn to their maker,

their eyes shall look to the Holy One of Israel.