3 Fortified cities will disappear from Ephraim,and the kingdom will disappear from Damascus.The remaining few from Aram will share Israel’s honor,”declares the Lord of Armies.
4 “When that day comes, the honor of Jacob’s people will fade away,and they will become skin and bones.
5 That time will be like harvesting bundles of grain by the armful.It will be like gathering grain in the Rephaim Valley.
6 Only a few people will survive.They will be like an olive tree that has been beaten.Only two or three olives are leftat the top of the highest branch,four or five olives on the rest of the branches,”declares the Lord God of Israel.
7 When that day comes, they will look to their maker,and their eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel.
8 They won’t look to the altars made by their handsor to the Asherah poles or incense altarswhich their fingers molded.
9 When that day comes, the fortified citieswhich other people abandoned because of the Israeliteswill be like abandoned woods and undergrowth.So it will become a wasteland.