¶Concerning Damascus: “Hamath and Arpad are put to shame, For they have heard bad news; They despair. There is anxiety at the sea, It cannot be calmed.
Parallel translations
- WEB Of Damascus: “Hamath is confounded, and Arpad; for they have heard evil news, they are melted away: there is sorrow on the sea; it can’t be quiet.
- KJV Concerning Damascus. Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet.
- BSB Concerning Damascus: “Hamath and Arpad are put to shame, for they have heard a bad report; they are agitated like the sea; their anxiety cannot be calmed.
- NKJV Against Damascus. “Hamath and Arpad are shamed, For they have heard bad news. They are fainthearted; There is trouble on the sea; It cannot be quiet.
- NLT This message was given concerning Damascus. This is what the Lord says: “The towns of Hamath and Arpad are struck with fear, for they have heard the news of their destruction. Their hearts are troubled like a wild sea in a raging storm.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The oracle turns to Damascus, where Hamath and Arpad melt in dismay at terrible news. The Aramean cities are gripped by restless fear.
Overview
This begins the prophecy against Aram (Syria), centered on Damascus. Hamath and Arpad were key northern cities whose alarm signals the spread of judgment. The troubled, unquiet 'sea' pictures panic that cannot be calmed, showing that no human power can secure peace when God has decreed judgment.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 29
- 2 Kgs 18:34Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
- Isa 10:9Isn’t Calno like Carchemish? Isn’t Hamath like Arpad? Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?”
- Gen 14:15He divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, and struck them, and pursued them to Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.
- Gen 15:2Abram said, “Lord Yahweh, what will you give me, since I go childless, and he who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”
- Isa 57:20But the wicked are like the troubled sea; for it can’t rest, and its waters cast up mire and mud.
- Num 13:21So they went up, and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, to the entrance of Hamath.
- Nah 2:10She is empty, void, and waste. The heart melts, the knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown pale.
- 2 Kgs 19:13Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?”’”
- 2 Chr 16:2Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of Yahweh’s house and of the king’s house, and sent to Ben Hadad king of Syria, who lived at Damascus, saying,
- Isa 17:1–3The burden of Damascus: “Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap.
- Isa 13:7Therefore all hands will be feeble, and everyone’s heart will melt.
- Isa 11:11It will happen in that day that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
- Isa 37:13Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?’”
- Amos 6:2Go to Calneh, and see; and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. are they better than these kingdoms? or is their border greater than your border?
- Amos 1:3–5Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Damascus, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron;
- Zech 9:1–2A revelation. Yahweh’s word is against the land of Hadrach, and will rest upon Damascus; for the eye of man and of all the tribes of Israel is toward Yahweh;
- Luke 21:25–26There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars; and on the earth anxiety of nations, in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the waves;
- Luke 8:23–24But as they sailed, he fell asleep. A wind storm came down on the lake, and they were taking on dangerous amounts of water.
- Acts 9:2and asked for letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
- Acts 27:20When neither sun nor stars shone on us for many days, and no small storm pressed on us, all hope that we would be saved was now taken away.
- 2 Cor 11:32In Damascus the governor under King Aretas guarded the city of the Damascenes desiring to arrest me.
- Ps 107:26–27They mount up to the sky; they go down again to the depths. Their soul melts away because of trouble.
- Deut 20:8The officers shall speak further to the people, and they shall say, “What man is there who is fearful and faint-hearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest his brother’s heart melt as his heart.”
- Josh 2:11As soon as we had heard it, our hearts melted, and there wasn’t any more spirit in any man, because of you: for Yahweh your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath.
- Josh 14:8Nevertheless, my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; but I wholly followed Yahweh my God.
- 2 Kgs 17:24The king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, from Cuthah, from Avva, and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria, and lived in its cities.
- 1 Kgs 11:24He gathered men to himself, and became captain over a troop, when David killed them of Zobah. They went to Damascus, and lived there, and reigned in Damascus.
- 2 Sam 17:10Even he who is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, will utterly melt; for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and those who are with him are valiant men.
- 2 Sam 8:9When Toi king of Hamath heard that David had struck all the army of Hadadezer,
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
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