Isaiah 17:8-10

Contemporary English Version

⁸They have built altars and places for burning incense to their goddess Asherah, and they have set up sacred poles^[a] for her. But they will stop worshiping at these places.

⁹Israel captured powerful cities and chased out the people who lived there. But these cities will lie in ruins, covered over with weeds and underbrush.^[b]

¹⁰Israel, you have forgotten
    the God who saves you,
the one who is the mighty rock^[c]
    where you find protection.
You plant the finest flowers
    to honor a foreign god.

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Footnotes

17.8 sacred poles: Or “trees,” used as symbols of Asherah, the goddess of fertility.
17.9 covered … underbrush: Hebrew; one ancient translation “like the cities of the Hivites and the Amorites.”
17.10 mighty rock: The Hebrew text has “rock,” which is sometimes used in poetry to compare the Lord to a mountain where his people can run for protection from their enemies.