Isaiah 17

 1The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

 2The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

 3The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the LORD of hosts.

 4And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.

 5And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim.

 6Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the LORD God of Israel.

 7At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel.

 8And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.

 9In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.

 10Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips:

 11In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

 12Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!

 13The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.

 14And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13823680/

Israeli planes strike southern suburb of Beirut

Lebanon calls for cease-fire; Ahmadinejad warns against attacking Syria

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israel continued its furious military campaign against Lebanon’s main airport, highways, military bases and other targets Friday, retaliating for scores of Hezbollah guerrilla rockets that rained down on Israel and reached as far as Haifa, its third-largest city, for the first time.

The death toll in two days of fighting rose to 57 people with the sudden burst of violence sending shock waves through a region already traumatized by Iraq and the ongoing battles in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas. It shattered the relative calm in Lebanon that followed Israel’s pullout from its occupied zone in south Lebanon in 2000 and the withdrawal of Syrian forces last year.

Israel’s target was Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant Shiite faction which has a free hand in southern Lebanon and also holds seats in parliament. Hezbollah sparked the current conflict Wednesday with a cross-border raid that captured two of Israel’s soldiers.

Two Israeli civilians and eight Israeli soldiers have also been killed, the military’s highest death toll in four years.

Israel said it was determined to beat Hezbollah back and deny the militant fighters positions they have held along the border since 2000.

The Lebanese government, caught in the middle, pleaded for a cease-fire to the U.N. Security Council, which set an urgent meeting for Friday.

“If the government of Lebanon fails to deploy its forces, as is expected of a sovereign government, we shall not allow Hezbollah forces to remain any further on the borders of the state of Israel,” Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said.

‘Nothing is safe’
Amid the violence, Israeli army chief Brig. Gen. Dan Halutz warned that “nothing is safe” in Lebanon.

Israeli warplanes stepped up the pressure early Friday, striking targets in the southern suburbs of Beirut where Hezbollah has its political headquarters, security officials said. 

Explosions from at least seven missiles were heard, according to two AP journalists and other witnesses near the scene.

The raid came just a few hours after Israeli planes dropped leaflets in south Beirut warning residents to avoid areas where Hezbollah operates.

Fears mounted among Arab and European governments that violence in Lebanon could spiral out of control.

Israeli analysts warned that Syria, which supports Hezbollah and plays host to Hamas’ political leader Khaled Mashaal, could be Israel’s next target.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said any Israeli attack against Syria would be an aggression on the whole Islamic world and warned of a harsh reaction, the official Iranian news agency reported Friday.

The agency said Ahmadinejad made the comments in a telephone call to Syrian President Bashar Assad.