This is a poetic device. It does not mean that a specific number of sins had been committed, but it indicates that many sins had led to God's judgment.
Here "Damascus" represents the people of the city of Damascus. AT: "the people of Damascus" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metonymy]])
# I will not turn away punishment
Yahweh uses two negatives here to emphasize that he would punish them. AT: "I will certainly punish those people" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-litotes]])
# they threshed Gilead with instruments of iron
Yahweh speaks of how Damascus treated Gilead as if they had threshed grain with iron tools or weapons. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-idiom]])
# Gilead
Here "Gilead" represents the people of the region of Gilead. AT: "the people of Gilead" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metonymy]])
# I will send a fire into the house of Hazael
Here Yahweh speaks of his judgment against the house of Hazael as if it were a consuming fire. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor]])
# the house of Hazael
The word "house" is a metonym for the family that lives in the house. In this case it refers to Hazael's descendants, who were rulers of the country where Damascus was located. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metonymy]])
# it will devour the fortresses of Ben Hadad
Here Yahweh's judgment is spoken of as if it were a fire that was consuming the fortresses. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor]])
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