Isaiah

The LORD’s Vineyard

1In that day the LORD will take His sharp, great, and mighty sword, and bring judgment on Leviathan the fleeing serpent—Leviathan the coiling serpent—and He will slay the dragon of the sea.

2In that day: “Sing about a fruitful vineyard.

3I, the LORD, am its keeper; I water it continually.I guard it night and dayso no one can disturb it;

4I am not angry.If only thorns and briers confronted Me,I would march and trample them, I would burn them to the ground.

5Or let them lay claim to My protection;let them make peace with Me— yes, let them make peace with Me.”

6In the days to come, Jacob will take root.Israel will bud and blossom and fill the whole world with fruit.

7Has the LORD struck Israel as He struck her oppressors?Was she killed like those who slayed her?

8By warfare and exileYou contended with herand removed her with a fierce wind, as on the day the east wind blows.

9Therefore Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for,and the full fruit of the removal of his sin will be this:When he makes all the altar stoneslike crushed bits of chalk,no Asherah poles or incense altarswill remain standing.

10For the fortified city lies deserted—a homestead abandoned, a wilderness forsaken.There the calves graze, and there they lie down;they strip its branches bare.

11When its limbs are dry,they are broken off.Women come and use them for kindling;for this is a people without understanding.Therefore their Maker has no compassion on them,and their Creator shows them no favor.

12In that day the LORD will thresh from the flowing Euphratesto the Wadi of Egypt, and you, O Israelites, will be gathered one by one.

13And in that day a great ram’s horn will sound, and those who were perishing in Assyria will come forth with those who were exiles in Egypt. And they will worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

1In that day, the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish leviathan, the fleeing serpent, and leviathan, the twisted serpent; and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.

2In that day, sing to her, “A pleasant vineyard!

3I, the LORD, am its keeper. I will water it every moment. Lest anyone damage it, I will keep it night and day.

4Wrath is not in me, but if I should find briers and thorns, I would do battle! I would march on them and I would burn them together.

5Or else let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me. Let him make peace with me.”

6In days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will blossom and bud. They will fill the surface of the world with fruit.

7Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them? Or are they killed like those who killed them were killed?

8In measure, when you send them away, you contend with them. He has removed them with his rough blast in the day of the east wind.

9Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob will be forgiven, and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: that he makes all the stones of the altar as chalk stones that are beaten in pieces, so that the Asherah poles and the incense altars shall rise no more.

10For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness. The calf will feed there, and there he will lie down, and consume its branches.

11When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.

12It will happen in that day that the LORD will thresh from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered one by one, children of Israel.

13It will happen in that day that a great trumpet will be blown; and those who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and those who were outcasts in the land of Egypt, shall come; and they will worship the LORD in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.