Isaiah 27:1-12

27:1 At that time the Lord will punish

with his destructive, great, and powerful sword

Leviathan the fast-moving serpent,

Leviathan the squirming serpent;

he will kill the sea monster.

27:2 When that time comes,

sing about a delightful vineyard!

27:3 I, the Lord, protect it;

I water it regularly.

I guard it night and day,

so no one can harm it.

27:4 I am not angry.

I wish I could confront some thorns and briers!

Then I would march against them for battle;

I would set them all on fire,

27:5 unless they became my subjects

and made peace with me;

let them make peace with me.

27:6 The time is coming when Jacob will take root;

Israel will blossom and grow branches.

The produce will fill the surface of the world.

27:7 Has the Lord struck down Israel like he did their oppressors?

Has Israel been killed like their enemies?

27:8 When you summon her for divorce, you prosecute her;

he drives her away with his strong wind in the day of the east wind.

27:9 So in this way Jacob’s sin will be forgiven,

and this is how they will show they are finished sinning:

They will make all the stones of the altars

like crushed limestone,

and the Asherah poles and the incense altars will no longer stand.

27:10 For the fortified city is left alone;

it is a deserted settlement

and abandoned like the desert.

Calves graze there;

they lie down there

and eat its branches bare.

27:11 When its branches get brittle, they break;

women come and use them for kindling.

For these people lack understanding,

therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;

the one who formed them has no mercy on them.

27:12 At that time the Lord will shake the tree, from the Euphrates River to the Stream of Egypt. Then you will be gathered up one by one, O Israelites.