Israel's Redemption

1On that day the LORD with his cruel and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.

2On that day:

A pleasant vineyard, sing about it!

3I, the LORD, am its keeper;

every moment I water it.

I guard it night and day

so that no one can harm it;

4I have no wrath.

If it gives me thorns and briers,

I will march to battle against it.

I will burn it up.

5Or else let it cling to me for protection,

let it make peace with me,

let it make peace with me.

6In days to come27.6 Heb Those to come Jacob shall take root,

Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots,

and fill the whole world with fruit.

7Has he struck them down as he struck down those who struck them?

Or have they been killed as their killers were killed?

8By expulsion,27.8 Meaning of Heb uncertain by exile you struggled against them;

with his fierce blast he removed them on the day of the east wind.

9Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be expiated,

and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:

when he makes all the stones of the altars

like chalkstones crushed to pieces,

no sacred poles27.9 Heb Asherim or incense altars will remain standing.

10For the fortified city is solitary,

a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness;

the calves graze there,

there they lie down, and strip its branches.

11When its boughs are dry, they are broken;

women come and make a fire of them.

For this is a people without understanding;

therefore he that made them will not have compassion on them,

he that formed them will show them no favour.

12On that day the LORD will thresh from the channel of the Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you will be gathered one by one, O people of Israel. 13And on that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.