Isaiah 27
1 At that time the Lord will take his sharp, large, and strong sword, and punish Leviathan, the slithering serpent, and Leviathan, the coiled serpent, and he will kill the sea dragon.
In that day, the Lord will visit, with his harsh and great and strong sword, against Leviathan, the barred serpent, and against Leviathan, the twisted serpent, and he will slay the whale that is in the sea.
2 At that time, sing about a beautiful vineyard.
In that day, the vineyard of pure wine will sing to them.
3 I, the Lord, take care of it, watering it often. I guard it night and day so that nobody can damage it.
I am the Lord, who watches over it. I will suddenly give drink to it. I will watch over it, night and day, lest perhaps someone visit against it.
4 I'm not angry anymore. If there are thorns and brambles I would go and fight them, burning them all up,
Indignation is not mine. Who will be a thorn and a brier to me in battle? I will advance against them. I set them on fire together.
5 Otherwise they should come to me for protection. They should make their peace with me, yes, make their peace with me.
Or will he, instead, take hold of my strength? Will he make peace with me? Will she make peace with me?
6 In the future the descendants of Jacob will be like a tree taking root. Israel will flower and send out shoots, and fill the whole world with fruit!
As they advance with violence against Jacob, Israel will flourish and spring forth, and they will fill the face of the world with offspring.
7 Has the Lord hit Israel as he hit those that attacked them? Were they killed like their killers were killed?
Has he struck him with the scourge that he himself used to strike others? Or has he killed in the manner that he himself used to kill his victims?
8 You dealt with them by sending them into exile, by banishing them. He drove them away with his powerful force, like when the east wind blows.
You will judge this by comparing one measure to another, when he has been cast out. He has decided this, by his stern spirit, for the day of heat.
9 Through this experience Jacob's guilt will be forgiven. The removal of their sins will come to fruition when they take all the pagan altar stones and crush them to pieces like chalk—no Asherah poles or altars of incense will be left standing.
Therefore, concerning this, the iniquity of the house of Jacob will be forgiven. And this is the reward of all: that their sin be taken away, when he will have made all the stones of the altar to be like crushed cinders. For the sacred groves and the shrines shall not stand.
10 The fortified city will be abandoned, its houses as empty and lonely as a desert. Cattle will graze and rest there, stripping bare the branches of its trees.
For the fortified city will be desolate. The shining city will be abandoned and will be left behind like a desert. In that place, the calf will pasture, and in that place, he will lie down, and he will feed from its summits.
11 Their dry branches are broken off and used by women to make fires. This is a people that doesn't have any sense, so their Maker won't feel sorry for them, and their Creator won't help them.
Its harvest will be crushed by dryness. Women will arrive and teach it, for it is not a wise people. Because of this, he who made it will not take pity on it, and he who formed it will not spare it.
12 At that time the Lord will thresh the grain harvested from the Euphrates River to the Wadi of Egypt, and you Israelites will be gathered up one by one.
And this shall be: in that day, the Lord will strike, from the channel of the river, even to the torrent of Egypt. And you shall be gathered together, one by one, O sons of Israel.
13 At that time a loud trumpet will sound, and those who were dying in Assyria will return along with those exiled in Egypt. They will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
And this shall be: in that day, a noise will be made with a great trumpet. And those who had been lost will approach from the land of the Assyrians, with those who had been outcasts in the land of Egypt. And they will adore the Lord, on the holy mountain, in Jerusalem.
