The vineyard of Yahweh
1On that day, with his fierce, strong, and powerful sword, Yahweh will punish Leviathan, the twisting serpent always fleeing; he will slay the dragon of the sea.
2On that day, he will say, “Praise my fruitful vineyard! 3I, Yahweh, am its keeper; I water it every moment. So that no one will harm it, day and night I guard it.”
4– “I have no wall, who will cleanse me from thorns?”
“I myself will march against them, I will burn them altogether. 5Or if they come to me for refuge, let them make peace with me, yes, let them make peace with me.”
6In days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will blossom and bear many a shoot and fill the face of the earth with fruit.
7Has Yahweh beaten them as he beat those who beat them?
Has he slain them as he slew those who slew them?
8With expulsion and exile
the city has been punished;
with a blast as fierce as a storm from the east,
she has been pursued and carried off.
9By this, therefore, the guilt
of Jacob will be expiated
and he will atone for his sins
when he pulverizes all the altar stones like chalkstones crushed to pieces. No more Asherah poles or incense altars! 10For the fortified city is abandoned: it lies deserted now,
a forsaken habitation left like a wilderness.
There the calves graze,
there they lie down, and there
they strip bare its branches.
11Its dry boughs are broken;
women come and make fire with them. This is a people without understanding; therefore their Maker will not spare them; he will not show compassion on them.
12On that day,
between the Euphrates and the Wadi of Egypt,
Yahweh will thresh out the grain. One by one you will be gleaned,O people of Israel.
13On that day
a great trumpet will blow,
and those who were perishing
in the land of Assyria
and those who were driven out
to the land of Egypt
will return to worship the Lord on the mountain in Jerusalem.
