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.

When that time comes,

sing about a delightful vineyard!

“I, the Lord, protect it;

I water it regularly.

I guard it night and day,

so no one can harm it.

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,

unless they became my subjects

and made peace with me;

let them make peace with me.”

The time is coming when Jacob will take root;

Israel will blossom and grow branches.

The produce will fill the surface of the world.

Has the Lord struck down Israel as he did their oppressors?

Has Israel been killed like their enemies?

When you summon her for divorce, you prosecute her;

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

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.

For the fortified city is left alone;

it is a deserted settlement

and abandoned like the wilderness.

Calves graze there;

they lie down there

and eat its branches bare.

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.

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.