² At that time,^[b]
    “A fermenting^[c] vineyard—
        sing about it!
³ I, the Lord, watch over it
    And I water it continuously.
I guard it night and day
    so no one can harm it.
⁴ I am not angry.
    If only the vineyard^[d] could give me briers and thorns^[e] to battle,
I would march against it,
    and^[f] I would burn it all up.
⁵ Or else let it lay claim to my protection;
    let it make peace with me,
        yes, let it make peace with me.”

⁶ In times to come, Jacob will take root,
    and^[g] Israel will blossom, sprout shoots,
        and fill the whole world with fruit.

⁷ Has the Lord^[h] struck them down,
    just as he struck down those who struck them?
Or have they been killed,
    just as their killers were killed?
⁸ Measure by measure,^[i]
    in their exile you contended with them;
with his fierce blast he removed them,
    as on a day when the east wind blows.
⁹ By this, then, Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for,
    and this will be the full harvest
        that comes from the removal of his sin:
when he makes all the altar stones
    like pulverized chalkstones,
no Asherah^[j] poles or incense altars will be left standing.
¹⁰ For the fortified city stands desolate,
    a settlement abandoned and forsaken like the desert;
calves graze there,
    and there they lie down
        and strip bare its branches.
¹¹ When its branches are dry,
    they are broken off,
and women come and kindle fires with them,
    since this is a people who show no consideration.
That is why the One who made them shows them no compassion;
    the One who created them shows them no mercy.