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In that day, sing to her, “A pleasant vineyard! I, Yahweh, am its keeper. I will water it every moment. Lest anyone damage it, I will keep it night and day. Wrath is not in me, but if I should find briers and thorns, I would do battle! I would march on them and I would burn them together. Or else let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me. Let him make peace with me.”

In days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will blossom and bud. They will fill the surface of the world with fruit. Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them? Or are they killed like those who killed them were killed? In measure, when you send them away, you contend with them. He has removed them with his rough blast in the day of the east wind. Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob will be forgiven, and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: that he makes all the stones of the altar as chalk stones that are beaten in pieces, so that the Asherah poles and the incense altars shall rise no more. 10 For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness. The calf will feed there, and there he will lie down, and consume its branches. 11 When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.

12 It will happen in that day that Yahweh will thresh from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered one by one, children of Israel.

13 It will happen in that day that a great trumpet will be blown; and those who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and those who were outcasts in the land of Egypt, shall come; and they will worship Yahweh in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

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The Lord’s Vineyard

On that day
sing about a desirable vineyard:(A)
I am the Lord, who watches over it
to water it regularly.
So that no one disturbs it,
I watch over it night and day.
I am not angry.
If only there were thorns and briers(B) for me to battle,
I would trample them
and burn them to the ground.
Or let it take hold of my strength;
let it make peace with me—
make peace with me.
In days to come, Jacob will take root.(C)
Israel will blossom and bloom(D)
and fill the whole world with fruit.

Did the Lord strike Israel
as he struck the one who struck Israel?(E)
Was Israel killed like those killed by the Lord?
You disputed with Israel
by banishing and driving her away.[a]
He removed her with his severe storm
on the day of the east wind.
Therefore Jacob’s iniquity(F) will be atoned for in this way,
and the result of the removal of his sin will be this:(G)
when he makes all the altar stones
like crushed bits of chalk,
no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.
10 For the fortified city will be desolate,
pastures deserted and abandoned like a wilderness.
Calves will graze there,
and there they will spread out and strip its branches.
11 When its branches dry out, they will be broken off.
Women will come and make fires with them,
for they are not a people with understanding.(H)
Therefore their Maker(I) will not have compassion on them,
and their Creator will not be gracious to them.

12 On that day(J)
the Lord will thresh grain from the Euphrates River
as far as the Wadi of Egypt,(K)
and you Israelites will be gathered one by one.
13 On that day
a great ram’s horn(L) will be blown,
and those lost in the land of Assyria will come,
as well as those dispersed in the land of Egypt;
and they will worship the Lord
at Jerusalem on the holy mountain.

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Footnotes

  1. 27:8 Hb obscure