1 ARST At that time, Yahweh will punish Leviathan, the swift- moving monster, that coiling serpent that lives in the sea. Yahweh will kill it with his sharp, huge, and powerful sword. BSB BSB: In that day the LORD will take His sharp, great, and mighty sword, and bring judgment on Leviathan the fleeing serpent—Leviathan the coiling serpent—and He will slay the dragon of the sea.
2 ARST At that time, Yahweh will say,“You Israelite people, who are like a fruitful vineyard, must sing! BSB BSB: In that day: “Sing about a fruitful vineyard.
3 ARST I will protect you like a farmer waters his crops carefully in order that they will grow well. I will guard you day and night, in order that no one harms you. BSB BSB: I, the LORD, am its keeper; I water it continually. I guard it night and day so no one can disturb it;
4 ARST I am no longer angry with my people; if any of your enemies try to injure you like briers and thorns injure people, I will attack them in battle; I will get rid of them completely, BSB BSB: I am not angry. If only thorns and briers confronted Me, I would march and trample them, I would burn them to the ground.
5 ARST unless they request me to protect them; I strongly invite them to make peace with me!” BSB BSB: Or let them lay claim to My protection; let them make peace with Me—yes, let them make peace with Me.”
6 ARST There will be a time when the descendants of Jacob will prosper like a plant that has good roots; they will be like trees that bud and blossom and bear a lot of fruit; what they do will bless all the people in the world. BSB BSB: In the days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will bud and blossom and fill the whole world with fruit.
7 ARST Has Yahweh punished us Israelites like he punished our enemies? Has he punished us as much as he punished them? BSB BSB: Has the LORD struck Israel as He struck her oppressors? Was she killed like those who slayed her?
8 ARST No, he has not done that, but he did punish us Israelite people and exiled us; we were taken away from our land as though we were struck by a windstorm from the east. BSB BSB: By warfare and exile You contended with her and removed her with a fierce wind, as on the day the east wind blows.
9 ARST Yahweh did that in order to punish us for our sins and remove our guilt. As a result of our being exiled, all the altars to other gods in Israel will be demolished, and we will be forgiven for the sins that we have committed. There will be no more poles for worshiping the goddess Asherah or altars for burning incense to other gods; they will all be torn down and smashed to bits. BSB BSB: Therefore Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for, and the full fruit of the removal of his sin will be this: When he makes all the altar stones like crushed bits of chalk, no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.
10 ARST The cities that have strong walls around them will be empty; like the desert, they will have no one living in them. The houses will be abandoned, and the streets will be full of weeds. Calves will eat grass there and lie down there; they will chew up all the leaves on the trees. BSB BSB: For the fortified city lies deserted—a homestead abandoned, a wilderness forsaken. There the calves graze, and there they lie down; they strip its branches bare.
11 ARST The Israelite people are like dry branches on a tree; women break them off and use them to make fires under their cooking pots. Our Israelite people do not have any sense; so Yahweh, who created them, will not act mercifully toward them or be kind to them. BSB BSB: When its limbs are dry, they are broken off. Women come and use them for kindling; for this is a people without understanding. Therefore their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.
12 ARST However, there will be a time when Yahweh will gather them together again; he will separate them from the people who have conquered them, like people separate wheat from chaff. He will bring them back to Israel, one by one, from the land between the Euphrates River in the northeast and the brook at the border of Egypt in the southwest. BSB BSB: In that day the LORD will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, O Israelites, will be gathered one by one.
13 ARST At that time, a trumpet will be blown very loudly. And those who were exiled to Assyria and Egypt and who almost died there will return to Jerusalem, to worship Yahweh on Zion, his holy hill. BSB BSB: And in that day a great ram’s horn will sound, and those who were perishing in Assyria will come forth with those who were exiles in Egypt. And they will worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.