Isaiah 27

₁On that day

the Lord will kill the fast snake.

He will kill the Leviathan,

the monster snake that swims in the sea.

The Lord will take his sharp, big, strong sword

and He will cut down and kill the snake.

₂On that day you must sing

about the beautiful vineyard of the Lord.

You must sing about his people.

₃The Lord says:

‘I will protect my vineyard,

I will give water to my vineyard,

I will look after my vineyard day and night,

and no one will be able to destroy it.

₄I am not angry anymore,

but if I find weeds or bushes in my vineyard,

I will trample my vineyard

and I will burn it down,

and also the weeds and bushes.

₅If my people do not want Me to do it,

they must make peace with Me.

They must make peace with Me.

₆The time will come when the Israelites

will be like trees that have roots,

flowers and fruit.

There will be a lot of fruit.

The earth will be full of fruit.’

₇The Lord has punished the people of Israel

but He has punished

their enemies even more.

He has killed some of the people of Israel

but He has killed more of their murderers.

₈The Lord punishes the people of Israel

in a different way.

He sent them out of their land.

When the hot eastern wind blew,

the Lord blew them away

with the strong wind.

₉So, if the people of Israel

want the Lord to forgive their sins now,

they must break down all the altars.

They must break them down and beat them

into small pieces like they

beat lime stone until it is fine.

There must be no sacred_pillars

and incense-altars anymore.

₁₀The Israelites must break down

the altars into pieces,

because the city is alone.

No people are living in the city

that had strong walls anymore.

It is empty like a desert,

and there are cows that eat the bushes.

₁₁The branches of the trees

are dry and weak,

and even women can break them down to make fire.

This is what happened to the people of Israel.

They did not want to live

as the Lord wanted them to live.

That is why the One who made them

did not feel sorry for them

and that is why He is

not good to them anymore.

₁₂But the time will come when the Lord

will bring the Israelites together,

from the Euphrates River to the Egypt Stream.

He will pick them up like someone

who picks up heads_of_wheat.

First He will pick up one,

and then He will pick up another,

but not all at the same time.

₁₃On that day someone will blow the big trumpet.

All the Israelites

who are in Assyria and Egypt

will come and they will bow down

before the Lord on

the holy_mountain in Jerusalem.