UST ISA Chapter 27

◄ ISA 27 ► ║ ═ ©

27 At that time, Yahweh will destroy the enemy nations that have oppressed the Israelites.

It will be as if he uses his big, strong, dangerous sword

to kill a sea monster that glides swiftly through the water

and moves so elusively that no one else can capture or kill it.

2 At that time, Yahweh will sing this song:

“You people of Israel, sing with me about the vineyard that delights me, which represents you!

3 I, Yahweh, guard that vineyard.

I water the plants frequently.

I guard it all the time

so that no one steals the fruit or harms the plants.

4 I am no longer angry with the vineyard for producing sour grapes,

so I will no longer allow weeds to grow wildly in it.

If I see any weeds, I will pull them out and burn them up,

as if I were attacking an enemy in battle.

5 Those weeds represent enemies who can make peace with me

and depend on me for protection

so that I do not destroy them.”

6 In the future, the descendants of Jacob will be like a plant with deep roots.

Those Israelites will flourish and prosper.

They will provide good things for people throughout the world.

7 Yahweh has not punished the Israelite people

as severely as he punished the nations that attacked them.

He has not killed Israelites the way he killed the enemies who killed them.

8 Yahweh disciplined his people just enough to correct them.

He did that by sending them away into exile.

He drove them out of their land the way a harsh east wind blows things away.

9 The descendants of Jacob will break down all of their pagan altars

and crush their stones to pieces as if they were chalk.

They will destroy the idols that they made

to represent the goddess Asherah and the sun.

When they do that, it will show that Yahweh has made them stop committing those sins

and has forgiven them.

10 Cities that once had strong walls around them are now empty.

People do not live in them anymore, just as they do not live in the desert.

Calves eat grass and lie down where the cities once were.

They chew the leaves off the branches of trees.

11 Those cities are like a tree that has died and whose branches have dried up.

Women come and break branches like that and use them to start fires.

Those people do not understand how Yahweh wants them to live.

So even though he created them,

he will not be merciful to them or treat them kindly.

12 However, at that future time, Yahweh will gather his people one by one.

He will separate them from the people of other nations

the way a farmer separates grain from chaff.

He will collect them all the way from the Euphrates River, which flows so strongly,

to the brook at the boundary of Egypt.

13 At that time, someone will blow a great ram’s horn.

Then those Israelites who are about to die in Assyria

and those whom their enemies have taken to Egypt

will come back to Jerusalem.

They will worship Yahweh there on his holy mountain, Mount Zion.