the Lord will punish with his sword—

his fierce, great and powerful sword—

Leviathan the gliding serpent,

Leviathan the coiling serpent;

he will slay the monster of the sea.

“Sing about a fruitful vineyard:

3I, the Lord, watch over it;

I water it continually.

I guard it day and night

so that no one may harm it.

4I am not angry.

If only there were briers and thorns confronting me!

I would march against them in battle;

I would set them all on fire.

5Or else let them come to me for refuge;

let them make peace with me,

yes, let them make peace with me.”

6In days to come Jacob will take root,

Israel will bud and blossom

and fill all the world with fruit.

7Has the Lord struck her

as he struck down those who struck her?

Has she been killed

as those were killed who killed her?

8By warfare^a and exile you contend with her—

with his fierce blast he drives her out,

as on a day the east wind blows.

9By this, then, will Jacob’s guilt be atoned for,

and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:

When he makes all the altar stones

to be like limestone crushed to pieces,

no Asherah poles^b or incense altars

will be left standing.

10The fortified city stands desolate,

an abandoned settlement, forsaken like the wilderness;

there the calves graze,

there they lie down;

they strip its branches bare.

11When its twigs are dry, they are broken off

and women come and make fires with them.

For this is a people without understanding;

so their Maker has no compassion on them,

and their Creator shows them no favor.