Isaiah

¹ his merciless, massive, mighty sword. He'll punish the serpent Leviathan as it flees, the serpent Leviathan thrashing in flight. He'll kill that old dragon that lives in the sea.

² There's something to sing about!

³ I keep it well-watered. I keep careful watch over it so that no one can damage it.

⁴ Even if it gives me thistles and thornbushes, I'll just pull them out and burn them up.

⁵ let it find a good and whole life with me, let it hold on for a good and whole life."

⁶ shall put down roots, Israel blossom and grow fresh branches, and fill the world with its fruit.

⁷ as he knocked down those who hit them? Oh, no. Were they killed as their killers were killed? Again, no.

⁸ He blew them away on a fierce blast of wind.

⁹ Jacob's guilt was taken away. The evidence that his sin is removed will be this: He will tear down the alien altars, take them apart stone by stone, And then crush the stones into gravel and clean out all the sex-and-religion shrines.

¹⁰ Nobody lives there anymore. It's unlivable. But animals do just fine, browsing and bedding down.

¹¹ Dry twigs and dead branches are plentiful. It's the leavings of a people with no sense of God. So, the God who made them Will have nothing to do with them. He who formed them will turn his back on them.

¹² from the River Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt, And you, people of Israel, will be selected grain by grain.

¹³ calling home the exiles from Assyria, Welcoming home the refugees from Egypt to come and worship God on the holy mountain, Jerusalem.