Isa 27 | EE | STEP | In that day the LORD will punish Leviathan. The LORD will use his sword. His sword is great, powerful and strong. Leviathan is a snake that moves quickly in the sea. It is a snake that puts itself round things. He will kill that great animal in the sea.

Isaiah 27

1 In that day the LORD will punish Leviathan. The LORD will use his sword. His sword is great, powerful and strong. Leviathan is a snake that moves quickly in the sea. It is a snake that puts itself round things. He will kill that great animal in the sea.

God will guard his people

2 ‘In that day, sing about a field where vines are growing. It is full of fruit!

3 I, the LORD, will guard it. I will continue to put water on it. I will guard it night and day, so that nobody will destroy it.

4 I am not angry. If there were thorny bushes or briars (in my field of vines), I would march against it in a war. I would make fire out of the thorns and briars.

5 Or he should trust me to help him. He should trust me because I am very strong. He should not fight with me. He should agree to have peace with me. Yes, he should agree to have peace with me.

6 The days will come when Jacob will grow like a plant in the ground. Israel will grow and they will make flowers. They will fill all the world with fruit.’

God has a purpose when he punishes people

7 The LORD has hit those enemies who hit his people. And he has hit his people like that. The LORD has killed those enemies. And he has killed his people like that.

8 LORD you fought against your people. You sent them into exile. He has sent them there with a cruel wind. It was like a day when the east wind blows.

9 So this is how Jacob will be sorry because of his sins. And this will be the result when God has taken away Jacob’s sin completely: The LORD will break all the stones in their altars to pieces like stones of chalk. He will not let the Asherah poles or the altars for incense continue to stand.

10 Then the strong city will be empty. Everybody who lived there will leave it. It will be like a dry sandy place. Nobody will go there. Young cows will eat the grass and they will lie down there. They will eat everything on the branches of the trees.

11 When their branches become dry, people will break them off the trees. The women will come and they will make fires with them. That will happen because these people do not understand things. So, their Maker will not help them. Also, their Creator will not be kind to them.

12 And in that day this will happen. The LORD will fetch you, one after another one, you sons of Israel. A farmer takes the good seeds from the plants. It will be like that. The LORD will take his people from all the land between the River Euphrates and the stream of Egypt. ^{▼▼27:12 We think that ‘the stream of Egypt’ means the River Nile.}

13 And in that day this will happen. Someone will make a sound on a big trumpet. And people who are dying in Assyria will come. Also, people in exile in the country called Egypt will come. They will worship the LORD on the mountain at Jerusalem.