The LORD’s Vineyard
(John 15:1–8)

1In that day, the Lord will visit, with his harsh and great and strong sword, against Leviathan, the barred serpent, and against Leviathan, the twisted serpent, and he will slay the whale that is in the sea.

2In that day, the vineyard of pure wine will sing to them.

3I am the Lord, who watches over it. I will suddenly give drink to it. I will watch over it, night and day, lest perhaps someone visit against it.

4Indignation is not mine. Who will be a thorn and a brier to me in battle? I will advance against them. I set them on fire together.

5Or will he, instead, take hold of my strength? Will he make peace with me? Will she make peace with me?

6As they advance with violence against Jacob, Israel will flourish and spring forth, and they will fill the face of the world with offspring.

7Has he struck him with the scourge that he himself used to strike others? Or has he killed in the manner that he himself used to kill his victims?

8You will judge this by comparing one measure to another, when he has been cast out. He has decided this, by his stern spirit, for the day of heat.

9Therefore, concerning this, the iniquity of the house of Jacob will be forgiven. And this is the reward of all: that their sin be taken away, when he will have made all the stones of the altar to be like crushed cinders. For the sacred groves and the shrines shall not stand.

10For the fortified city will be desolate. The shining city will be abandoned and will be left behind like a desert. In that place, the calf will pasture, and in that place, he will lie down, and he will feed from its summits.

11Its harvest will be crushed by dryness. Women will arrive and teach it, for it is not a wise people. Because of this, he who made it will not take pity on it, and he who formed it will not spare it.

12And this shall be: in that day, the Lord will strike, from the channel of the river, even to the torrent of Egypt. And you shall be gathered together, one by one, O sons of Israel. 13And this shall be: in that day, a noise will be made with a great trumpet. And those who had been lost will approach from the land of the Assyrians, with those who had been outcasts in the land of Egypt. And they will adore the Lord, on the holy mountain, in Jerusalem.