Isaiah

In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.

1On that day the LORD will take his sharp, huge, powerful sword and punish Leviathan, the darting snake. He will punish Leviathan, the twisting snake, and he will kill the monster that lives in the sea.

NoteLeviathan is a huge sea monster. In the Bible it stands for a fearsome power that only God can defeat.

2In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine.

2On that day, sing about it: a vineyard full of good fruit.

3I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.

3"I, the LORD, take care of that vineyard. I water it all the time. I guard it day and night so no one can harm it.

4Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together.

4I am not angry. If thorns and briers came to fight me, I would march right through them and burn them all up.

Note"Fury is not in me" in the old wording means "I am not angry," not that God never gets angry.

5Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.

5Or let my enemies grab hold of me for safety and make peace with me. Yes, let them make peace with me."

6He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.

6In the days ahead, Jacob's family will take root. Israel will bud and bloom and fill the whole world with fruit.

7Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?

7Did the LORD hit Israel as hard as he hit the nations that attacked her? Did he kill her people the way those nations were killed? No.

8In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind.

8You punished her by sending her away, war and exile, no more than she needed. You swept her off with a fierce blast, like the hot east wind.

9By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.

9So this is how Jacob's guilt will be wiped away. The full result of removing his sin will be this: he will smash every altar stone to powder, and no idol poles or incense altars will be left standing.

Note"Groves" in the old English means carved wooden poles set up for worshiping other gods, not clumps of trees.

10Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof.

10But the walled city sits empty. The homes are abandoned and left like a desert. Calves feed there and lie down there, and they strip the branches bare.

11When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.

11When the branches dry out, they snap off. Women come and gather them for firewood. These people do not understand anything. So the God who made them shows them no pity or kindness.

12And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel.

12On that day the LORD will gather his people like a farmer beating grain loose, from the Euphrates River all the way to the brook of Egypt. People of Israel, you will be picked up one by one.

Note"Beat off" describes threshing: hitting harvested grain so the good kernels fall loose and can be picked up. The picture is God gathering his people carefully, one at a time.

13And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.

13On that day a great ram's horn will sound. Those who were dying in Assyria will come, and so will those driven away into Egypt. They will worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.