Isaiah 27:1-13
1 In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercinga serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
2 In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine.
3 I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.
4 Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would gob through them, I would burn them together.
5 Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.
6 He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.
7 Hath 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?
8 In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind.
9 By 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 imagesc shall not stand up.
10 Yet 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.
11 When 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.
12 And 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.
13 And 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.
This circle of prophecy ends with a message which describes the process toward ultimate restoration, and announces its certainty. The way to restoration is the way of judgment, and this the prophet first announces in figurative language.
The first issue of judgment will be restoration of God's chosen people, and the prophet refers to this under the figure of the vineyard. This figure stands in striking contrast to that in chapter five. The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is now seen as kept by Him, and watered every moment, and the plant of His choice is seen filling the world with fruit. The process of such restoration is judgment, and the prophet declares this in the next section of the message. A ruined vineyard is always the result of failure, and on such failure the Lord can have no compassion.
The last note is hope. The broken and scattered people are to be brought back at the sound of the trumpet, and are to realize their highest vocation, that is, worshiping Jehovah in their holy mountain at Jerusalem.