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CHAPTER 27 Jun. 3 
Israel Restored
In that day, Yahweh with His hard and great and strong sword will punish leviathan, the fleeing serpent, and leviathan the twisted serpent; and He will kill the dragon that is in the sea. 2In that day, sing to her, A pleasant vineyard! 3I, Yahweh, am its keeper. I will water it every moment. Lest anyone damage it, I will keep it night and day. 4Wrath is not in Me, but if I should find briers and thorns, I would do battle! I would march on them and I would burn them together. 5Or else let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he will make peace with Me. 6In days to come, Jacob will take root,  Israel will blossom and bud; they will fill the face of the world with fruit. 7Has He struck them as He struck those who struck them? Or are they killed like those who killed them were killed? 8In measure, when You send them away, You contend with them. He has removed them with His rough blast in the day of the east wind. 9Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob will be forgiven, and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: that he makes all the stones of the altar as chalk stones that are beaten in pieces, so that the Asherim and the incense altars shall rise no more. 10For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness. The calf will feed there and there he will lie down and consume its branches. 11When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore He who made them will not have compassion on them, and He who formed them will show them no grace. 12It will happen in that day, that Yahweh will thresh from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered one by one, you children of Israel. 13It will happen in that day that a great trumpet will be blown; and those who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and those who were outcasts in the land of Egypt, shall come; and they will worship Yahweh in the holy mount at Jerusalem.

Commentary


27:3 The vineyard owner in this simile is almost obsessive- he waters it continually, and day and night watches its borders. This unusual level care of God for the vineyard of His people (5:7) is so that the vineyard has no excuse for not bringing forth fruit. God has done all that He can so that we should bring forth fruit (5:4). We cannot therefore excuse our lack of fruitfulness by saying that if we had a better or different situation, we would then be fruitful. God has given us exactly the required environment in order to be fruitful, and the level of His care should never be doubted.
27:9 This is all the fruit of taking away his sin- God isn’t saying that if Israel destroyed their altars, then He would forgive them. Instead His way of grace is to take away sin and then hope that we will make response to that, in this case, by destroying the altars.