2  In that day,

g“A pleasant vineyard,1 hsing of it!

3  I, the Lord, am its keeper;

every moment I water it.

Lest anyone punish it,

I keep it night and day;

4  I have no wrath.

iWould that I had thorns and briers to battle!

I would march against them,

I would burn them up together.

5  Or let them lay hold of my protection,

let them make peace with me,

let them make peace with me.”

6  jIn days to come2 Jacob shall take root,

Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots

and fill the whole world with fruit.

7  kHas he struck them las he struck those who struck them?

Or have they been slain mas their slayers were slain?

8  nMeasure by measure,3 by exile you contended with them;

ohe removed them with his fierce breath4 in the day of the east wind.

9  Therefore by this pthe guilt of Jacob will be atoned for,

and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:5

qwhen he makes all the stones of the altars

like chalkstones crushed to pieces,

no rAsherim or incense altars will remain standing.

10  sFor the fortified city is solitary,

a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness;

there the calf grazes;

there it lies down and strips its branches.

11  When its boughs are dry, they are broken;

women come and make a fire of them.

tFor this is a people without discernment;

therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them;

he who formed them will show them no favor.