בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִפְקֹד ה' בְּחַרְבּוֹ הַקָּשָׁה וְהַגְּדוֹלָה וְהַחֲזָקָה עַל לִוְיָתָן נָחָשׁ בָּרִחַ וְעַל לִוְיָתָן נָחָשׁ עֲקַלָּתוֹן וְהָרַג אֶת הַתַּנִּין אֲשֶׁר בַּיָּם

On that day, the Great Day of Judgment, the Lord will reckon, judge and punish, with His harsh, great, and powerful sword against leviathan the bar-serpent and leviathan the twisted serpent. The leviathan serpent is described as a bar, as in the bar of a door or the bar joining the part of a wall together. This description refers to its strength, its shape, or its central role. And He will kill the great serpent that is in the sea.

בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא כֶּרֶם חֶמֶר עַנּוּ לָהּ

The prophet returns to the song of praise that will be recited when God reveals Himself in the land at the time of the redemption: On that day, sing about it: A vineyard of wine. Vineyards and vines are common metaphors for Israel in the Bible.

אֲנִי ה' נֹצְרָהּ לִרְגָעִים אַשְׁקֶנָּה פֶּן יִפְקֹד עָלֶיהָ לַיְלָה וָיוֹם אֶצֳּרֶנָּה

I, the Lord, guard it; every moment I water it, lest it lack anything, or lest the enemy harm it; night and day, I guard it.

חֵמָה אֵין לִי מִי יִתְּנֵנִי שָׁמִיר שַׁיִת בַּמִּלְחָמָה אֶפְשְׂעָה בָהּ אֲצִיתֶנָּה יָּחַד

I have no fury at the vineyard, and therefore I will cultivate and protect it tirelessly, and I will not allow thorns and weeds, which represent Israel’s internal and external enemies, to ruin it. If anyone were to set against Me, My vine, which is identified with me, thorn and thistle in war, by attacking it, I would trample upon the enemy in it, on the battlefield, and ignite it altogether. After the forces of evil were likened to the primordial leviathan, here they are depicted through a far more prosaic metaphor: They are likened to thorns in a vineyard that are trampled and then burned.

אוֹ יַחֲזֵק בְּמָעוּזִּי יַעֲשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם לִי שָׁלוֹם יַעֲשֶׂה לִּי

The vine declares: Then He will reinforce my stronghold, and He will make peace for me, peace He will make for me.

הַבָּאִים יַשְׁרֵשׁ יַעֲקֹב יָצִיץ וּפָרַח יִשְׂרָאֵל וּמָלְאוּ פְנֵי תֵבֵל תְּנוּבָה

In days to come, after the thorns have been eliminated, the vine of Jacob will take root; Israel will bud and blossom, and the face of the earth will be filled with produce from the good vineyard.

הַכְּמַכַּת מַכֵּהוּ הִכָּהוּ ! אִם כְּהֶרֶג הֲרֻגָיו הֹרָג!

When God destroyed the thorns, the vine itself was damaged. However, did He strike it, the vine, like the strike of its strikers, the enemies? Was it, the vine, killed like the killing of its killers? The fate of the vine cannot be likened to that of the thorns.

בְּסַאסְּאָה בְּשַׁלְחָהּ תְּרִיבֶנָּה הָגָה בְּרוּחוֹ הַקָּשָׁה בְּיוֹם קָדִים

In measure, in sending him, the enemy of Israel, away, You contend with him. He roared with his harsh wind on the day of the strong east wind, the Day of Judgment. God did not harm the vine of Israel in order to destroy it, but to repair it.

לָכֵן בְּזֹאת יְכֻפַּר עֲוֹן יַעֲקֹב וְזֶה כָּל פְּרִי הָסִר חַטָּאתוֹ בְּשׂוּמוֹ כָּל אַבְנֵי מִזְבֵּחַ כְּאַבְנֵי גִר מְנֻפָּצוֹת לֹא יָקֻמוּ אֲשֵׁרִים וְחַמָּנִים

Therefore, with this the iniquity of Jacob will be atoned, and this is the consequence of removal of his sin: In his rendering all the altar stones of idol worship like shattered limestone, through this purification process, the sacred trees used in idolatrous rites and the idolatrous sunstones will not stand.

כִּי עִיר בְּצוּרָה — בָּדָד נָוֶה מְשֻׁלָּח וְנֶעֱזָב כַּמִּדְבָּר שָׁם יִרְעֶה עֵגֶל וְשָׁם יִרְבָּץ וְכִלָּה סְעִפֶיהָ

For the fortified evil city is to remain alone, without protection or security. Likewise, the habitation will be abandoned and forsaken like the wilderness; there, in deserted areas, the calf will graze on the weeds that will grow wild, and there it will lie undisturbed and consume its branches from the bushes that will grow unchecked.

בִּיבֹשׁ קְצִירָהּ תִּשָּׁבַרְנָה נָשִׁים בָּאוֹת מְאִירוֹת אוֹתָהּ כִּי לֹא עַם בִּינוֹת הוּא עַל כֵּן לֹא יְרַחֲמֶנּוּ עֹשֵׂהוּ וְיֹצְרוֹ לֹא יְחֻנֶּנּוּ

When its, the deserted place’s, boughs wither, they will break; women will come and kindle it. This symbolizes the destruction of evil: Once its moisture, representing its hidden, redeemable element, has been extracted, that which remains will break and be destroyed. For it, Israel, is not a people of understanding, as they do not return to God of their own initiative. Therefore, its Maker will not be merciful to it, and its Fashioner will not show it grace. Israel will be smitten mercilessly until the world is fully cleansed.

וְהָיָה בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יַחְבֹּט ה'מִשִּׁבֹּלֶת הַנָּהָר עַד נַחַל מִצְרָיִם וְאַתֶּם תְּלֻקְּטוּ לְאַחַד אֶחָד בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל

The prophecy ends with another agricultural metaphor, the beating of olive trees to cause the fruit to fall: It will be on that day that the Lord will thrash His olives, a process that sometimes causes the smaller branches to break. God will do so in the entire area, from the torrent of the river in the East, presumably the river known as Shatt al-Arab, formed by the confluence of the Euphrates and the Tigris, which has a very strong current, until the stream of Egyptin the West. And then you will be gathered one by one, like the remaining individual olives, children of Israel.

וְהָיָה בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִתָּקַע בְּשׁוֹפָר גָּדוֹל וּבָאוּ הָאֹבְדִים בְּאֶרֶץ אַשּׁוּר וְהַנִּדָּחִים בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם וְהִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לַה' בְּהַר הַקֹּדֶשׁ בִּירוּשָׁלִָם

It will be on that day that a great shofar will be sounded as a sign of victory, as well as a call to gather and return home; and the Israelites lost and assimilated among the nations in the land of Assyria, the land beyond the torrent of the river mentioned in the previous verse, and the outcasts of Israel in the land of Egypt, the land beyond the stream mentioned above, will come to their land. God will stir the world, and His people will awaken and return, and they will prostrate themselves to the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.