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Isaiah 27

KJV · Chapter 27/66

1In 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.

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

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

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.

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

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?

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God promises to defeat 'Leviathan,' a symbol of chaotic and hostile forces, and to care for Israel like a carefully guarded vineyard. The chapter ends with the promise that Israel's scattered people, both from Assyria and from Egypt, will one day return to worship in Jerusalem.

Explanation

'Leviathan' was a mythological sea creature mentioned in various cultures of the ancient Near East (it also appears in Job 41 and Psalm 74) as a symbol of chaos and evil; here Isaiah promises that God will decisively defeat these hostile forces, whether oppressive nations or spiritual evil itself. The return of the vineyard image (already used in chapter 5) now shows God tending it with constant care, a contrast with the neglected and destroyed vineyard of before — a sign of restoration. The final promise to gather the exiles 'with a great trumpet' from Assyria and Egypt anticipates the people's physical return to their land, something that would be fulfilled centuries later. The application today is that God has power over all forces that seem uncontrollable, and his promise of restoration includes gathering what was scattered.

Fun facts

  • 'Leviathan' also appears in Canaanite (Ugaritic) mythological texts as a seven-headed sea serpent called Lotan, showing that the biblical authors used culturally recognizable images to communicate truths about God's power over chaos.
  • The 'great trumpet' that would gather the exiles is an image that reappears in Jewish tradition as a symbol of the final gathering of the people of Israel, and it influenced later expressions about divine callings.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Isaiah 27:1Leviathan and the dragon of the sea come from an ancient Near Eastern image of a giant sea serpent representing primordial chaos — other peoples of the region had similar myths of gods defeating sea monsters. Here the image describes God defeating hostile powers, without treating the creature as a literal animal.
  2. Isaiah 27:2After Leviathan’s defeat in the previous verse, the tone shifts to a song of celebration: there will be a vineyard producing choice wine, an invitation to sing about it — the same vineyard image from chapter 5, but now with a positive outcome.
  3. Isaiah 27:3Unlike the abandoned vineyard of chapter 5, now the LORD Himself personally tends this vineyard, watering it constantly and protecting it day and night from any harm.
  4. Isaiah 27:4God declares that He no longer holds fury against this vineyard; if briers and thorns appear, an image of enemies, He will confront and burn them, instead of letting the vineyard be destroyed as before.
  5. Isaiah 27:5Instead of destroying, God offers a way out: whoever wants may take hold of His strength and make peace with Him — the same power that once punished is now available for reconciliation.
  6. Isaiah 27:6Promises a future of growth for Jacob and Israel: firm roots, blossoming, and fruit that will fill the whole world — the complete opposite of the destroyed vineyard in chapter 5.
  7. Isaiah 27:7A rhetorical question comparing Israel’s punishment to that of its enemies: did God strike Israel as harshly as He struck those who oppressed them? The implied answer is no — Israel’s punishment was more measured, not equal to the destruction of its enemies.
  8. Isaiah 27:8Explains that God dealt with Israel “in measure,” in a controlled and proportional way, sending it into exile as if carried off by a strong east wind — calculated discipline, not total destruction.
  9. Isaiah 27:9Reducing the altar stones to chalk dust is an image of thoroughly destroying the altars used in foreign worship. It is the end of idolatry described as the literal demolition of stone.
  10. Isaiah 27:10In contrast to Israel’s restoration, the fortified city, probably an enemy capital, is left completely abandoned, turning into pasture where even calves feed on the branches that remain.
  11. Isaiah 27:11When the branches of this abandoned city dry up, they are broken off and used as firewood by the very women there — the people who lived there were so lacking in understanding that not even their Maker will have compassion on them.
  12. Isaiah 27:12Ends with an agricultural image of selective harvest: the LORD shall “beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt,” gathering the children of Israel one by one — a careful, individual regathering of the scattered people.
  13. Isaiah 27:13The great trumpet is the signal used to gather scattered people. Here it announces the return of exiles from Assyria and Egypt to worship in Jerusalem, a kind of call back home.

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