Isaiah 27
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 27
The Judgment and Deliverance of Israel
1 On that day,
The Lord will punish with his sword
that is cruel, great, and strong,
Leviathan the fleeing serpent,
Leviathan the coiled serpent;
he will slay the dragon[a] in the sea.(A)
2 [b]On that day—
The pleasant vineyard, sing about it!(B)
3 I, the Lord, am its keeper,
I water it every moment;
Lest anyone harm it,
night and day I guard it.(C)
4 I am not angry.
But if I were to find briers and thorns,
In battle I would march against it;
I would burn it all.(D)
5 But if it holds fast to my refuge,
it shall have peace with me;(E)
it shall have peace with me.
6 In days to come Jacob shall take root,
Israel shall sprout and blossom,
covering all the world with fruit.(F)
7 [c]Was he smitten as his smiter was smitten?
Was he slain as his slayer was slain?
8 Driving out and expelling, he struggled against it,
carrying it off with his cruel wind on a day of storm.(G)
9 This, then, shall be the expiation of Jacob’s guilt,
this the result of removing his sin:
He shall pulverize all the stones of the altars
like pieces of chalk;
no asherahs or incense altars shall stand.
10 For the fortified city shall be desolate,
an abandoned pasture, a forsaken wilderness;
There calves shall graze, there they shall lie down,
and consume its branches.
11 When its boughs wither, they shall be broken off;
and women shall come to kindle fires with them.
For this is not an understanding people;
therefore their maker shall not spare them;
their creator shall not be gracious to them.(H)
12 On that day,
The Lord shall beat out grain
from the channel of the Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt,
and you shall be gleaned[d] one by one, children of Israel.
13 On that day,[e]
A great trumpet shall blow,
and the lost in the land of Assyria
and the outcasts in the land of Egypt
Shall come and worship the Lord
on the holy mountain, in Jerusalem.(I)
Footnotes
- 27:1 Leviathan…dragon: the description of Leviathan is almost identical to a passage from a much earlier Ugaritic text. The sea dragon became a symbol of the forces of evil which God vanquishes even as he overcame primeval chaos; cf. notes on 30:7; 51:9–10; Jb 3:8; 7:12; no power can challenge God. Leviathan is even spoken of playfully in Ps 104:26.
- 27:2–5 This passage mitigates the harsh words on Israel as the Lord’s vineyard in 5:1–7; here is given the rain there withheld, though Israel’s welfare is still made dependent on fidelity.
- 27:7–9 Israel was not treated as sternly as were its enemies whom God used to punish it. God did, however, drive Israel from its land, and if it wants to make peace with God, it must change its former cultic practices, destroying its altars and sacred groves (cf. 17:7–11).
- 27:12 Gleaned: God will harvest his people who have been scattered from Assyria to Egypt. Note the same language of gleaning to describe the remnant of the Northern Kingdom in 17:5–6.
- 27:13 The remnant of Israel will return to Jerusalem for worship; cf. 11:10–16.
Isaiah 27
King James Version
27 In 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.
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 go 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 images 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.
Isaiah 27
Expanded Bible
27 ·At that time [L In that day] the Lord will punish Leviathan [C a sea creature in ancient Near Eastern texts that represents chaos; Job 3:8; 41:1, 12; Ps. 74:14; 104:26], the ·gliding [or swift-moving; or fleeing] ·snake [serpent].
He will punish Leviathan, the ·coiled [writhing; twisting] ·snake [serpent],
with his great and hard and powerful sword.
He will kill the ·monster [dragon] in the sea.
2 ·At that time [L In that day]
sing about the ·pleasant [beautiful; or fruitful] vineyard [C God’s people; 5:1–7].
3 “I, the Lord, will ·care for [watch over] that vineyard;
I will water it ·at the right time [regularly; continually].
No one will hurt it,
because I will guard it day and night.
4 I am not ·angry [wrathful].
If ·anyone builds a wall of thornbushes in war [or only there were briers and thorns against me!],
I will march ·to it [against it in battle] and burn it.
5 But if anyone comes to me for ·safety [refuge; protection]
and wants to make peace with me,
·he should come and [let him] make peace with me.”
6 In the days to come, ·the people of Jacob [L Jacob] will ·be like a plant with good roots [take root];
Israel will ·grow like a plant beginning to bloom [L blossom and bud].
·Then the world will be filled with their children [L …and fill all the world with fruit].
The Lord Will Send Israel Away
7 ·The Lord has not hurt [L Has the Lord struck down…?] his people as he ·hurt their enemies [L struck down those who struck them];
·his people have not [L have they…?] been killed like those who tried to kill them.
8 He will ·settle his argument with Israel [or oppose her; contend with her] by sending her far away.
·Like a hot desert wind [L With his fierce breath in the day of the east wind; C the east wind came from the desert], he will drive her away.
9 This is how ·Israel’s [L Jacob’s] guilt will be forgiven;
this is how its sins will be taken away:
·Israel [L He] will crush the rocks of the altar [C pagan altars] to dust,
and no ·Asherah idols [L Asherahs; C sacred trees or poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah] or ·altars [incense altars] will be left standing.
10 ·At that time [L In that day] the ·strong, walled [fortified] city will be ·empty [desolate]
an abandoned settlement, empty like a ·desert [wilderness; 17:9; 32:14, 19].
Calves will eat grass there.
They will lie down there
and ·eat leaves from [strip bare] the branches.
11 The limbs will become dry and break off,
so women will use them for firewood.
The people ·refuse to understand [lack understanding/discernment],
so ·their Creator [the one who made them] will not comfort them;
·their Maker [the one who formed them] will not ·be kind [show favor] to them.
12 ·At that time [L In that day] the Lord will begin gathering ·his people [L you, sons/children of Israel] one by one from the ·Euphrates River [L flowing River] to the brook of Egypt. He will ·separate them from others as grain is separated from chaff [thresh/L beat them out]. 13 ·At that time [In that day] a great trumpet will be blown. Then those who are ·lost [or perishing] in Assyria and those who ·have run away [were exiled/driven out] to Egypt will come and worship the Lord on that holy mountain in Jerusalem.
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