The Prophets · Old Testament
Isaiah 27
Isaiah 27: leviathan slain, the vineyard kept, and Israel gathered one by one
General context
In that day the Lord with his sword punishes leviathan the piercing serpent and the crooked serpent, and slays the dragon in the sea. In that day a vineyard of red wine is to be sung to. The Lord says he keeps it, waters it every moment and guards it night and day. He says fury is not in him and asks who would set briers and thorns against him in battle; he would burn them together, or else let him take hold of his strength and make peace with him. Those who come of Jacob will take root, and Israel will blossom and bud and fill the face of the world with fruit. The speaker asks whether he has smitten him as he smote those who smote him, and answers that the debate is in measure, and that he stayed his rough wind in the day of the east wind. By this, the text says, the iniquity of Jacob is purged, when the altar stones are beaten to chalkstones and the groves and images no longer stand. Yet the defenced city is desolate, its habitation forsaken like a wilderness where a calf feeds and consumes the branches; when the boughs wither and break off, women come and set them on fire, because it is a people of no understanding, and their maker will show them no favour. In that day the Lord beats off from the channel of the river to the stream of Egypt, and the children of Israel are gathered one by one. A great trumpet is blown, and those ready to perish in Assyria and the outcasts in Egypt come to worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.
Cited passages: Isaiah 27:1, Isaiah 27:2, Isaiah 27:3, Isaiah 27:4, Isaiah 27:5, Isaiah 27:6, Isaiah 27:7, Isaiah 27:8, Isaiah 27:9, Isaiah 27:10, Isaiah 27:11, Isaiah 27:12, Isaiah 27:13
Isaiah 27 (KJV)
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.
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Historical context
The chapter names its people as Jacob and Israel, the children of Israel, and it names two lands from which the scattered return, Assyria and Egypt, with Jerusalem as the place of worship. Leviathan, the piercing and crooked serpent, and the dragon in the sea are not explained in the text; nothing says what nation or power they stand for. The vineyard is addressed as her and is not named, though the Lord says he keeps it; the text does not say whether it is the same vineyard as the song in chapter 5, where the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel. The defenced city of verse 10 is not named, and the text does not say whether it is Jacob's city or an enemy's. The speaker moves between the Lord speaking as I in verses 3 to 5 and a voice speaking about the Lord as he in verses 6 to 11, and the change is not marked. The chapter gives no date and no king. The phrase in that day opens verses 1, 2, 12 and 13, linking the chapter to the run of that day sayings since 24:21.
Cited passages: Isaiah 27:6, Isaiah 27:13, Isaiah 27:1, Isaiah 27:2, Isaiah 5:7, Isaiah 27:10, Isaiah 27:3, Isaiah 27:7, Isaiah 27:12
Literary context
The chapter is a sequence of in that day sayings, four in all, opening with a sword against the sea-serpent and closing with a trumpet and a pilgrimage. The vineyard song answers the vineyard of chapter 5: there the Lord threatened to lay it waste and let briers and thorns come up, here he waters it every moment and says fury is not in him, and the briers and thorns are enemies he would burn. Verse 7 turns on a question with a measured answer, distinguishing what the Lord did to Jacob from what he did to those who smote Jacob. The chapter holds two pictures side by side without reconciling them: Israel filling the world with fruit, and a forsaken city whose withered boughs women burn. Its image of gathering, one by one, is small in scale beside the great trumpet that follows. The chapter ends the section that began at 24:1, and 28:1 opens a new set of woes with a named addressee, Ephraim.
Cited passages: Isaiah 27:1, Isaiah 27:13, Isaiah 5:6, Isaiah 27:3, Isaiah 27:4, Isaiah 27:8, Isaiah 27:6, Isaiah 27:11, Isaiah 27:12, Isaiah 28:1
Key moments
- Leviathan under the sword (Isaiah 27:1). The Lord punishes the serpent and slays the dragon in the sea.
- The vineyard kept night and day (Isaiah 27:3). The Lord says he waters the vineyard every moment and guards it.
- Fury is not in me (Isaiah 27:5). The Lord invites the one who would fight him to take hold of his strength and make peace.
- Israel fills the world with fruit (Isaiah 27:6). Those of Jacob take root and Israel blossoms.
- Debate in measure (Isaiah 27:8). The speaker says the smiting was in measure and the rough wind was stayed.
- The forsaken city burned (Isaiah 27:11). Women burn the withered boughs of a people of no understanding.
- Gathered one by one (Isaiah 27:13). A great trumpet calls the perishing from Assyria and Egypt to worship at Jerusalem.
For reflection
The Lord says fury is not in him and offers peace to any who take hold of his strength, yet the same chapter says the maker of a people of no understanding will show them no favour. What does the text leave a reader to weigh between those two lines?
