Isaiah 27:8-13

8 ¹Measure by measure, ^[a] by exile you contended with them; ²he removed them with his fierce breath^[b] in the day of the east wind.

9 Therefore by this ³the guilt of Jacob will be atoned for, and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin: ^{[c] 4}when he makes all the stones of the altars like chalkstones crushed to pieces, no ⁵Asherim or incense altars will remain standing.

10 ⁶For 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. ⁷For 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.

12 In that day ⁸from the river Euphrates^[d] to the Brook of Egypt the Lord will thresh out the grain, and you will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel.

13 And in that day ⁹a great trumpet will be blown, ¹⁰and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt ¹¹will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

Isaiah 27:8-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 27

This chapter refers to the same times as the two foregoing ones Isa 25:1-26:21; and is a continuation of the same song, or rather a new one on the same occasion; it is prophetical of the last times, and of what shall be done in them, as the destruction of the antichristian powers, and Satan at the head of them, Isa 27:1 the happy state of the church, and its fruitfulness under the care and protection of the Lord, and his affection for it, Isa 27:2-4 its peace, prosperity, and flourishing condition, Isa 27:5,6 the nature, use, and end of all its afflictions and chastisements, Isa 27:7-9 the ruin and destruction of the city of Rome, and its inhabitants, and of its whole jurisdiction, Isa 27:10,11 a great gathering and conversion of the Lord's people, both Jews and Gentiles, by the ministry of the Gospel, Isa 27:12,13.

Cross References

• 1. 27:8 [Jer. 10:24]
• 2. 27:8 [Jer. 18:17]
• 3. 27:9 [ch. 22:14]
• 4. 27:9 [2 Kgs. 18:4]
• 5. 27:9 See Deut. 16:21
• 6. 27:10 ch. 17:9; 32:14, 19; [Hos. 8:14; Mic. 5:11]
• 7. 27:11 Deut. 32:28; See ch. 30:16-18
• 8. 27:12 See Gen. 15:18
• 9. 27:13 Lev. 25:9; [Matt. 24:31; Rev. 11:15]
• 10. 27:13 ch. 11:11, 16; Mic. 7:12
• 11. 27:13 [ch. 2:2]

Footnotes

• [a] 27:8 Or 'By driving her away'; the meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
• [b] 27:8 Or 'wind'
• [c] 27:9 Septuagint 'and this is the blessing when I take away his sin'
• [d] 27:12 Hebrew 'from the River'