Isaiah 27:8

8 By warfare^[a] and exile you contend with her— with his fierce blast he drives her out, as on a day the east wind blows.

Isaiah 27:8 in Other Translations

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

8 Measure by measure, by exile you contended with them; he removed them with his fierce breath in the day of the east wind.

8 No, but he exiled Israel to call her to account. She was exiled from her land as though blown away in a storm from the east.

8 He was hard on them all right. The exile was a harsh sentence. He blew them away on a fierce blast of wind.

8 You disputed with her by banishing and driving her away. He removed [her] with His severe storm on the day of the east wind.

Isaiah 27:8 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 27:8

In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with
it
Or, "when he sendeth it forth" ^F24; when God sends forth an affliction on his people, or gives it a commission to them, as all are sent by him, he does it with moderation; he proportions it to their strength, and will not suffer them to be afflicted above what they are able to bear; and as, in afflicting, he debates and contends with his people, having a controversy with them, so he contends with the affliction he sends, and debates the point with it, and checks and corrects it, and will not suffer it to go beyond due bounds; and in this the afflictions of God's people differ from the afflictions of others, about which he is careless and unconcerned: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of his east wind:
when afflictions, like a blustering and blasting east wind, threaten much mischief, and to carry all before them, Jehovah, from whom they have their commission, and who holds the winds in his fist, represses them, stops the violence of them, and gradually abates the force of them, and quite stills them, when they have answered the end for which they are sent: or "he meditateth" ^F25; or speaketh, as Jarchi interprets it, "by his rough wind in the day of his east wind"; God sometimes meditates hard things against his people, and speaks unto them by the rough dispensations of his providence, admonishes them of their sins, and brings them to a sense and acknowledgment of them, which is his view in suffering them to befall them; or, "he removes by his rough wind" ^F26; their fruit, so Kimchi interprets it; as a rough wind blows off the blossoms and fruits, so the Lord, by afflictions, removes the unkind blossoms and bad fruit from his people, their sins and transgressions, as it follows.

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 (hxlvb) "in emittendo eam", Montanus.
F25 (hgh) "meditatus est", V. L. so it is used in Psal. i. 2. It sometimes intends a great sound and noise, such as the roaring of a lion, Isa. xxxi. 4. and Gussetius here interprets it of thunder, Ebr. Comment. p. 202. so Castalio renders it, "sonans suo duro spiritu".
F26 "Removit in vento suo duro", Pagninus, Montanus; "removebit", Vatablus; "abstulit", Tigurine version, Piscator; so Ben Melech observes that the word has the signification of removing in Prov. xxv. 4, 5.

Isaiah 27:8 In-Context

6 In days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit.

7 Has the LORD struck her as he struck down those who struck her? Has she been killed as those were killed who killed her?

8 By warfare and exile you contend with her— with his fierce blast he drives her out, as on a day the east wind blows.

9 By this, then, will Jacob’s guilt be atoned for, and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin: When he makes all the altar stones to be like limestone crushed to pieces, no Asherah poles or incense altars will be left standing.

10 The fortified city stands desolate, an abandoned settlement, forsaken like the wilderness; there the calves graze, there they lie down; they strip its branches bare.

Cross References

• 1. Isaiah 49:14; Isaiah 50:1; Isaiah 54:7
• 2. S Genesis 41:6

Footnotes

• [a]. See Septuagint; the meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.