Isaiah 27:1-11

1 In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.

2 In that day: "A pleasant vineyard, sing of it!

3 I, the LORD, am its keeper; every moment I water it. Lest any one harm it, I guard it night and day;

4 I have no wrath. Would that I had thorns and briers to battle! I would set out against them, I would burn them up together.

5 Or let them lay hold of my protection, let them make peace with me, let them make peace with me."

6 In days to come Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots, and fill the whole world with fruit.

7 Has he smitten them as he smote those who smote them? Or have they been slain as their slayers were slain?

8 Measure by measure, by exile thou didst contend with them; he removed them with his fierce blast in the day of the east wind.

9 Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be expiated, and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin: when he makes all the stones of the altars like chalkstones crushed to pieces, no Ashe'rim or incense altars will remain standing.

10 For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness; there the calf grazes, there he lies down, and strips its branches.

11 When its boughs are dry, they are broken; women come and make a fire of them. For this is a people without discernment; therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, he that formed them will show them no favor.

Isaiah 27:1-11 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.