Isaiah 27

Chapter context

What is happening in Isaiah 27?

holinessjudgmentremnantmessiah

Isaiah 27 belongs to the middle movement of the book, especially the section often described as narratives around Assyria and Hezekiah. Isaiah is one of Scripture’s grandest prophetic books, moving from holy judgment to consolation, servant imagery, and new-creation hope. Read this chapter with the wider themes of holiness, judgment, and remnant in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.

¹ 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.

Study helps

Glossary

City People v. 10: The earliest mention of city-building is that of Enoch, which was built by Cain ( Gen. 4:17 ). After the confusion of tongues, the descendants of Nimrod founded several cities (10:10-12).
Brook of Egypt Place v. 12: The land of the Nile and the pyramids, the oldest kingdom of which we have any record, holds a place of great significance in Scripture. Modern identification: Wadi al Arish.
Euphrates Place v. 12: Biblical river. Modern identification: Euphrates River.
Assyria Place v. 13: Biblical region. Modern identification: Nineveh.
Egypt Place v. 13: The land of the Nile and the pyramids, the oldest kingdom of which we have any record, holds a place of great significance in Scripture. Modern identification: Ain Shams.
Jerusalem Place v. 13: Biblical settlement. Modern identification: Jerusalem.