Isaiah 27
27
The Judgment and Deliverance of Israel
1On that day,
The Lord will punish with his sword
that is cruel, great, and strong,
Leviathan the fleeing serpent,
Leviathan the coiled serpent;
he will slay the dragon#Leviathan…dragon: the description of Leviathan is almost identical to a passage from a much earlier Ugaritic text. The sea dragon became a symbol of the forces of evil which God vanquishes even as he overcame primeval chaos; cf. notes on 30:7; 51:9–10; Jb 3:8; 7:12; no power can challenge God. Leviathan is even spoken of playfully in Ps 104:26. in the sea.#Jb 40:25–32; Ps 74:12–14; Ez 32:2.
2#This passage mitigates the harsh words on Israel as the Lord’s vineyard in 5:1–7; here is given the rain there withheld, though Israel’s welfare is still made dependent on fidelity. On that day—
The pleasant vineyard, sing about it!#Is 5:1; Am 5:11.
3I, the Lord, am its keeper,
I water it every moment;
Lest anyone harm it,
night and day I guard it.#Is 5:2–7.
4I am not angry.
But if I were to find briers and thorns,
In battle I would march against it;
I would burn it all.#Is 10:17.
5But if it holds fast to my refuge,
it shall have peace with me;#Jb 22:21.
it shall have peace with me.
6In days to come Jacob shall take root,
Israel shall sprout and blossom,
covering all the world with fruit.#Is 37:31–32; Hos 14:5–6.
7#Israel was not treated as sternly as were its enemies whom God used to punish it. God did, however, drive Israel from its land, and if it wants to make peace with God, it must change its former cultic practices, destroying its altars and sacred groves (cf. 17:7–11). Was he smitten as his smiter was smitten?
Was he slain as his slayer was slain?
8Driving out and expelling, he struggled against it,
carrying it off with his cruel wind on a day of storm.#Jer 18:17.
9This, then, shall be the expiation of Jacob’s guilt,
this the result of removing his sin:
He shall pulverize all the stones of the altars
like pieces of chalk;
no asherahs or incense altars shall stand.
10For the fortified city shall be desolate,
an abandoned pasture, a forsaken wilderness;
There calves shall graze, there they shall lie down,
and consume its branches.
11When its boughs wither, they shall be broken off;
and women shall come to kindle fires with them.
For this is not an understanding people;
therefore their maker shall not spare them;
their creator shall not be gracious to them.#Is 1:3; 5:13; Jer 4:22.
12On that day,
The Lord shall beat out grain
from the channel of the Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt,
and you shall be gleaned#Gleaned: God will harvest his people who have been scattered from Assyria to Egypt. Note the same language of gleaning to describe the remnant of the Northern Kingdom in 17:5–6. one by one, children of Israel.
13On that day,#The remnant of Israel will return to Jerusalem for worship; cf. 11:10–16.
A great trumpet shall blow,
and the lost in the land of Assyria
and the outcasts in the land of Egypt
Shall come and worship the Lord
on the holy mountain, in Jerusalem.#Is 11:11–16.
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Isaiah 27: NABRE
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Isaiah 27
27
1 #
Job 41.1; Ps 74.14; 104.26. On that day, Leviathan,#27.1 Leviathan: God's victory over this monster sometimes stands for God's power over all creation and sometimes for his defeat of his enemies, especially Egypt.
the sea monster,
will squirm and try to escape,
but the Lord will kill him
with a cruel, sharp sword.
Protection and Forgiveness
The Lord said:
2At that time you must sing
about a fruitful#27.2 fruitful: Some Hebrew manuscripts have “lovely.” vineyard.
3I, the Lord, will protect it
and always keep it watered.
I will guard it day and night
to keep it from harm.
4I am no longer angry.
But if it produces thorns,
I will go to war against it
and burn it to the ground.
5Yet if the vineyard depends
on me for protection,
it will become my friend
and be at peace with me.
6Someday Israel will take root
like a vine.
It will blossom and bear fruit
that covers the earth.
7I, the Lord, didn't punish and kill
the people of Israel
as fiercely as I punished
and killed their enemies.
8I carefully measured out
Israel's punishment#27.8 I … punishment: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
and sent the scorching heat
to chase them far away.
9There's only one way
that Israel's sin and guilt
can be completely forgiven:
They must crush the stones
of every pagan altar
and place of worship.
The Lord Will Bring His People Together
10Fortress cities are left
like a desert
where no one lives.
Cattle walk through the ruins,
stripping the trees bare.
11When broken branches
fall to the ground,
women pick them up
to feed the fire.
But these people are so stupid
that the God who created them
will show them no mercy.
12The time is coming when the Lord will shake the land between the Euphrates River and the border of Egypt, and one by one he will bring all of his people together. 13A loud trumpet will be heard. Then the people of Israel who were dragged away to Assyria and Egypt will return to worship the Lord on his holy mountain in Jerusalem.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.