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Isaiah 27

Isaiah 27 joins YHWH’s defeat of hostile powers with Israel’s purification, renewed fruitfulness, and gathering from exile.

Isaiah announces a coming day when YHWH will defeat Leviathan and guard Israel like a vineyard. YHWH speaks as its keeper, promising care and offering peace. Jacob will take root and bear fruit, yet the prophecy also describes exile, shattered idolatrous altars, and a deserted city whose identity is left unnamed. The closing scene turns to scattered Israelites: YHWH gathers them one by one, and a great trumpet signals their return to worship at Jerusalem.

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1In that day, the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish leviathan, the fleeing serpent, and leviathan, the twisted serpent; and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.
2In that day, sing to her, “A pleasant vineyard!
3I, the LORD, am its keeper. I will water it every moment. Lest anyone damage it, I will keep it night and day.
4Wrath is not in me, but if I should find briers and thorns, I would do battle! I would march on them and I would burn them together.
5Or else let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me. Let him make peace with me.”
6In days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will blossom and bud. They will fill the surface of the world with fruit.
7Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them? Or are they killed like those who killed them were killed?
8In measure, when you send them away, you contend with them. He has removed them with his rough blast in the day of the east wind.
9Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob will be forgiven, and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: that he makes all the stones of the altar as chalk stones that are beaten in pieces, so that the Asherah poles and the incense altars shall rise no more.
10For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness. The calf will feed there, and there he will lie down, and consume its branches.
11When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.
12It will happen in that day that the LORD will thresh from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered one by one, children of Israel.
13It will happen in that day that a great trumpet will be blown; and those who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and those who were outcasts in the land of Egypt, shall come; and they will worship the LORD in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
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Key verses
Isaiah 27:1YHWH’s victory over Leviathan opens the prophecy with his supremacy over forces pictured as monstrous and threatening.
Isaiah 27:6Jacob’s promised growth extends the vineyard image, showing Israel’s restored life bearing fruit across the world.
Isaiah 27:11The withered branches and withheld compassion make the chapter’s judgment severe, even amid promises of care and gathering.
Where this chapter reaches

Psalm and Job also portray Leviathan in relation to God’s power, while Revelation shares the serpent and dragon imagery associated with opposition to God. Jeremiah and Ezekiel share the promise of scattered Israelites being gathered again, and Matthew also connects a trumpet with gathering.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What tension do you notice between the guarded vineyard and the deserted city?

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What stands out to you about God gathering scattered Israelites “one by one”?

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Questions people ask about Isaiah 27

What is Leviathan in Isaiah 27:1?

Leviathan is pictured as a fleeing, twisted serpent, alongside a dragon in the sea. The imagery presents a formidable hostile power that YHWH will punish and defeat. The verse does not identify a specific ruler or nation, so attempts to assign each creature a precise historical identity remain uncertain.

What does the vineyard represent in Isaiah 27?

The vineyard represents God’s people, with verse 6 naming Jacob and Israel as those who will take root and bear fruit. YHWH describes himself as its keeper, watering and guarding it. Briers and thorns face his opposition, while verse 5 holds out the possibility of making peace with him.

Why does Isaiah 27:11 say God will show no compassion?

Verse 11 explains the judgment by describing the inhabitants as “a people of no understanding.” Their city is deserted, and its branches become fuel. The city is not named. This warning stands alongside promises of Israel’s restoration, showing that the chapter’s hope includes severe judgment against those who lack understanding.

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Isaiah · 66 chapters
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).