THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET
ISAIAH

Isaiah 27

1God's judgment upon leviathan; 2his care over his vineyard; 7his chastisements are in measure, and with a view to reformation. 10Desolation threatened for want of knowledge. 12The restoration of the dispersed.


1IN 1that day the LORD 2with his sore and great and strong sword shall 3punish 4leviathan the 5piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the 6dragon that is in the sea.

1 Namely, when God shall deliver His people out of the Babylonian captivity.

2 That is, by the Persians and the Medes, Isa. 13:17; 21:2.

3 That is, visit, destroy. See Gen. 21 on verse 1.

4 Here some do understand the king of Babel, who was crafty like a serpent, venomous or hurtful as a dragon. Others do also here understand by the leviathan the devil, antichrist and all spiritual and corporal enemies of the church of God. See further of the word leviathan Job 41 on verse 1; Psalm 74:14.

5 See Job 26:13 with the annotation.

6 Or, the sea-dragon.

2In that day 7sing ye unto her, 8A vineyard of red wine.

7 The Hebrew word signifies properly to answer, As Exod. 15:21. See the annotation there. It also signifies to sing by turns in the dance, as otherwise, 1 Sam. 18:7, as also here, and elsewhere besides. It is here an exhortation to all the godly to rejoice because of their redemption through Jesus Christ.

8 The red wine was held to be the best and strongest wine in the land of the Jews. See Gen. 49:12; Prov. 23:31. But the words of this verse are to be understood of the congregation of the believers, who would bring forth precious fruits of godliness. Of the spiritual signification of the vineyard see the annotation at Isa. 5 on verse 1.

3I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any 9hurt it, I will keep it night and day.

9 That is, to visit it. See Gen. 21 on verse 1.

410Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go 11through them, I would burn them together.

10 The prophet speaks this in the person of God, as if He said: I am now completely appeased and reconciled with My people for Christ’s sake; so that none shall anymore provoke Me to anger against them, as making war against them I would become as thorns and thistles, or burn them up; be it far from Me. Some perceive that God, having spoken of His love to His church, speaks here now of His anger and judgments against the enemies thereof, unless they do sincerely repent and turn unto Him, and render the words thus: Whosoever shall set me in war as a thorn or brier, I will assail him, I will burn him at once; or he ought to take hold on my strength, he must make peace with me, etc.

11 Namely, against My vineyard.

512Or let him 13take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.

12 Other, Though he should take hold of my strength? Namely, the vineyard, that is, My people, the church.

13 That is, he shall take hold of My strength; he shall depend and rest upon it, namely, with sorrow over his sins, mending his ways and exercising an assured faith.

614He shall cause them that come of 15Jacob to take root: Israela shall blossom and bud, and 16fill the face of the world with 17fruit.

14 Other, O ye posterity, Jacob shall take root. Other, Concerning the posterity, Jacob shall take root, that is, the church of God shall stand fast, shall grow and shall flourish.

15 That is, the posterity of Jacob.

a Psalm 72:16.

16 Namely, the posterity of Jacob or Israel.

17 Or, increase.

7¶Hath 18he smitten 19him, 20as he smote 21those that smote him? or is 22he slain according to the 23slaughter of them that are slain by him?

18 Namely, the Lord.

19 Namely, Jacob, that is, the people of God.

20 That is, so hard.

21 Hebr. as he has smitten his (namely, Jacobs) smiter (namely, the Babylonian)?

22 Namely, Jacob.

23 Namely, of the king of Babel. Other, his slain ones, namely, of God, those whom God slew in His wrath. The sense is, that God deals far more graciously with His own people when He chastises them, than He does with the enemies of His people.

824Inb measure, when 25it shooteth forth, 26thou wilt debate 27with it: 28he stayeth his rough wind in the day 29of the east wind.

24 See of the Hebrew word Gen. 18 on verse 6.

b Jer. 30:11; 46:28.

25 Or, when thou sendest it forth, namely, by the Babylonians. He speaks of a thing that was yet to be done as if it had been already done. Other, when the enemy took him away by his hard wind, that is, by war or other grievous plagues

26 O Lord.

27 With Thy vineyard, with Thy people.

28 Namely, the Lord. The prophet alters the person, which occasions some kind of darkness or obscurity in his speech.

29 That is, of the enemies, of whom a great part came from the east and were a rude and fierce people, as in those countries the east wind was a rough, sharp and hurtful wind. See Job 15:2; Psalm 48:7; Hosea 12:2.

930By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be 31purged; and this is all the 32fruit 33to take away 34his sin; when he 35maketh all the stones 36of the altar as chalkstonesc that are beaten in sunder, 37the 38groves and 39images shall not stand up.

30 Namely, by such punishments and Fatherly corrections, as the Babylonian captivity.

31 Namely, in that regard that the elect would be thereby brought to sorrow and repentance for their sins, and to amendment of their lives, and so would obtain forgiveness of their sins by a true faith in Jesus Christ.

32 Namely, who shall come from the Babylonian captivity.

33 Namely, by God the Lord.

34 Namely, of Jacob.

35 The meaning is: After He shall have done away all idolatry, which is the source of all other sins.

36 Understand that here is spoken of the stones of those altars which were set up here and there in the high places to the honor of the idols.

c pieces of chalk

37 Other, when no groves or images of the sun shall be left standing; understand therewith, but shall altogether be cut down and broken in pieces.

38 Of the idolatrous groves see Judges 3 on verse 7.

39 See the annotation Lev. 26 on verse 30.

1040Yet 41the defenced city shall be desolate, and the 42habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume 43the branches thereof.

40 Here the prophet returns to a description of the punishments wherewith God the Lord would visit those of Judah.

41 Namely, Jerusalem. See Isa. 22:2; 24:10; Ezekiel 21.

42 Or, dwellings.

43 Understand the branches that shall grow in it (namely, in the city of Jerusalem) on the trees that would sprout up, and grow of themselves in their desolate houses, and in their streets, in their gardens and orchards. See the annotation at Job 18 on verse 16.

11When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and 44set them on fire: for it is a 45people of no understanding: therefore he 46that made them 47will not have mercy on them, and 48he that formed them will shew them no favour.

44 Namely, the boughs, or, the city.

45 Understand the people of the Jews, with whom at this time no understanding was to be sought or found.

46 That is, God the Lord. Hebr. their maker.

47 Understand in addition: but he will destroy them, namely, by the Babylonians, as follows later in verse 12.

48 Hebr. their fashioner.

12¶And it shall come to pass 49in that day, that the LORD shall 50beat off 51from the 52channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, 53and ye shalld be gathered 54one by one, O ye children of Israel.

49 Namely, when the people of the Jews shall be in the Babylonian captivity.

50 Or, thresh. Hebr. shall beat out or knock out. Compare Isa. 28:27, where threshing and beating out are distinguished.

51 Other, from the rushing stream. Other, from the ground. Other, from the stream of the river.

52 That is, from the river Euphrates unto the river of Egypt, called Sihor. See Joshua 13 on verse 3.

53 The meaning is: After ye shall have been dispersed for a while here and there, ye shall then be brought again into your own country, and be gathered together, as ears of corn are gleaned and gathered up in the field in harvest time.

d Isa. 17:5.

54 Or, unto one, or, one for one, each in particular.

13And it shall come to pass in that day, that 55the great trumpet shall be blown, and 56they shall come 57which were ready to 58perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts 59in the land of Egypt, and 60shall worship the LORD 61in the holy mount at Jerusalem.

55 Understand by this great trumpet, first, the decree and the public permission of king Cyrus, who permitted the Jews to return again into their own country, 2 Chron. 36:22; Ezra 1:1; secondly, in a spiritual way, the trumpet of the Gospel, whereby God has called and gathered together unto Himself a church out of all people and nations of the world.

56 They shall come again into their own country, into the land of the Jews.

57 That is, the captives of the ten tribes of the kingdom of Israel.

58 That is, those who wander up and down, to and fro.

59 To this country were fled the remnant of the tribe of Judah, 2 Kings 25:26.

60 See the annotation at Gen. 24 on verse 26.

61 Hebr. on the mount of holiness, namely, in the newly re-built temple, and consequently in Thy holy and christian congregation.