CHAPTER 27
The Judgment and Deliverance of Israel
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* in the sea.a
The pleasant vineyard, sing about it!b
I water it every moment;
Lest anyone harm it,
night and day I guard it.c
But if I were to find briers and thorns,
In battle I would march against it;
I would burn it all.d
it shall have peace with me;e
it shall have peace with me.
Israel shall sprout and blossom,
covering all the world with fruit.f
Was he slain as his slayer was slain?
carrying it off with his cruel wind on a day of storm.g
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.
an abandoned pasture, a forsaken wilderness;
There calves shall graze, there they shall lie down,
and consume its branches.
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.h
The LORD shall beat out grain
from the channel of the Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt,
and you shall be gleaned* one by one, children of Israel.
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.i
* [27:1] 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.
* [27:2–5] 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.
* [27:7–9] 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).
* [27:12] 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.
* [27:13] The remnant of Israel will return to Jerusalem for worship; cf. 11:10–16.
a. [27:1] Jb 40:25–32; Ps 74:12–14; Ez 32:2.
f. [27:6] Is 37:31–32; Hos 14:5–6.
h. [27:11] Is 1:3; 5:13; Jer 4:22.
E. THE LORD ALONE, ISRAEL’S AND JUDAH’S SALVATION
Copyright 2019-2025 USCCB, please review our Privacy Policy