Isaiah 27

In 27:1–2, notice the many references to the phrase, “in that day,” or, “in days to come” (in verse 6). These phrases give a time reference for these prophecies. When you see such a time reference, see if you can place the prophecy in its context. Leviathan, in verse 1, the gliding, coiling serpent, is a mythical symbol of evil.

27:2. In this verse, compare Isaiah 5, which builds on the “fruitful vineyard” metaphor, also found in Jacob 5.

27:4–5. These verses describe how to confront anger.

27:6. Isaiah explains that a plentiful garden is the metaphor for peace filling the world.

27:8. Verse 8 explains that Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for because of his repentance, and the fortified city will be “forsaken like the desert” where calves graze. And dry twigs make fires for women to cook pita bread with a quick, bright flame.

27:11. “For this is a people without understanding . . . and their Creator shows them no favor.” After another “in that day,” in Isaiah 27:12, the New Revised Standard Translation reads, “the Lord will thresh from the channel of the Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you will be gathered one by one, O people of Israel.”

27:13. This verse can be rendered, “in that day, those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the Lord in the Holy Mountain, His temple in Jerusalem.”