World English Bible
- In 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.
- In that day, sing to her, “A pleasant vineyard!
- I, the LORD, am its keeper. I will water it every moment. Lest anyone damage it, I will keep it night and day.
- Wrath 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.
- Or else let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me. Let him make peace with me.”
- In days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will blossom and bud. They will fill the surface of the world with fruit.
- Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them? Or are they killed like those who killed them were killed?
- In 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.
- Therefore 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.
- For 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.
- When 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.
- It 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.
- It 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.
Isaiah has sung about a vineyard before. In chapter 5, God tended it carefully, yet it yielded injustice instead of righteousness. Now, in chapter 27, the owner has not sold the land. He sings over it again. This is the wonder of grace: God will neither call bitter fruit sweet nor give up on the vines.
The chapter begins with Leviathan, a fleeing, twisting serpent. Isaiah’s first hearers would have recognized the sea monster as an image of chaos and terrifying power. Ancient stories told of gods struggling against such creatures. Isaiah’s point is different: the Lord has no equal rival. What seems too vast and ancient to overcome will meet its end.
Then comes a quieter image. The God who carries the sword also keeps a vineyard, watering it “every moment” and guarding it “night and day.” His words, “Wrath is not in me,” do not erase the judgment we have just read about. They tell us that wrath is not the heart of his purpose for the people he tends. He is determined to bring them to life.
Even the briars are offered a way other than burning: “Let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me.” The Hebrew word translated strength can also mean stronghold. God invites the one resisting him to seek shelter with him. The Lord repeats the invitation to make peace, as though he wants no one to miss it.
Yet his care does not leave the vineyard unchanged. Isaiah says that the fruit of forgiveness includes broken altar stones and the removal of Asherah poles, objects linked to rival worship. Grace reaches deeper than our regret. It asks what we keep trusting in place of God—and what we must stop rebuilding. An idol can remain dear to us long after we have learned to call it wrong.
At the end, God gathers the scattered “one by one.” Empires moved whole populations into exile; the Lord’s promised homecoming attends to each person. A great trumpet calls the lost to worship. Its sound recalls the trumpet of Jubilee, when liberty was announced (Leviticus 25:9–10).
Christ calls himself the true vine (John 15:1–5). In him, we see how costly God’s faithfulness to his vineyard would be. Today, let his patient care give you courage to name the altar you have kept standing. The Keeper is also the stronghold to whom you can return.
For further reading: Isaiah 5:1–7; Psalm 80:8–19; John 15:1–5. A fitting hymn: “O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go.”
Prayer: Lord, thank you for guarding what we could not keep alive ourselves. Bring down the idols we are afraid to lose, gather those who feel forgotten, and teach us to make peace with you. Amen.