Isaiah 27
What Happens in This Chapter
In this chapter the LORD says he will kill Leviathan, the serpent in the sea. He then speaks of his people as a vineyard that he waters and guards day and night, and he offers peace to anyone who takes hold of him. He also says the walled city sits empty, because the people there do not understand. At the end, a great horn sounds, and the LORD gathers his scattered people back to worship in Jerusalem.
Plain reading written for kids. Short sentences, everyday words, one idea at a time.
In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
1In that day the LORD will use his sharp, strong, mighty sword. He will punish Leviathan, the serpent that darts away. He will punish Leviathan, the serpent that coils up. He will kill the dragon that lives in the sea.
2In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine.
2In that day people will sing this song: "Here is a vineyard full of good grapes."
The KJV says "a vineyard of red wine." The Hebrew means a vineyard that grows good fruit.
3I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.
3"I, the LORD, take care of that vineyard. I water it all the time. I guard it night and day so no one can hurt it.
4Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together.
4I am not angry. If thorns and weeds came out to fight me, I would walk right through them. I would burn them all up.
5Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.
5Or let them hold on to me and be safe. Let them make peace with me. Yes, let them make peace with me."
6He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.
6In days to come, the family of Jacob will grow deep roots. Israel will bud and bloom. Its fruit will fill the whole world.
7Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?
7Did the LORD hit his people the way he hit the ones who hurt them? Were his people killed the way they killed others?
8In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind.
8You punished your people by sending them far away from home. You blew them off the land like a hard east wind.
This verse is hard to read in Hebrew. Most translations take it to mean God sent his people away from their land for a time.
9By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.
9This is how the wrong that Jacob did will be forgiven. This is the whole result of taking his sin away. He will smash the stones of his altars into bits like crushed chalk. Then no poles or altars for other gods will be left standing.
The KJV word "groves" means tall wooden poles that people set up to worship other gods. "Images" here means small altars for burning sweet-smelling spices.
10Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof.
10But the city with strong walls sits empty. The homes are left alone, like a bare desert. Calves eat grass there. They lie down there. They chew the branches bare.
11When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.
11When the branches dry up, they break off. Women come and use them to make a fire. These people do not understand anything. So the God who made them will not be kind to them. The one who formed them shows them no favor.
12And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel.
12In that day the LORD will gather his people, the way a farmer beats grain from the stalks. He will do this from the Euphrates River all the way to the brook at the edge of Egypt. People of Israel, you will be picked up one by one.
13And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.
13In that day a great horn will be blown. The people who were dying in Assyria will come. The people who were sent away to Egypt will come. They will worship the LORD on his holy mountain in Jerusalem.
The "great trumpet" was a horn made from a ram's horn. People blew it to call everyone together.
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