1 In that day H3117 the LORD H3068 with his sore H7186 and great H1419 and strong H2389 sword H2719 shall punish H6485 leviathan H3882 the piercing H1281 serpent, H5175 even leviathan H3882 that crooked H6129 serpent; H5175 and he shall slay H2026 the dragon H8577 that is in the sea. H3220
Thou didst divide H6565 the sea H3220 by thy strength: H5797 thou brakest H7665 the heads H7218 of the dragons H8577 in the waters. H4325 Thou brakest H7533 the heads H7218 of leviathan H3882 in pieces, and gavest H5414 him to be meat H3978 to the people H5971 inhabiting the wilderness. H6728
Son H1121 of man, H120 take up H5375 a lamentation H7015 for Pharaoh H6547 king H4428 of Egypt, H4714 and say H559 unto him, Thou art like H1819 a young lion H3715 of the nations, H1471 and thou art as a whale H8577 H8565 in the seas: H3220 and thou camest forth H1518 with thy rivers, H5104 and troubledst H1804 the waters H4325 with thy feet, H7272 and fouledst H7515 their rivers. H5104 Thus saith H559 the Lord H136 GOD; H3069 I will therefore spread out H6566 my net H7568 over thee with a company H6951 of many H7227 people; H5971 and they shall bring thee up H5927 in my net. H2764 Then will I leave H5203 thee upon the land, H776 I will cast thee forth H2904 upon the open H6440 field, H7704 and will cause all the fowls H5775 of the heaven H8064 to remain H7931 upon thee, and I will fill H7646 the beasts H2416 of the whole earth H776 with thee. And I will lay H5414 thy flesh H1320 upon the mountains, H2022 and fill H4390 the valleys H1516 with thy height. H7419
For my sword H2719 shall be bathed H7301 in heaven: H8064 behold, it shall come down H3381 upon Idumea, H123 and upon the people H5971 of my curse, H2764 to judgment. H4941 The sword H2719 of the LORD H3068 is filled H4390 with blood, H1818 it is made fat H1878 with fatness, H2459 and with the blood H1818 of lambs H3733 and goats, H6260 with the fat H2459 of the kidneys H3629 of rams: H352 for the LORD H3068 hath a sacrifice H2077 in Bozrah, H1224 and a great H1419 slaughter H2874 in the land H776 of Idumea. H123
And Job H347 answered H6030 and said, H559 No doubt H551 but ye are the people, H5971 and wisdom H2451 shall die H4191 with you. But H1571 I have understanding H3824 as well as you; I am not inferior H5307 to you: yea, who knoweth not such things H3644 as these? I am as one mocked H7814 of his neighbour, H7453 who calleth H7121 upon God, H433 and he answereth H6030 him: the just H6662 upright H8549 man is laughed to scorn. H7814 He that is ready H3559 to slip H4571 with his feet H7272 is as a lamp H3940 despised H937 in the thought H6248 of him that is at ease. H7600 The tabernacles H168 of robbers H7703 prosper, H7951 and they that provoke H7264 God H410 are secure; H987 into whose hand H3027 God H433 bringeth H935 abundantly. But H199 ask H7592 now the beasts, H929 and they shall teach H3384 thee; and the fowls H5775 of the air, H8064 and they shall tell H5046 thee: Or speak H7878 to the earth, H776 and it shall teach H3384 thee: and the fishes H1709 of the sea H3220 shall declare H5608 unto thee. Who knoweth H3045 not in all these that the hand H3027 of the LORD H3068 hath wrought H6213 this? In whose hand H3027 is the soul H5315 of every living thing, H2416 and the breath H7307 of all mankind. H376 H1320 Doth not the ear H241 try H974 words? H4405 and the mouth H2441 taste H2938 his meat? H400 With the ancient H3453 is wisdom; H2451 and in length H753 of days H3117 understanding. H8394 With him is wisdom H2451 and strength, H1369 he hath counsel H6098 and understanding. H8394 Behold, he breaketh down, H2040 and it cannot be built again: H1129 he shutteth up H5462 a man, H376 and there can be no opening. H6605 Behold, he withholdeth H6113 the waters, H4325 and they dry up: H3001 also he sendeth them out, H7971 and they overturn H2015 the earth. H776 With him is strength H5797 and wisdom: H8454 the deceived H7683 and the deceiver H7686 are his. He leadeth H3212 counsellors H3289 away spoiled, H7758 and maketh the judges H8199 fools. H1984 He looseth H6605 the bond H4148 of kings, H4428 and girdeth H631 their loins H4975 with a girdle. H232 He leadeth H3212 princes H3548 away spoiled, H7758 and overthroweth H5557 the mighty. H386 He removeth away H5493 the speech H8193 of the trusty, H539 and taketh away H3947 the understanding H2940 of the aged. H2205 He poureth H8210 contempt H937 upon princes, H5081 and weakeneth H7503 the strength H4206 of the mighty. H650 He discovereth H1540 deep things H6013 out of darkness, H2822 and bringeth out H3318 to light H216 the shadow of death. H6757 He increaseth H7679 the nations, H1471 and destroyeth H6 them: he enlargeth H7849 the nations, H1471 and straiteneth H5148 them again. He taketh away H5493 the heart H3820 of the chief H7218 of the people H5971 of the earth, H776 and causeth them to wander H8582 in a wilderness H8414 where there is no way. H1870 They grope H4959 in the dark H2822 without light, H216 and he maketh them to stagger H8582 like a drunken H7910 man.
If I whet H8150 my glittering H1300 sword, H2719 and mine hand H3027 take hold H270 on judgment; H4941 I will render H7725 vengeance H5359 to mine enemies, H6862 and will reward H7999 them that hate H8130 me. I will make mine arrows H2671 drunk H7937 with blood, H1818 and my sword H2719 shall devour H398 flesh; H1320 and that with the blood H1818 of the slain H2491 and of the captives, H7633 from the beginning H7218 of revenges H6546 upon the enemy. H341
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 27
Commentary on Isaiah 27 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Upon whom the judgment of Jehovah particularly falls, is described in figurative and enigmatical words in Isaiah 27:1 : “In that day will Jehovah visit with His sword, with the hard, and the great, and the strong, leviathan the fleet serpent, and leviathan the twisted serpent, and slay the dragon in the sea.” No doubt the three animals are emblems of three imperial powers. The assertion that there are no more three animals than there are three swords, is a mistake. If the preposition were repeated in the case of the swords, as it is in the case of the animals, we should have to understand the passage as referring to three swords as well as three animals. But this is not the case. We have therefore to inquire what the three world-powers are; and this question is quite a justifiable one: for we have no reason to rest satisfied with the opinion held by Drechsler, that the three emblems are symbols of ungodly powers in general, of every kind and every sphere, unless the question itself is absolutely unanswerable. Now the tannin (the stretched-out aquatic animal) is the standing emblem of Egypt (Isaiah 51:9; Psalms 74:13; Ezekiel 29:3; Ezekiel 32:2). And as the Euphrates-land and Asshur are mentioned in Isaiah 27:12, Isaiah 27:13 in connection with Egypt, it is immediately probable that the other two animals signify the kingdom of the Tigris, i.e., Assyria, with its capital Nineveh which stood on the Tigris, and the kingdom of the Euphrates, i.e., Chaldea, with its capital Babylon which stood upon the Euphrates. Moreover, the application of the same epithet Leviathan to both the kingdoms, with simply a difference in the attributes, is suggestive of two kingdoms that were related to each other. We must not be misled by the fact that nâchâsh bâriach is a constellation in Job 26:13; we have no bammarōm (on high) here, as in Isaiah 24:21, and therefore are evidently still upon the surface of the globe. The epithet employed was primarily suggested by the situation of the two cities. Nineveh was on the Tigris, which was called Chiddekel ,
(Note: In point of fact, not only does Arab. tyr signify both an arrow and the Tigris, according to the Neo-Persian lexicons, but the old explanation “Tigris, swift as a dart, since the Medes call the Tigris toxeuma ” (the shot or shot arrow; Eustath, on Dion Perieg. v. 984), is confirmed by the Zendic tighri , which has been proved to be used in the sense of arrow or shot ( Yesht 8, 6, yatha tighris mainyavacâo ), i.e., like a heavenly arrow.)
on account of the swiftness of its course and its terrible rapids; hence Asshur is compared to a serpent moving along in a rapid, impetuous, long, extended course ( bâriach , as in Isaiah 43:14, is equivalent to barriach, a noun of the same form as עלּיז , and a different word from berriach , a bolt, Isaiah 15:5). Babylon, on the other hand, is compared to a twisted serpent, i.e., to one twisting about in serpentine curves, because it was situated on the very winding Euphrates, the windings of which are especially labyrinthine in the immediate vicinity of Babylon. The river did indeed flow straight away at one time, but by artificial cuttings it was made so serpentine that it passed the same place, viz., Arderikka, no less than three times; and according to the declaration of Herodotus in his own time, when any one sailed down the river, he had to pass it three times in three days (Ritter, x. p. 8). The real meaning of the emblem, however, is no more exhausted by this allusion to the geographical situation, than it was in the case of “the desert of the sea” (Isaiah 21:1). The attribute of winding is also a symbol of the longer duration of one empire than of the other, and of the more numerous complications into which Israel would be drawn by it. The world-power on the Tigris fires with rapidity upon Israel, so that the fate of Israel is very quickly decided. But the world-power on the Euphrates advances by many windings, and encircles its prey in many folds. And these windings are all the more numerous, because in the prophet's view Babylon is the final form assumed by the empire of the world, and therefore Israel remains encircled by this serpent until the last days. The judgment upon Asshur, Babylon, and Egypt, is the judgment upon the world-powers universally.
The prophecy here passes for the fourth time into the tone of a song. The church recognises itself in the judgments upon the world, as Jehovah's well-protected and beloved vineyard.
In that day a merry vineyard - sing it!
I, Jehovah, its keeper,
Every moment I water it.
That nothing may come near it,
I watch it night and day.
Wrath have I none;
O, had I thorns, thistles before me!
I would make up to them in battle,
Burn them all together.
Men would then have to grasp at my protection,
Make peace with me,
Make peace with me.