Introduction to Isaiah 27

Structure and Formatting

1. Yahweh will defeat Leviathan, cosmic chaos (1)
2. Yahweh will restore Israel (2–6)
3. Yahweh limited Israel’s punishment (7–9)
4. Yahweh completely destroys cities that never repent (10–11)
5. Yahweh will regather the Israelites (12–13)

Translation Issues in This Chapter

In 5:1–7, Yahweh sings a song about a vineyard that represents the people of Israel and Judah. He cultivates the vines, but they still produce wild, sour grapes. So he allows the vineyard land to become wild again. That represents how he will allow enemies to conquer the Israelites because of their disobedience. In 27:2–6, Yahweh sings another song about a vineyard. In this song, he describes how he will continually guard and protect it. This is a reversal of the earlier song. It shows that Yahweh will now regather the people from exile and restore them to their land. So that your readers can appreciate this, try to translate the terms and phrases that the songs share in the same way in both chapters. For example, 5:6 says that “briar and thorn will come up” where vines once grew. In 27:4, Yahweh says that if a “briar” or “thorn” grows in his vineyard, he will pull it up and burn it. It would be helpful to use the same terms for those plants in both places.