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Isaiah

About this book
Chapter 27

1 At that time the Lord will punish with his destructive, great, and powerful sword Leviathan the fast-moving serpent, Leviathan the squirming serpent; he will kill the sea monster.⁠ 2 When that time comes, sing about a delightful vineyard! 3 “I, the Lord, protect it; I water it regularly. I guard it night and day, so no one can harm it. 4 I am not angry. I wish I could confront some thorns and briers! Then I would march against them for battle; I would set them all on fire, 5 unless they became my subjects and made peace with me; let them make peace with me.” 6 The time is coming when Jacob will take root; Israel will blossom and grow branches. The produce will fill the surface of the world. 7 Has the Lord struck down Israel as he did their oppressors? Has Israel been killed like their enemies? 8 When you summon her for divorce, you prosecute her; he drives her away with his strong wind in the day of the east wind. 9 So in this way Jacob’s sin will be forgiven, and this is how they will show they are finished sinning: They will make all the stones of the altars like crushed limestone, and the Asherah poles and the incense altars will no longer stand. 10 For the fortified city is left alone; it is a deserted settlement and abandoned like the wilderness. Calves graze there; they lie down there and eat its branches bare. 11 When its branches get brittle, they break; women come and use them for kindling. For these people lack understanding, therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them; the one who formed them has no mercy on them. 12 At that time the Lord will shake the tree, from the Euphrates River to the Stream of Egypt. Then you will be gathered up one by one, O Israelites. 13 At that time a large trumpet will be blown, and the ones lost in the land of Assyria will come, as well as the refugees in the land of Egypt. They will worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.⁠

Texts in conversation

Slaying Leviathan in Psalm 74 and Isaiah 27

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Psalm 74 and Isaiah 27 both portray God defeating Leviathan, a chaotic sea monster from ancient Near Eastern mythology. The psalm describes that victory as part of creation, while Isaiah reshapes it into a future act of final judgment.

Passages

Isaiah 27:1

Hebrew Bible
1 At that time the Lord will punish with his destructive, great, and powerful sword Leviathan the fast-moving serpent, Leviathan the squirming serpent; he will kill the sea monster. 2 When that time comes, sing about a delightful vineyard! 3 “I, the Lord, protect it; I water it regularly. I guard it night and day, so no one can harm it. 4 I am not angry. I wish I could confront some thorns and briers! Then I would march against them for battle; I would set them all on fire,
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

Psalm 74:14

Hebrew Bible
12 But God has been my king from ancient times, performing acts of deliverance on the earth. 13 You destroyed the sea by your strength; you shattered the heads of the sea monster in the water. 14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you fed him to the people who live along the coast. 15 You broke open the spring and the stream; you dried up perpetually flowing rivers.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

References

"... Being a representative of the chaotic sea, Leviathan is a mortal enemy of YHWH. God battles Leviathan at creation in Psalm 74. Verses 12–15 of this psalm depict God’s martial victory over the primordial waters, driving back the sea and crushing the heads of the sea monsters and of Leviathan. Only then can God establish celestial bodies and seasons, creating order out of chaos (Psalm 74:16–17). Placing the first things last, Isaiah 27 envisions a similar battle taking place in the future, when God will slay Leviathan by the sword (Isaiah 27:1). In these texts, Leviathan is to YHWH as Tiamat is to Marduk and as Yamm is to Baal: a threatening and chaotic force who must be destroyed to establish cosmic order ..."
Ryan S. Higgins, “The Good, the God, and the Ugly: The Role of the Beloved Monster in the Ancient Near East and the Hebrew Bible,” Int 74.2 (2020): 132–145.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Isaiah 27:1 and Psalm 74:14

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