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Jonathan Isaiah

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Chapter 27

1 At that time the LORD will punish with His great, mighty, and strong sword the king who has magnified himself like Pharaoh the first, and the king who has exalted himself like Sennacherib the second; and He will slay the king who is strong as the dragon that is in the sea.⁠ 2 At that time the congregation of Israel, which is like a vineyard planted in a good land, will sing concerning that vineyard, 3 “I, the LORD, keep the covenant of their fathers with them, that I may not destroy them; but at the time they provoked me to anger, I gave them the cup of their punishment to drink; yet their sins were the cause of their punishment; nevertheless, my Memra will protect them by day and by night. 4 Many mighty works are before me. Is it not so? If the house of Israel would set their face to do my Torah, I would send my anger and my fury among the nations who are waging war against them, and I would destroy them, as the fire destroys the briers and the thorns together. 5 If they would lay hold on the words of my Torah, peace would be made with them; from now on peace would be made with them. 6 They will be gathered from the midst of their captivity and return to their country; there children will be born to the house of Jacob; those of the house of Israel will be fruitful and multiply, and their children’s children will fill the face of the world.” 7 Has He struck him (Judah and Israel) as He struck those who struck him? Or is he (Judah and Israel) slain according to the slaughter of those who are slain by Him (by God)? 8 With the measure with which you measured, they will measure to you; you sent them out and oppressed them.⁠ He devised a word against them; He prevailed against them in the day of wrath. 9 By this, therefore, the sins of the house of Jacob will be forgiven; and this will be the full fruit of removing their sins, when they make all the stones of the idolatrous altar like chalk stones that are beaten to pieces; the sacred poles and the sun-images will not be raised up again. 10 But the fortified city will sit solitary; she will totter and be forsaken like a desert; the just will wage war against her, plunder her treasures, and make an end of her armies, so that none will go out. 11 Their armies will be cut off; and they will be ashamed on account of their works, which will be broken; women will enter the house of their idolatry and teach them, because they are a people of no understanding; therefore He who made them will not have mercy on them, and He who created them will show them no favor. 12 And at that time the slain of the LORD will be cast from the bank of the river Euphrates to the river of Egypt; and you will be brought near one to another, O sons of Israel. 13 And at that time the great trumpet will be blown, and those who had gone into captivity in the land of Assyria will come, and those who were cast into the land of Egypt, and they will worship before the LORD on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 27:1 and Jonathan Isaiah 27:1

Hebrew Bible · Targum

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Summary

Isaiah 27 uses mythological language about Leviathan to describe divine victory over chaos. The Aramaic translation in Targum Jonathan interprets this as a reference to real empires, comparing Rome to earlier rulers like Pharaoh and Sennacherib.

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.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

Jonathan Isaiah 27:1

Targum
1 At that time the LORD will punish with His great, mighty, and strong sword the king who has magnified himself like Pharaoh the first, and the king who has exalted himself like Sennacherib the second; and He will slay the king who is strong as the dragon that is in the sea. 2 At that time the congregation of Israel, which is like a vineyard planted in a good land, will sing concerning that vineyard, 3 “I, the LORD, keep the covenant of their fathers with them, that I may not destroy them; but at the time they provoked me to anger, I gave them the cup of their punishment to drink; yet their sins were the cause of their punishment; nevertheless, my Memra will protect them by day and by night.
200–300 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jonathan Isaiah

References

"... The punishment of Leviathan in the Masoretic text occasions a Targumic reference to Roman power at sea, and a comparison between the Emperor and two earlier enemies, Pharaoh and Sennacherib (verse 1). The obvious point is that Rome is to prove as weak before God as the Egyptians and Assyrians ..."
Bruce D. Chilton, The Isaiah Targum: Introduction, Translation, Apparatus and Notes, ArBib 11 (Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, 1987), 53.

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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