Isaiah 27:8

"Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them? Or are they killed like those who killed them were killed?"

Key Reflection

In Isaiah 27:8, the prophet addresses a question about divine justice, posing whether God's punishment of an enemy nation will mirror their own past actions. The original audience would have understood this in the context of historical cycles of violence and retribution typical of ancient Near Eastern cultures, where retaliation was seen as both natural and just. By asking if God’s judgment on an aggressor would match their own brutal tactics, Isaiah challenges the notion that might makes right, suggesting instead a more profound and unexpected form of divine retribution.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

In measure ... -This verse in our translation is exceedingly obscure, and indeed almost unintelligible. Nor is it much more intelligible in Lowth, or in Noyes; in the Vulgate, or the Septuagint. The various senses which have been given to the verse may be seen at length in Vitringa and Rosenmuller. The idea, which I suppose to be the true one, without going into an examination of others which have been proposed, is the following, which is as near as possible a literal translation: In moderation in sending her (the vineyard) Away didst thou judge her, Though carrying her away with a rough tempest In the time of the east wind.

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