English Standard Version
Isaiah 27:10
10For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness; there the calf grazes; there it lies down and strips its branches.
Isaiah 27:10 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof.
- New International Version (NIV)The fortified city stands desolate, an abandoned settlement, forsaken like the wilderness; there the calves graze, there they lie down; they strip its branches bare.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Yet the fortified city will be desolate, The habitation forsaken and left like a wilderness; There the calf will feed, and there it will lie down And consume its branches.
- New Living Translation (NLT)The fortified towns will be silent and empty, the houses abandoned, the streets overgrown with weeds. Calves will graze there, chewing on twigs and branches.
Context of Isaiah 27:10
8Measure by measure, by exile you contended with them; he removed them with his fierce breath in the day of the east wind. 9Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be atoned for, and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin: when he makes all the stones of the altars like chalkstones crushed to pieces, no Asherim or incense altars will remain standing. For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness; there the calf grazes; there it lies down and strips its branches. 11When its boughs are dry, they are broken; women come and make a fire of them. For this is a people without discernment; therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them; he who formed them will show them no favor. 12In that day from the river Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt the Lord will thresh out the grain, and you will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel.
Read all of Isaiah 27Isaiah 27:10 word by word
כִּ֣י עִ֤יר בְּצוּרָה֙ בָּדָ֔ד נָוֶ֕ה מְשֻׁלָּ֥ח וְנֶעֱזָ֖ב כַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר שָׁ֣ם יִרְעֶ֥ה עֵ֛גֶל וְשָׁ֥ם יִרְבָּ֖ץ וְכִלָּ֥ה סְעִפֶֽיהָ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- Yet the defencedבָּצַרbâtsar · to gather/restrain/fortifyH1219
- cityעִיר‛îyr ‛âr ‛âyar · cityH5892
- desolateבָּדָדbâdâd · isolationH910
- the habitationנָוֶהnâveh nâvâh · pastureH5116
- forsakenשָׁלַחshâlach · to send: departH7971
- and leftעָזַב‛âzab · to leave: forsakeH5800
- like a wildernessמִדְבָּרmidbâr · wildernessH4057
- there shall the calfעֵ֫גֶל‛êgel · calfH5695
- feedרָעָהrâ‛âh · to pastureH7462
- and there shall he lie downרָבַץrâbats · to stretchH7257
- and consumeכָּלָהkâlâh · to end: destroyH3615
- the branchesסָעִיףsâ‛îyph · cleftH5585
Cross-references for Isaiah 27:10
- Isaiah 5:9The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing: "Surely many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
- Isaiah 6:11Then I said, "How long, O Lord?" And he said: "Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste,
- Isaiah 17:9In that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the wooded heights and the hilltops, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.
- Isaiah 25:2For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; the foreigners' palace is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.
- Isaiah 64:10Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
- Jeremiah 26:6then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth.'"
- Lamentations 1:4The roads to Zion mourn, for none come to the festival; all her gates are desolate; her priests groan; her virgins have been afflicted, and she herself suffers bitterly.
- Lamentations 2:5The Lord has become like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel; he has swallowed up all its palaces; he has laid in ruins its strongholds, and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.
- Lamentations 5:18for Mount Zion which lies desolate; jackals prowl over it.
- Ezekiel 36:4therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God: Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and the hills, the ravines and the valleys, the desolate wastes and the deserted cities, which have become a prey and derision to the rest of the nations all around,
- Micah 3:12Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height.
- Luke 19:43For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side
- Luke 21:20"But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near.
- Isaiah 7:25And as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear of briers and thorns, but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.
- Isaiah 17:2The cities of Aroer are deserted; they will be for flocks, which will lie down, and none will make them afraid.
- Isaiah 32:13for the soil of my people growing up in thorns and briers, yes, for all the joyous houses in the exultant city.
Commentaries on Isaiah 27:10
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 10There shall the calf feed - That is, the king of Egypt, says Kimchi.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 10Yet the defensed city - Gesenius supposes that this means Jerusalem. So Calvin and Piscator understand it. Others understand it of Samaria, others of Babylon (as Vitringa, Rosenmuller, and Grotius), and others of cities in general, denoting those in Judea, or in other places. To me it seems plain that Babylon is referred to. The whole description seems to require this; and especially the fact that this song is supposed to be sung after the return from…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 6-13Verses 6-13 In the days of the gospel, the latter days, the gospel church shall be more firmly fixed than the Jewish church, and shall spread further. May our souls be continually watered and kept, that we may abound in the fruits of the Spirit, in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. The Jews yet are kept a separate and a numerous people; they have not been rooted out as those who slew them. The condition of that nation, through so many ages, forms a…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 10Places previously associated with human power and accomplishment would be ruined to the extent that animals would graze in them.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1010. city--Jerusalem; the beating asunder of whose altars and images was mentioned in Is 27:9 (compare Is 24:10-12). calf feed--(Is 17:2); it shall be a vast wild pasture. branches--resuming the image of the vine (Is 27:2,6).Read the comment
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Isaiah 27
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries