The Meaning of Isaiah 27:10 Explained

Isaiah 27:10

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.

YLT: For the fenced city is alone, A habitation cast out and forsaken as a wilderness, There doth the calf delight, And there it lieth down, And hath consumed its branches.

Darby: For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation abandoned and forsaken like a wilderness; there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume its boughs.

ASV: For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

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. 

What does Isaiah 27:10 Mean?

Context Summary

Isaiah 27:1-13 - God's Care For His Vineyard
Throughout these chapters we must remember that the doom of Babylon and the restoration of God's people are symbolical of other events, for which the world is preparing. Then Babylon the Great shall give place to the Holy City, which comes down out of heaven from God. Egypt and Babylon are represented by the leviathan, a general term applicable to any great water animal. The one had its Nile, the other its Euphrates. Parallel with the destruction of our foes is God's care of His own people. The Church is His vineyard. We do not keep Him, but He, us. Not for a moment does He relax His care. Those who oppose His purposes are trampled down as briars beneath the booted foot. In Isaiah 5:6 we have a prevision of the ultimate mission of the Hebrew race.
Note the difference in Isaiah 27:7-11 between punishment and chastisement. The former is irremediable and destructive, the latter is always in measure. The rough wind is stayed in the day of the east wind. Its object is to purge away our sins. After the captivity idolatry ceased out of Israel. How tenderly God gathers His wanderers-one by one as hand-picked fruit; even those who had wandered farthest and were ready to perish! [source]

Chapter Summary: Isaiah 27

1  The Deliverance of Israel

What do the individual words in Isaiah 27:10 mean?

Yet the city fortified [will be] desolate the habitation forsaken and left like a wilderness there will feed the calf and there it will lie down and consume its branches
כִּ֣י עִ֤יר בְּצוּרָה֙ בָּדָ֔ד נָוֶ֕ה מְשֻׁלָּ֥ח וְנֶעֱזָ֖ב כַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר שָׁ֣ם יִרְעֶ֥ה עֵ֛גֶל וְשָׁ֥ם יִרְבָּ֖ץ וְכִלָּ֥ה סְעִפֶֽיהָ

כִּ֣י  Yet 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: כִּי 
Sense: that, for, because, when, as though, as, because that, but, then, certainly, except, surely, since.
עִ֤יר  the  city 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: עִיר 
Sense: excitement, anguish.
בְּצוּרָה֙  fortified 
Parse: Adjective, feminine singular
Root: בָּצַר 
Sense: to gather, restrain, fence, fortify, make inaccessible, enclose.
בָּדָ֔ד  [will  be]  desolate 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: בָּדָד  
Sense: isolation, withdrawal, separation.
נָוֶ֕ה  the  habitation 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: נָוֶה 
Sense: abode, habitation, abode of shepherds or flocks, pasture.
מְשֻׁלָּ֥ח  forsaken 
Parse: Verb, Pual, Participle, masculine singular
Root: שָׁלַח  
Sense: to send, send away, let go, stretch out.
וְנֶעֱזָ֖ב  and  left 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Nifal, Participle, masculine singular
Root: עָזַב 
Sense: to leave, loose, forsake.
כַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר  like  a  wilderness 
Parse: Preposition-k, Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: מִדְבָּר 
Sense: wilderness.
יִרְעֶ֥ה  will  feed 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: רָעָה 
Sense: to pasture, tend, graze, feed.
עֵ֛גֶל  the  calf 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: עֵגֶל  
Sense: calf, bull-calf.
וְשָׁ֥ם  and  there 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Adverb
Root: שָׁם  
Sense: there, thither.
יִרְבָּ֖ץ  it  will  lie  down 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: רָבַץ  
Sense: to stretch oneself out, lie down, lie stretched out.
וְכִלָּ֥ה  and  consume 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Piel, Conjunctive perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: כָּלָה  
Sense: to accomplish, cease, consume, determine, end, fail, finish, be complete, be accomplished, be ended, be at an end, be finished, be spent.
סְעִפֶֽיהָ  its  branches 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, third person feminine singular
Root: סָעִיף 
Sense: cleft, branch.