Isaiah 27 — Dead Sea Scrolls
13 verses • 5 variants • Column XXII of 1QIsaiah-a
Scroll Overview
Summary
Chapter 27 concludes the Isaiah Apocalypse with the slaying of Leviathan (v. 1), a new vineyard song (vv. 2-6), and ingathering imagery (vv. 12-13). The 13 verses contain mostly orthographic variants.
Notable Variants
Verse 1 (Leviathan slain) has a minor variant. Verse 9 has a variant in the description of altar stones. The cosmic drama and vineyard reversal (contrast ch. 5) are preserved identically in both traditions.
Scroll Condition
Well preserved; fully legible.
On that day the LORD will punish with His sword — His cruel, great, and mighty sword — Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and He will slay the dragon that is in the sea.
Masoretic (WLC)
לִוְיָתָן
Leviathan
Dead Sea Scroll
לויתן
Leviathan
1QIsaiah-a writes לויתן with the same consonants. The cosmic sea-monster Leviathan — the 'fleeing serpent, the twisting serpent' — will be slain by the LORD's sword. This mythological imagery draws on Canaanite traditions (Ugaritic Lotan/Litanu) but applies them to eschatological divine victory. Both traditions preserve the same triple description: nachash bariach (fleeing serpent), nachash aqallaton (twisting serpent), and tannin (sea-dragon).
1QIsaᵃ col. XXII, line 7
On that day: "A vineyard of delight — sing of it!"
Masoretic (WLC)
חֶמֶר
wine
Dead Sea Scroll
חמר
wine
The MT has a ketiv/qere issue here — the written text reads חמר while the read tradition has חמד. 1QIsaiah-a reads כרם חמר ('vineyard of wine'), supporting the ketiv. This confirms the scroll's independence from the Masoretic reading tradition.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXII, line 8
"I, the LORD, am its keeper; every moment I water it. Lest anyone harm it, night and day I guard it."
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXII, line 9
"Wrath is not in Me. If thorns and briers should confront Me in battle — I would march against them, I would burn them all together."
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXII, line 10
"Or let him take hold of My refuge, let him make peace with Me — yes, let him make peace with Me."
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXII, line 11
In days to come Jacob shall take root, Israel shall bud and blossom and fill the face of the world with fruit.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXII, line 12
Has He struck Israel as He struck those who struck her? Has she been slain as her slayers were slain?
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXII, line 13
By measure, by exile, You contended with her; He removed her with His fierce wind on a day of east wind.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXII, line 14
Therefore by this Jacob's guilt shall be atoned for, and this is the full fruit of removing his sin: when he makes all the altar stones like chalk stones ground to pieces — no Asherah poles or incense altars shall stand.
Masoretic (WLC)
אַבְנֵי־גִר
chalk stones
Dead Sea Scroll
אבני גר
chalk stones
1QIsaiah-a reads אבני גר identically. The crushing of altar stones to chalk — the complete destruction of idolatrous worship infrastructure — is described in the same terms. The word gir ('chalk, limestone') indicates total pulverization. No impact on meaning.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXII, line 15
For the fortified city stands alone, a habitation abandoned and forsaken like a wilderness. There the calf grazes, there it lies down and strips bare its branches.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXII, line 16
When its branches dry out they are broken off; women come and make fires with them. For this is not a people of understanding; therefore their Maker will not have compassion on them, and their Former will show them no favor.
Masoretic (WLC)
בּוֹרְאָהּ
her Creator
Dead Sea Scroll
בוראה
her Creator
Identical consonantal text. The one who made the city will show it no compassion — a striking reversal of the Creator's care. No impact on meaning.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXII, line 17
On that day the LORD will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt, and you shall be gathered one by one, O children of Israel.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXII, line 18
On that day a great trumpet shall be blown, and those perishing in the land of Assyria and those driven out to the land of Egypt shall come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
Masoretic (WLC)
שׁוֹפָר
trumpet/shofar
Dead Sea Scroll
שופר
trumpet/shofar
Identical consonantal text. The great shofar (shofar gadol) that summons the exiles from Assyria and Egypt — an eschatological ingathering — is described identically. This shofar imagery connects to the Rosh Hashanah liturgy and to Matthew 24:31.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXII, line 19