What Does Isaiah 27:1 Mean in the King James?
In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The serpent is named by the motions that make it seem untouchable, flight, twisting, and the deep, and each form falls within the LORD’s reach.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s sword reaches the force that flees, twists, and dwells in the sea; the blade is named as hard, great, and strong, and the dragon is slain. Nothing in its flight, coil, or deep dwelling places it beyond this judgment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that the most elusive terror can evade judgment by slipping into the deep.
THE ROOT
יִפְקֹד
yifqod
GROWS FROM
פקד
p-q-d
Attend to, visit, muster, or appoint; in this setting, call to account.
The English ‘punish’ carries the blow, while פקד (paqad) also carries the sense of visiting, attending to, or taking account of. The serpent’s elusiveness ends in a direct summons under the LORD’s judgment.
ALSO GROWS
paqad: Attend to, visit, muster, or call to account.
פָּקַד
The word brings the serpent into the LORD’s direct notice and reckoning.
pequddah: Oversight, charge, or appointed responsibility.
פְּקֻדָּה
This branch carries the sense of something placed under oversight, like the serpent here.
בָּרִיחַ
bariakh
GROWS FROM
ברח
b-r-ḥ
Flee or escape; the related noun can also mean a bar or bolt.
Alongside the force of ‘piercing,’ בָּרִיחַ (bariakh) carries the motion of flight or escape. Paired with the next serpent, described as twisted, it names evasion and entanglement among the forms the sword reaches.
ALSO GROWS
baraḥ: Flee or escape.
בָּרַח
The serpent’s name carries the image of a force that slips away.
beriaḥ: Bar or bolt.
בְּרִיחַ
The same consonants also name a bar that blocks passage, adding a sense of force held across a way.
עֲקַלָּתוֹן
ʿaqallaton
GROWS FROM
עקל
ʿ-q-l
Twist, bend, or coil.
“crooked” in this verse is ʿaqallaton. The serpent is described by its twisting shape, not only by a name. This root also describes winding paths, so the serpent’s crookedness echoes a course that coils away from a straight line.
ALSO GROWS
ʿaqal: Twist or bend.
עָקַל
The root puts the serpent’s crooked form into motion.
ʿaqalqalot: Winding, crooked paths.
עֲקַלְקַלּוֹת
The same root describes a path that coils, echoing the serpent’s twisting form.
THE PATTERN
The LORD brings the shapes of chaos, fleeing, twisting, and sea-dwelling, under judgment.
Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,THE THREAD
By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.Job uses the same rare Hebrew form עֲקַלָּתוֹן (ʿaqallaton), translated ‘crooked serpent,’ and places it within the work of God’s hand. Isaiah then shows that same twisting creature under judgment: the word links its formation and its defeat.
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