Isaiah 27:4
in Isaiah 27I am not angry. If only thorns and briers confronted Me, I would march and trample them, I would burn them to the ground.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Wrath is not in me: would that the briers and thorns were against me in battle! I would march upon them, I would burn them together.
KJV
Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together.
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This verse in Isaiah 27
Commentary
9 notes on this verseFury is not in me “I have no wall” - For חמה chemah, anger, the Septuagint and Syriac read חומה chomah, wall. An ancient MS. has חימה cheimah. For בה bad, in her, two MSS. read בם bam, in them, plural. The vineyard wishes for a wall and a fence of thorns - human strength and protection, (as the Jews were too apt to apply to their powerful neighbors for assistance, and to trust to the shadow of Egypt): Jehovah replies, that this would not avail her, nor defend her against his wrath.
This site's exposition
A vineyard of red wine
on Isaiah 27:2-6
The vineyard sung of here answers the vineyard of chapter five directly, that one yielded wild grapes and was given to briers and thorns and drought, this one the Lord waters every moment and keeps night and day, with no fury and no briers left standing against him. Jacob is promised roots, and Israel is promised blossom and fruit filling the face of the world, the same nation once compared to a trampled vine now compared to an orchard the Lord himself tends. Henry reads the reversal as the whole point of singing the song a second time, and Barnes notes the change from ruin to keeping marks the difference between the two songs as the difference between judgment served and grace renewed.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 4, 5.) Indignation is not mine: who will give me a thorn and a thistle in battle? I will march over it: I will set it on fire together. Or rather, shall I hold onto my strength? It will bring me peace, it will bring me peace. LXX: There is nothing that does not seize it. Who will appoint me as a keeper of the straw in the field? Because of this adversary, I have repelled it.
The Medieval Church1 voice
622. There is no indignation in me. Here he examines the manner of punishment, and first, the deliberation of the judge is set out; second, the execution of the result of deliberation: for the strong city shall be desolate (Isa 27:10). Concerning the first, he …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Let him wrestle with me, as Jacob did, resolving not to let me go without a blessing; and he shall be Israel--a prince with God. " Pardoning mercy is called the power of our Lord; let him take hold of that. Christ is the arm of the Lord, ch. liii. Christ crucified is the power of God ( 1 Cor. i.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
Fury is not in me,....
Now God takes care, (1.) Of the safety of this vineyard: I the Lord do keep it. He speaks this as glorying in it that he is, and has undertaken to be, the keeper of Israel. Those that bring forth fruit to God are and shall be always under his protection.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Fury is not in me--that is, I entertain no longer anger towards my vine. who would set . . . in battle--that is, would that I had the briers, &c. (the wicked foe; "I would go through," or rather, "against them."
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Fury is not in me - That is, I am angry with it no more. He had punished his people by removing them to a distant land. But although he had corrected them for their faults, yet he had not laid aside the affection of a Father. Who would set - Hebrew, ‘Who would give me.’ The Septuagint renders this, ‘Who would place me to keep the stubble in the field?’ Great perplexity has been felt in regard to the interpretation of this passage. Lowth translates it: ‘O that I had a fence of the thorn and the brier;’ evidently showing that he was embarrassed with it, and could not make of it consistent sense. The whole sentence must refer either to the people of God, or to his enemies. If to his people, it would be an indication that they were like briers and thorns, and that if his fury should rage they would be consumed, and hence, he calls upon them Isa 27:5 to seize upon his strength, and to be at peace with him. If it refers to his enemies, then it expresses a wish that his enemies were in his possession; or a purpose to go against them, as fire among thorns, and to consume them if they should presume to array themselves against his vineyard. This latter I take to be the true sense of the passage. The phrase ‘who would set me,’ or in Hebrew, ‘who will give me,’ may be expressed by “utinam,” indicating strong desire; and may be thus paraphrased: ‘I retain no anger against my people. I have indeed punished them; but my anger has ceased. I shall now defend them. If they are attacked by foes, I will guard them. […]
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| חֵמָ֖ה | chemah | rage | H2534 → | 125 times |
| אֵ֣ין | ʾein | not | H369 → | 789 times |
| לִ֑י | li | [belongs] to me | ||
| מִֽי־ | mi- | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| יִתְּנֵ֜נִי | yiteneni | will he give me | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| שָׁמִ֥יר | shamir | thorn[s] | H8068 → | 11 times |
| שַׁ֙יִת֙ | shayit | bush[es] | H7898 → | 7 times |
| בַּמִּלְחָמָ֔ה | bamilchamah | in <the> battle | H4421 → | 320 times |
| אֶפְשְׂעָ֥ה | ʾefseah | I will march | H6585 → | |
| בָ֖הּ | vah | against it | ||
| אֲצִיתֶ֥נָּה | ʾatzitenah | I will burn it | H6702 → | |
| יָּֽחַד׃ | yachad | altogether | H3162 → | 141 times |
חֵמָ֖הrage
chemahH2534 →125 times
אֵ֣יןnot
ʾeinH369 →789 times
לִ֑י[belongs] to me
li
מִֽי־who?
mi-H4310 →423 times
יִתְּנֵ֜נִיwill he give me
yiteneniH5414 →2011 times
שָׁמִ֥ירthorn[s]
shamirH8068 →11 times
שַׁ֙יִת֙bush[es]
shayitH7898 →7 times
בַּמִּלְחָמָ֔הin <the> battle
bamilchamahH4421 →320 times
אֶפְשְׂעָ֥הI will march
ʾefseahH6585 →
בָ֖הּagainst it
vah
אֲצִיתֶ֥נָּהI will burn it
ʾatzitenahH6702 →
יָּֽחַד׃altogether
yachadH3162 →141 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 3:12His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
it leads to
- Malachi 4:1
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of…
- Matthew 13:30
Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat into my barn.’”
- Luke 3:17
His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
- Isaiah 41:16
You will winnow them, and a wind will carry them away; a gale will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the LORD; you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
- Jeremiah 51:2
I will send strangers to Babylon to winnow her and empty her land; for they will come against her from every side in her day of disaster.
- Malachi 4:1
Through
Hebrews 6:8But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless, and its curse is imminent. In the end it will be burned.
it leads to
- Genesis 3:17–18
And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because…
- John 15:6
If anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned.
- Genesis 3:17–18
Through
Psalms 85:3You withheld all Your fury; You turned from Your burning anger.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 13:17
Nothing devoted to destruction shall cling to your hands, so that the LORD will turn from His fierce anger, grant you mercy, show you compassion, and multiply you as He swore to your fathers,
- Deuteronomy 13:17
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Isaiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.