Jamieson, Fausset and Brown on Isaiah 27:1

CHAPTER 27

Is 27:1-13. Continuation of the Twenty-fourth, Twenty-fifth, and Twenty-sixth Chapters.

At the time when Israel shall be delivered, and the ungodly nations punished, God shall punish also the great enemy of the Church.

1. sore--rather, "hard," "well-tempered."

leviathan--literally, in Arabic, "the twisted animal," applicable to every great tenant of the waters, sea-serpents, crocodiles, &c. In Eze 29:3; 32:2; Da 7:1, &c. Re 12:3, &c., potentates hostile to Israel are similarly described; antitypically and ultimately Satan is intended (Re 20:10).

piercing--rigid [Lowth]. Flying [Maurer and Septuagint]. Long, extended, namely, as the crocodile which cannot readily bend back its body [Houbigant].

crooked--winding.

dragon--Hebrew, tenin; the crocodile.

sea--the Euphrates, or the expansion of it near Babylon.