This page gives you ready-made questions and leader’s answers for studying Isaiah 27, built for a small group, a Sunday class or personal reading. Isaiah 27 moves from God’s judgment on a powerful enemy to a surprising song about a vineyard that God himself guards, then to a promise that Israel will be gathered home. The questions below follow the chapter in order so you can lead without a separate summary.
Isaiah 27 at a Glance
The chapter opens with the LORD dealing with a monstrous enemy, described with the imagery of a sea serpent, and then turns to a vineyard that the LORD keeps safe day and night. Verses 4 and 5 show God’s patience and his invitation to peace. Verses 6 through 9 describe Israel’s restoration and the removal of idolatry, while verses 10 and 11 picture a desolate city and a people who have lost understanding. The chapter ends with hope: scattered people are gathered back and come to worship at Jerusalem.
Observation Questions
Use these questions to slow the group down and get everyone looking at the actual words before anyone interprets them. Ask one question at a time, let several people answer, and point back to the verse number each time. Resist the urge to explain until the text has been described.
Isaiah 27:1
In that day, the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish leviathan, the fleeing serpent, and leviathan the twisted serpent; and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.
(WEB)
Reading this verse first sets the tone for the chapter by showing God acting decisively against a powerful threat. It gives the group a vivid image to hold as you move into the more tender passages that follow.
Isaiah 27:3
I, the LORD, am its keeper. I will water it every moment. Lest anyone damage it, I will keep it night and day.
(WEB)
This verse captures the heart of the vineyard song, where God describes his own constant care. Reading it aloud allows the group to hear the repeated promise of protection in God’s own voice.
Isaiah 27:5
Or else let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me. Let him make peace with me.”
(WEB)
The invitation to peace here is central to the chapter’s message of reconciliation. Reading it aloud slowly, with the repeated call to make peace, helps the group sit with the open door that God offers.
Isaiah 27:9
Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob will be forgiven, and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: that he makes all the stones of the altar as chalk stones that are beaten in pieces, so that the Asherah poles and the incense altars shall rise no more.
(WEB)
This verse links forgiveness with the removal of idolatry, which is one of the chapter’s clearest theological points. Reading it aloud gives the group a concrete picture of what turning from false worship looks like.
Isaiah 27:12-13
12 It will happen in that day, that the LORD will thresh from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered one by one, children of Israel. 13 It will happen in that day that a great trumpet will be blown; and those who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and those who were outcasts in the land of Egypt, shall come; and they will worship the LORD in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
(WEB)
These closing verses bring the chapter to a hopeful end, with God gathering his people and bringing them to worship in Jerusalem. Reading them aloud last lets the group finish with a sense of return and promise.
Memory Verse for Isaiah 27
A Closing Prayer for the Group
Father, we come before you thankful that you are the keeper of your people and the one who watches over what belongs to you. Thank you for the picture of a vineyard that you water every moment and guard through the night. Show us the briers and thorns in our own lives, and give us the courage to bring them to you. When we resist your invitation to peace, soften our hearts and help us take hold of your strength. Gather those who feel scattered, and bring each of us home to worship you. Amen.
