Isaiah 27:9

Therefore Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for, and the full fruit of the removal of his sin will be this: When he makes all the altar stones like crushed bits of chalk, no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — The prophet Isaiah addresses Jacob/Israel following a period of warfare and exile, framing the passage between descriptions of divine removal and the subsequent desolation of a fortified city. The speaker announces the resolution of national guilt after the judgment cycle concludes.

The words — The Hebrew יְכֻפַּר (yekuppār) translates literally as "it will be atoned for," standing alongside עֲוֹן (ʿāwōn), "iniquity," to declare that Jacob's guilt will be fully resolved. This atonement is explicitly defined by the physical eradication of Asherah poles and incense altars.

The thread — The promise of sin removal appears in Romans 11:27, which cites the covenant guarantee that God will take away their sins. The elimination of idolatrous worship sites parallels the imagery in Isaiah 17:8, where crafted altars and Asherahs are left standing no more.

Why it lands — The text requires readers to separate divine forgiveness from human religious manufacturing, demanding the abandonment of physical idols. It asks the reader to accept that atonement arrives through God's decisive action rather than maintained ritual structures.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

King James Version

By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.

Cross-references

Isaiah 48:10 See, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
Romans 11:27 And this is My covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
Isaiah 17:8 They will not look to the altars they have fashioned with their hands or to the Asherahs and incense altars they have made with their fingers.
Daniel 11:35 Some of the wise will fall so that they may be refined, purified, and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.
Exodus 34:13 Rather, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and chop down their Asherah poles.
2 Kings 25:9 He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.
2 Kings 25:13 Moreover, the Chaldeans broke up the bronze pillars and stands and the bronze Sea in the house of the LORD, and they carried the bronze to Babylon.
2 Chronicles 14:5 He also removed the high places and incense altars from all the cities of Judah, and under him the kingdom was at peace.
2 Chronicles 34:4 Then in his presence the altars of the Baals were torn down, and he cut to pieces the incense altars that were above them. He shattered the Asherah poles, the carved idols, and the cast images, crushed them to dust, and scattered them over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.
2 Chronicles 36:19 Then the Chaldeans set fire to the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned down all the palaces and destroyed every article of value.