Isaiah 37:27
ESV
while their inhabitants, shorn of strength, are dismayed and confounded, and have become like plants of the field and like tender grass, like grass on the housetops, blighted before it is grown.
NIV
Their people, drained of power, are dismayed and put to shame. They are like plants in the field, like tender green shoots, like grass sprouting on the roof, scorched before it grows up.
NASB
Therefore their inhabitants were powerless, They were shattered and put to shame; They were like the vegetation of the field and the green grass, Like grass on the housetops that is scorched before it has grown.
CSB
Their inhabitants have become powerless, dismayed, and ashamed. They are plants of the field, tender grass, grass on the rooftops, blasted by the east wind.
NLT
That is why their people have so little power and are so frightened and confused. They are as weak as grass, as easily trampled as tender green shoots. They are like grass sprouting on a housetop, scorched before it can grow lush and tall.
KJV
Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.
NKJV
Therefore their inhabitants had little power; They were dismayed and confounded; They were as the grass of the field And the green herb, As the grass on the housetops And grain blighted before it is grown.
What does Isaiah 37:27 mean?
While Assyria's king Sennacherib flatters himself (Isaiah 37:24–25), the Lord claims responsibility for all the terror and destruction the Assyrians have brought (Isaiah 37:26). It was part of His plan to judge Israel (Isaiah 8:6–8) as well as other people groups. Sennacherib has foolishly assumed glory for that success for himself and his ancestors before him. They had defeated not just all the kings of all the nations, but they had defeated the gods those peoples served, as well, apparently burning their idols to ash (Isaiah 37:18–19).It's true that those defeated by Assyria were utterly dominated. God compares the conquered people to diseased or sunburnt plants easily cut down before they can grow. But Sennacherib is wrong to assume that his conquests are the result of his own greatness. Rather, this is a plan God has been using to judge the nations of earth (Isaiah 10:5–11). The end of that plan, however, brings the same judgment back onto these aggressive cultures (Isaiah 10:12–19).
God knows everything Sennacherib has said or done (Hebrews 4:13) and will judge the arrogant king by thoroughly defeating him (Isaiah 37:28–29).
