Isaiah 5:27 - Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

Bible Comments

27. None shall be weary, nor stumble among them. The meaning is, that everything will be prepared and arranged in such a manner that there shall be no delay or obstruction to their march; as if a prince, having recruited the ranks of his soldiers, immediately gave orders that the roads should be cleared, provisions obtained, and everything necessary provided. He therefore shows that they will be fleet and swift, and that there will be nothing to hinder their rapid march.

None shall slumber nor sleep. He expresses their vast activity by saying that they will not be drowsy. In these words, they shall not slumber nor sleep, the natural order is inverted, He ought rather to have said, They shall not sleep nor slumber; for it is a smaller matter to slumber than to sleep. But that phrase ought to be explained in this manner: They shall not slumber nor even sleep; that is, they will be so far from sleeping, that they will not even slumber. You have an instance of this in these words:

Lo, he that keepeth Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. (Psalms 121:4.)

It is a Hebrew phrase, with which neither the Greek nor the Latin idiom agrees.

Isaiah 5:27

27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken: