Verse 1
1. In that day The same time as that referred to in the preceding verse, when the Lord should come “out of his place to punish.” This verse should have closed the preceding chapter.
Sore An epithet applied to the “sword” with which the Lord efficiently enters the contest, meaning hard and well-tempered.
Great and strong sword Triple epithets completed, denoting no failure of providential turnings in the adjustments of this war.
Leviathan… dragon Really the same sea or river monster, thrice named. There is but little doubt that leviathan the piercing, or fleeing, (or, if Arabic etymology is a help to its meaning, as Gesenius thinks, cross mailed, referring to the twisted mailed covering of the crocodile,) applies to Assyria on the rapid Tigris, and leviathan the crooked, to Babylon, on the winding Euphrates, where the stream is stagnant and marshy.
The dragon Referring to the same beast, probably, applies to Egypt on the Nile sea, including thus the three great representative world-powers which had more or less always harassed Israel. The meaning here is difficult, and has been explained variously; this, however, seems the best explanation.
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