Isaiah 63

Who is this coming from Edom, from the city of Bozrah, with clothes stained deep red? Who is this dressed in splendor, marching along in his great strength? "It is I, who speak what is right, and I am strong enough to save."

1Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.

NoteEdom was the nation just southeast of Judah, whose people were counted as descendants of Esau, Jacob's brother; it was a long-standing rival, and by Isaiah's time it stood in poetry for hostile nations in general. Bozrah was its chief city. The Hebrew is playing on sound: Edom resembles the word for "red" (adom), Bozrah the word for grape-gathering (batsar), so the names themselves suggest the red-stained clothes and the harvest imagery that follow. "Speak in righteousness" does not mean speaking honestly; the Hebrew word here carries the sense of declaring a verdict in someone's favor, announcing that justice has been done.

2Why are your clothes red? Why do they look like the clothes of a man who stomps grapes in a winepress?

2Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?

NoteThe KJV's "winefat" is an old word for the vat of a winepress. Grapes were tipped into a shallow stone trough and crushed by men treading them barefoot, and the juice ran out through a channel into a lower basin. The work splashed dark red juice up the treader's legs and clothing, which is why the image can stand for a battlefield.

3"I have stomped the winepress alone. No one from the nations was with me. I trampled them in my anger and crushed them in my fury. Their blood splashed on my clothes, and it stained everything I wore.

3I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.

Note"The people" in the KJV translates a plural: the peoples, the nations. It does not mean ordinary people as opposed to leaders.

4I had a day of payback in my heart, and the year to set my people free had come.

4For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.

Note"Vengeance" here is judicial punishment, a wrong being repaid, rather than private revenge. "My redeemed" uses a word drawn from family law: to redeem was to buy a relative out of slavery or debt, or to buy back land the family had lost. "The year of my redeemed" may also echo the practice of releasing slaves and returning property in a set year.

5I looked, and there was no one to help. I was shocked that no one stepped in to support me. So my own arm won the victory for me, and my own fury held me up.

5And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me.

Note"Arm" is a standard Hebrew image for strength in action, the way English says "by his own hand." To say his own arm brought him salvation means he won without allies.

6I trampled the nations in my anger. In my fury I made them stagger like drunk men, and I poured their strength out on the ground."

6And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth.

NoteMaking a nation drunk was a stock image for the staggering, helpless state of a people under judgment: they are pictured being forced to drink a cup that leaves them reeling. The last line reads differently in different translations, because the Hebrew word can mean either "strength" (KJV) or "lifeblood" (many modern versions).

7I will speak of the LORD's faithful love and of all the things he has done that deserve praise. I will speak of everything the LORD has given us, and of all the good he has done for the family of Israel. He did it because of his mercy and his great, faithful love.

7I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD, and the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses.

Note"Lovingkindness" is the KJV's word for Hebrew *hesed*: loyal, committed care of the kind owed within a binding relationship, not merely warm feeling. "The house of Israel" means the nation as an extended family, everyone descended from Jacob, who was also called Israel.

8For he said, "They really are my people, children who will not be false to me." So he became the one who rescued them.

8For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour.

Note"Children that will not lie" means children who will not prove false or break faith, a matter of loyalty rather than of telling untruths.

9In all their suffering he suffered too, and the angel who stands before him rescued them. Because he loved them and felt sorry for them, he bought them back. He lifted them up and carried them, all through those long-ago days.

9In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

Note"The angel of his presence" is literally "the angel of his face": a messenger who stands in God's own presence and acts for him, as in the accounts of the escape from Egypt. The opening clause is one of the most disputed in the book: the Hebrew as written can be read either "in all their affliction he was afflicted" (as the KJV and most modern versions take it) or "in all their affliction he did not afflict," because two Hebrew words that sound alike are spelled differently in the manuscript tradition.

10But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy, and he himself fought against them.

10But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.

Note"Vexed" in 1611 English meant grieved or caused pain to, which is stronger than the modern sense of merely annoyed.

11Then he remembered the days long ago, the days of Moses and his people, and asked, "Where is the one who brought them up out of the sea, along with the shepherds of his flock? Where is the one who put his Holy Spirit among them?

11Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? where is he that put his holy Spirit within him?

NoteThe sea is the escape from Egypt, when the water parted and Israel crossed. "The shepherd of his flock" refers to Moses, and in some Hebrew manuscripts and most modern translations the word is plural, the shepherds, taking in Aaron and other leaders as well. Shepherd was an ordinary title for a ruler or leader throughout the ancient Near East.

12Where is the one who sent his glorious arm to lead them at the right hand of Moses, who split the water in front of them, so that his name would be remembered forever?

12That led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make himself an everlasting name?

Note"By the right hand of Moses" pictures God's power going along beside Moses, at the place of honor and strength. "An everlasting name" means a lasting reputation: the event would be told and retold as proof of who he was.

13Where is the one who led them through the deep water, sure-footed like a horse crossing open country, so that they never stumbled?"

13That led them through the deep, as an horse in the wilderness, that they should not stumble?

NoteA horse in open country is the point of comparison: on flat, unbroken ground a horse runs at full speed without tripping. The image says the crossing of the sea bed was as sure-footed as that.

14Like cattle going down into a valley, they were given rest by the Spirit of the LORD. That is how you led your people, to make a glorious name for yourself.

14As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD caused him to rest: so didst thou lead thy people, to make thyself a glorious name.

NoteCattle driven down from dry upland into a valley are going where there is water, grass and shelter, the picture is of animals brought to a safe resting place. "Rest" here means settled possession of the land, the end of the journey out of Egypt.

15Look down from heaven and see, from the holy and glorious place where you live. Where is your burning concern and your power? Where is your deep feeling and mercy toward me? Are they held back?

15Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? are they restrained?

Note"The sounding of thy bowels" is the KJV's literal rendering. Hebrew located strong feeling in the inner organs the way English locates it in the heart, and the verb suggests a churning or stirring inside. The sense is "your yearning, your gut-level compassion." "Zeal" means burning, jealous commitment to one's own people, not enthusiasm.

16Surely you are our father, even though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not claim us. You, LORD, are our father. You are the one who buys us back, and that has been your name forever.

16Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O LORD, art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting.

NoteAbraham and Israel (that is, Jacob) are the nation's founding ancestors, long dead. The line means that even if the ancestors themselves would no longer recognize their descendants, God still stands as father to them. "Redeemer" is a term from family law: the *go'el* was the nearest relative, obliged to buy a family member out of slavery, recover lost family land, or take up a relative's cause in court.

17LORD, why do you make us wander away from your paths? Why do you harden our hearts, so that we no longer honor you? Come back, for the sake of your servants, the tribes that belong to you.

17O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

NoteHebrew often says God does what he permits or allows to happen, so this line has been understood both as an accusation and as a complaint that he has left them to their own wandering. "Fear" here means reverence and awe toward God, not fright. "The tribes of thine inheritance" uses inheritance in its legal sense: the allotted property that belongs to someone permanently, Israel is spoken of as God's own allotted portion.

18Your holy people held your holy place for only a short time. Now our enemies have trampled your sanctuary down.

18The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.

NoteThe sanctuary is the temple in Jerusalem, the holy building at the center of Israel's worship; "trodden down" points to its capture and ruin by invaders. The first half of the verse is difficult in Hebrew and has been read in more than one way: that the people held the holy place only briefly, or that God's people were driven out almost as soon as they had it.

19We belong to you. You have never ruled over them; they have never been called by your name.

19We are thine: thou never barest rule over them; they were not called by thy name.

NoteThe Hebrew here is compressed and has been read two ways. The KJV takes it as "we are yours: you never ruled those others"; most modern translations take it as "we have become like people you never ruled, like people never called by your name," that is, indistinguishable from outsiders. To be "called by your name" meant to be publicly recognized as belonging to someone, as a household or a conquered city bore its owner's name. In Hebrew Bibles the chapter runs one verse further, and what English versions print as 64:1 is the second half of this verse.