Isaiah 49:2

49:2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword,

he hid me in the hollow of his hand;

he made me like a sharpened ¹  arrow,

he hid me in his quiver. ² 

Isaiah 63:1-6

The Victorious Divine Warrior

63:1 Who is this who comes from Edom, ³ 

dressed in bright red, coming from Bozrah? ⁴ 

Who ⁵  is this one wearing royal attire, ⁶ 

who marches confidently ⁷  because of his great strength?

“It is I, the one who announces vindication,

and who is able to deliver!” ⁸ 

63:2 Why are your clothes red?

Why do you look like someone who has stomped on grapes in a vat? ⁹ 

63:3 “I have stomped grapes in the winepress all by myself;

no one from the nations joined me.

I stomped on them ¹⁰  in my anger;

I trampled them down in my rage.

Their juice splashed on my garments,

and stained ¹¹  all my clothes.

63:4 For I looked forward to the day of vengeance,

and then payback time arrived. ¹² 

63:5 I looked, but there was no one to help;

I was shocked because there was no one offering support. ¹³ 

So my right arm accomplished deliverance;

my raging anger drove me on. ¹⁴ 

63:6 I trampled nations in my anger,

I made them drunk ¹⁵  in my rage,

I splashed their blood on the ground.” ¹⁶ 

Hebrews 4:12

4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart.

Revelation 1:16

1:16 He held ¹⁷  seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp double-edged sword extended out of his mouth. His ¹⁸  face shone like the sun shining at full strength.

Revelation 19:15

19:15 From his mouth extends a sharp sword, so that with it he can strike the nations. ¹⁹  He ²⁰  will rule ²¹  them with an iron rod, ²²  and he stomps the winepress ²³  of the furious ²⁴  wrath of God, the All-Powerful. ²⁵ 

Revelation 19:21

19:21 The ²⁶  others were killed by the sword that extended from the mouth of the one who rode the horse, and all the birds gorged ²⁷  themselves with their flesh.

[49:2]  ¹ tn Or perhaps, “polished” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); NASB “a select arrow.”

[49:2]  ² sn The figurative language emphasizes the servant’s importance as the Lord’s effective instrument. The servant’s mouth, which stands metonymically for his words, is compared to a sharp sword because he will be an effective spokesman on God’s behalf (see 50:4). The Lord holds his hand on the servant, ready to draw and use him at the appropriate time. The servant is like a sharpened arrow reserved in a quiver for just the right moment.

[63:1]  ³ sn Edom is here an archetype for the Lord’s enemies. See 34:5.

[63:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “[in] bright red garments, from Bozrah.”

[63:1]  ⁵ tn The interrogative particle is understood by ellipsis; note the first line of the verse.

[63:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “honored in his clothing”; KJV, ASV “glorious in his apparel.”

[63:1]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text has צָעָה (tsa’ah), which means “stoop, bend” (51:14). The translation assumes an emendation to צָעַד (tsa’ad, “march”; see BDB 858 s.v. צָעָה).

[63:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “I, [the one] speaking in vindication [or “righteousness”], great to deliver.”

[63:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “and your garments like one who treads in a vat?”

[63:3]  ¹⁰ sn Nations, headed by Edom, are the object of the Lord’s anger (see v. 6). He compares military slaughter to stomping on grapes in a vat.

[63:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and I stained.” For discussion of the difficult verb form, see HALOT 170 s.v. II גאל. Perhaps the form is mixed, combining the first person forms of the imperfect (note the alef prefix) and perfect (note the תי- ending).

[63:4]  ¹² tn Heb “for the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my revenge came.” The term גְּאוּלַי (gÿ’ulai) is sometimes translated here “my redemption,” for the verbal root גאל often means “deliver, buy back.” A גֹּאֵל (go’el, “kinsman-redeemer”) was responsible for protecting the extended family’s interests, often by redeeming property that had been sold outside the family. However, the responsibilities of a גֹּאֵל extended beyond financial concerns. He was also responsible for avenging the shed blood of a family member (see Num 35:19-27; Deut 19:6-12). In Isa 63:4, where vengeance is a prominent theme (note the previous line), it is probably this function of the family protector that is in view. The Lord pictures himself as a blood avenger who waits for the day of vengeance to arrive and then springs into action.

[63:5]  ¹³ sn See Isa 59:16 for similar language.

[63:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and my anger, it supported me”; NIV “my own wrath sustained me.”

[63:6]  ¹⁵ sn See Isa 49:26 and 51:23 for similar imagery.

[63:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and I brought down to the ground their juice.” “Juice” refers to their blood (see v. 3).

[1:16]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “and having.” In the Greek text this is a continuation of the previous sentence, but because contemporary English style employs much shorter sentences, a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the pronoun “he.”

[1:16]  ¹⁸ tn This is a continuation of the previous sentence in the Greek text, but a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[19:15]  ¹⁹ tn Or “the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

[19:15]  ²⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[19:15]  ²¹ tn Grk “will shepherd.”

[19:15]  ²² tn Or “scepter.” The Greek term ῥάβδος (rJabdo") can mean either “rod” or “scepter.”

[19:15]  ²³ sn He stomps the winepress. See Isa 63:3, where Messiah does this alone (usually several individuals would join in the process), and Rev 14:20.

[19:15]  ²⁴ tn The genitive θυμοῦ (qumou) has been translated as an attributed genitive. Following BDAG 461 s.v. θυμός 2, the combination of the genitives of θυμός (qumos) and ὀργή (orgh) in Rev 16:19 and 19:15 are taken to be a strengthening of the thought as in the OT and Qumran literature (Exod 32:12; Jer 32:37; Lam 2:3; CD 10:9).

[19:15]  ²⁵ tn On this word BDAG 755 s.v. παντοκράτωρ states, “the Almighty, All-Powerful, Omnipotent (One) only of God…(ὁ) κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ π. …Rv 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 21:22.”

[19:21]  ²⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[19:21]  ²⁷ tn On the translation of ἐχορτάσθησαν (ecortasqhsan) BDAG 1087 s.v. χορτάζω 1.a states, “of animals, pass. in act. sense πάντα τὰ ὄρνεα ἐχορτάσθησαν ἐκ τῶν σαρκῶν αὐτῶν all the birds gorged themselves with their flesh Rv 19:21 (cp. TestJud. 21:8).”