Isaiah 52:10

52:10 The Lord reveals ¹  his royal power ² 

in the sight of all the nations;

the entire ³  earth sees

our God deliver. ⁴ 

Isaiah 63:3-5

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

no one from the nations joined me.

I stomped on them ⁵  in my anger;

I trampled them down in my rage.

Their juice splashed on my garments,

and stained ⁶  all my clothes.

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

and then payback time arrived. ⁷ 

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

I was shocked because there was no one offering support. ⁸ 

So my right arm accomplished deliverance;

my raging anger drove me on. ⁹ 

Psalms 98:1

Psalm 98 ¹⁰ 

A psalm.

98:1 Sing to the Lord a new song, ¹¹ 

for he performs ¹²  amazing deeds!

His right hand and his mighty arm

accomplish deliverance. ¹³ 

[52:10]  ¹ tn Heb “lays bare”; NLT “will demonstrate.”

[52:10]  ² tn Heb “his holy arm.” This is a metonymy for his power.

[52:10]  ³ tn Heb “the remote regions,” which here stand for the extremities and everything in between.

[52:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “the deliverance of our God.” “God” is a subjective genitive here.

[63:3]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ sn See Isa 59:16 for similar language.

[63:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “and my anger, it supported me”; NIV “my own wrath sustained me.”

[98:1]  ¹⁰ sn Psalm 98. The psalmist summons the whole earth to praise God because he reveals his justice and delivers Israel.

[98:1]  ¹¹ sn A new song is appropriate because the Lord is constantly intervening in the world as its just king. See Ps 96:1.

[98:1]  ¹² tn The perfect verbal forms in vv. 1-3 are understood here as describing characteristic divine activities. Another option is to translate them as present perfects, “has performed…has accomplished deliverance, etc.” referring to completed actions that have continuing results.

[98:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “his right hand delivers for him and his holy arm.” The right hand and arm symbolize his power as a warrior-king (see Isa 52:10). His arm is “holy” in the sense that it is in a category of its own; God’s power is incomparable.