Isaiah 59:16-19

The Lord Intervenes

59:16 He sees there is no advocate; ¹ 

he is shocked ²  that no one intervenes.

So he takes matters into his own hands; ³ 

his desire for justice drives him on. ⁴ 

59:17 He wears his desire for justice ⁵  like body armor, ⁶ 

and his desire to deliver is like a helmet on his head. ⁷ 

He puts on the garments of vengeance ⁸ 

and wears zeal like a robe.

59:18 He repays them for what they have done,

dispensing angry judgment to his adversaries

and punishing his enemies. ⁹ 

He repays the coastlands. ¹⁰ 

59:19 In the west, people respect ¹¹  the Lord’s reputation; ¹² 

in the east they recognize his splendor. ¹³ 

For he comes like a rushing ¹⁴  stream

driven on by wind sent from the Lord. ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 63:1-4

The Victorious Divine Warrior

63:1 Who is this who comes from Edom, ¹⁶ 

dressed in bright red, coming from Bozrah? ¹⁷ 

Who ¹⁸  is this one wearing royal attire, ¹⁹ 

who marches confidently ²⁰  because of his great strength?

“It is I, the one who announces vindication,

and who is able to deliver!” ²¹ 

63:2 Why are your clothes red?

Why do you look like someone who has stomped on grapes in a vat? ²² 

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

no one from the nations joined me.

I stomped on them ²³  in my anger;

I trampled them down in my rage.

Their juice splashed on my garments,

and stained ²⁴  all my clothes.

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

and then payback time arrived. ²⁵ 

Exodus 15:1-3

The Song of Triumph

15:1 ²⁶ Then Moses and the Israelites sang ²⁷  this song to the Lord. They said, ²⁸ 

“I will sing ²⁹  to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously, ³⁰ 

the horse and its rider ³¹  he has thrown into the sea.

15:2 The Lord ³²  is my strength and my song, ³³ 

and he has become my salvation.

This is my God, and I will praise him, ³⁴ 

my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

15:3 The Lord is a warrior, ³⁵ 

the Lord is his name. ³⁶ 

Psalms 78:65

78:65 But then the Lord awoke from his sleep; ³⁷ 

he was like a warrior in a drunken rage. ³⁸ 

Psalms 110:5-6

110:5 O sovereign Lord, ³⁹  at your right hand

he strikes down ⁴⁰  kings in the day he unleashes his anger. ⁴¹ 

110:6 He executes judgment ⁴²  against ⁴³  the nations;

he fills the valleys with corpses; ⁴⁴ 

he shatters their heads over the vast battlefield. ⁴⁵ 

Jeremiah 25:30

25:30 “Then, Jeremiah, ⁴⁶  make the following prophecy ⁴⁷  against them:

‘Like a lion about to attack, ⁴⁸  the Lord will roar from the heights of heaven;

from his holy dwelling on high he will roar loudly.

He will roar mightily against his land. ⁴⁹ 

He will shout in triumph like those stomping juice from the grapes ⁵⁰ 

against all those who live on the earth.

[59:16]  ¹ tn Heb “man” (so KJV, ASV); TEV “no one to help.”

[59:16]  ² tn Or “appalled” (NAB, NIV, NRSV), or “disgusted.”

[59:16]  ³ tn Heb “and his arm delivers for him.”

[59:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “and his justice [or “righteousness”] supports him.”

[59:17]  ⁵ tn Or “righteousness” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NCV “goodness.”

[59:17]  ⁶ tn Or “a breastplate” (traditional; so many English versions); TEV “a coat of armour.”

[59:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “and [as] a helmet deliverance on his head.”

[59:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he puts on the clothes of vengeance [as] a garment.”

[59:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “in accordance with deeds, so he repays, anger to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies.”

[59:18]  ¹⁰ tn Or “islands” (KJV, NIV).

[59:19]  ¹¹ tc Heb “fear.” A few medieval Hebrew mss read “see.”

[59:19]  ¹² tn Heb “and they fear from the west the name of the Lord.”

[59:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “and from the rising of the sun his splendor.”

[59:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “narrow”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “pent-up.”

[59:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the wind of the Lord drives it on.” The term רוּחַ (ruakh) could be translated “breath” here (see 30:28).

[63:1]  ¹⁶ sn Edom is here an archetype for the Lord’s enemies. See 34:5.

[63:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “[in] bright red garments, from Bozrah.”

[63:1]  ¹⁸ tn The interrogative particle is understood by ellipsis; note the first line of the verse.

[63:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “honored in his clothing”; KJV, ASV “glorious in his apparel.”

[63:1]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ tn Heb “I, [the one] speaking in vindication [or “righteousness”], great to deliver.”

[63:2]  ²² tn Heb “and your garments like one who treads in a vat?”

[63:3]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ 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.

[15:1]  ²⁶ sn This chapter is a song of praise sung by Moses and the people right after the deliverance from the Sea. The song itself is vv. 1b-18; it falls into three sections – praise to God (1b-3), the cause for the praise (4-13), and the conclusion (14-18). The point of the first section is that God’s saving acts inspire praise from his people; the second is that God’s powerful acts deliver his people from the forces of evil; and the third section is that God’s demonstrations of his sovereignty inspire confidence in him by his people. So the Victory Song is very much like the other declarative praise psalms – the resolve to praise, the power of God, the victory over the enemies, the incomparability of God in his redemption, and the fear of the people. See also C. Cohen, “Studies in Early Israelite Poetry I: An Unrecognized Case of Three Line Staircase Parallelism in the Song of the Sea,” JANESCU 7 (1975): 13-17; D. N. Freedman, “Strophe and Meter in Exodus 15,” A Light unto My Path, 163-203; E. Levine, “Neofiti I: A Study of Exodus 15,” Bib 54 (1973): 301-30; T. C. Butler, “‘The Song of the Sea’: Exodus 15:1-18: A Study in the Exegesis of Hebrew Poetry,” DissAb 32 (1971): 2782-A.

[15:1]  ²⁷ tn The verb is יָשִׁיר (yashir), a normal imperfect tense form. But after the adverb “then” this form is to be treated as a preterite (see GKC 314-15 §107.c).

[15:1]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and they said, saying.” This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[15:1]  ²⁹ tn The form is the singular cohortative, expressing the resolution of Moses to sing the song of praise (“I will” being stronger than “I shall”).

[15:1]  ³⁰ tn This causal clause gives the reason for and summary of the praise. The Hebrew expression has כִּי־גָּאֹה גָּאָה (ki ga’oh ga’ah). The basic idea of the verb is “rise up loftily” or “proudly.” But derivatives of the root carry the nuance of majesty or pride (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 132). So the idea of the perfect tense with its infinitive absolute may mean “he is highly exalted” or “he has done majestically” or “he is gloriously glorious.”

[15:1]  ³¹ sn The common understanding is that Egypt did not have people riding horses at this time, and so the phrase the horse and its rider is either viewed as an anachronism or is interpreted to mean charioteers. The word “to ride” can mean on a horse or in a chariot. Some have suggested changing “rider” to “chariot” (re-vocalization) to read “the horse and its chariot.”

[15:2]  ³² tn Heb “Yah.” Moses’ poem here uses a short form of the name Yahweh, traditionally rendered in English by “the LORD.”

[15:2]  ³³ tn The word וְזִמְרָת (vÿzimrat) is problematic. It probably had a suffix yod (י) that was accidentally dropped because of the yod (י) on the divine name following. Most scholars posit another meaning for the word. A meaning of “power” fits the line fairly well, forming a hendiadys with strength – “strength and power” becoming “strong power.” Similar lines are in Isa 12:2 and Ps 118:14. Others suggest “protection” or “glory.” However, there is nothing substantially wrong with “my song” in the line – only that it would be a nicer match if it had something to do with strength.

[15:2]  ³⁴ tn The word נָוָה (navah) occurs only here. It may mean “beautify, adorn” with praises (see BDB 627 s.v.). See also M. Dahood, “Exodus 15:2: ‘anwehu and Ugaritic snwt,” Bib 59 (1979): 260-61; and M. Klein, “The Targumic Tosefta to Exodus 15:2,” JJS 26 (1975): 61-67; and S. B. Parker, “Exodus 15:2 Again,” VT 21 (1971): 373-79.

[15:3]  ³⁵ tn Heb “man of war” (so KJV, ASV). “Warrior” is now the preferred translation since “man of war” is more commonly known today as a warship. The expression indicates that Yahweh is one who understands how to fight and defeat the enemy. The word “war” modifies “man” to reveal that Yahweh is a warrior. Other passages use similar descriptions: Isa 42:13 has “man of wars”; Ps 24:8 has “mighty man of battle.” See F. Cross, “The Divine Warrior in Israel’s Early Cult,” Biblical Motifs, 11-30.

[15:3]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Yahweh is his name.” As throughout, the name “Yahweh” is rendered as “the Lord” in the translation, as is typically done in English translations.

[78:65]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and the master awoke like one sleeping.” The Lord’s apparent inactivity during the time of judgment is compared to sleep.

[78:65]  ³⁸ tn Heb “like a warrior overcome with wine.” The Hebrew verb רוּן (run, “overcome”) occurs only here in the OT. The phrase “overcome with wine” could picture a drunken warrior controlled by his emotions and passions (as in the present translation), or it could refer to a warrior who awakes from a drunken stupor.

[110:5]  ³⁹ tn As pointed in the Hebrew text, this title refers to God (many medieval Hebrew mss read יְהוָה, yehveh, “Lord” here). The present translation assumes that the psalmist here addresses the Lord as he celebrates what the king is able to accomplish while positioned at God’s “right hand.” According to this view the king is the subject of the third person verb forms in vv. 5b-7. (2) Another option is to understand the king as the addressee (as in vv. 2-3). In this case “the Lord” is the subject of the third person verbs throughout vv. 5-7 and is depicted as a warrior in a very anthropomorphic manner. In this case the Lord is pictured as being at the psalmist’s right hand (just the opposite of v. 1). See Pss 16:8; 121:5. (3) A third option is to revocalize אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “Lord”) as אֲדֹנִי (’adoniy, “my lord”; see v. 1). In this case one may translate, “My lord, at his [God’s] right hand, strikes down.” In this case the king is the subject of the third person verbs in vv. 5b-7.

[110:5]  ⁴⁰ tn The perfect verbal forms in vv. 5-6 are understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing. Another option is to take them as rhetorical. In this case the psalmist describes anticipated events as if they had already taken place.

[110:5]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “in the day of his anger.”

[110:6]  ⁴² tn The imperfect verbal forms in vv. 6-7 are understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing, though they could be taken as future.

[110:6]  ⁴³ tn Or “among.”

[110:6]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “he fills [with] corpses,” but one expects a double accusative here. The translation assumes an emendation to גְוִיּוֹת גֵאָיוֹת(בִּ) מִלֵּא or מִלֵּא גֵאָיוֹת גְּוִיוֹת (for a similar construction see Ezek 32:5). In the former case גֵאָיוֹת(ge’ayot) has accidentally dropped from the text due to homoioteleuton; in the latter case it has dropped out due to homoioarcton.

[110:6]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “he strikes [the verb is מָחַץ (makhats), translated “strikes down” in v. 5] head[s] over a great land.” The Hebrew term רַבָּה (rabbah, “great”) is here used of distance or spatial measurement (see 1 Sam 26:13).

[25:30]  ⁴⁶ tn The word “Jeremiah” is not in the text. It is supplied in the translation to make clear who is being addressed.

[25:30]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “Prophesy against them all these words.”

[25:30]  ⁴⁸ tn The words “like a lion about to attack” are not in the text but are implicit in the metaphor. The explicit comparison of the Lord to a lion is made at the end of the passage in v. 38. The words are supplied in the translation here for clarity.

[25:30]  ⁴⁹ sn The word used here (Heb “his habitation”) refers to the land of Canaan which the Lord chose to make his earthly dwelling (Exod 15:13) and which was the dwelling place of his chosen people (Jer 10:25; Isa 32:18). Judgment would begin at the “house of God” (v. 29; 1 Pet 4:17) but would extend to the rest of the earth (v. 29).

[25:30]  ⁵⁰ sn The metaphor shifts from God as a lion to God as a mighty warrior (Jer 20:11; Isa 42:13; Zeph 3:17) shouting in triumph over his foes. Within the metaphor is a simile where the warrior is compared to a person stomping on grapes to remove the juice from them in the making of wine. The figure will be invoked later in a battle scene where the sounds of joy in the grape harvest are replaced by the sounds of joy of the enemy soldiers (Jer 48:33). The picture is drawn in more gory detail in Isa 63:1-6.