Discovery BoxIsaiah 63:1-14
Context63:1 Who is this who comes from Edom, 1
dressed in bright red, coming from Bozrah? 2
Who 3 is this one wearing royal attire, 4
who marches confidently 5 because of his great strength?
“It is I, the one who announces vindication,
and who is able to deliver!” 6
63:2 Why are your clothes red?
Why do you look like someone who has stomped on grapes in a vat? 7
63:3 “I have stomped grapes in the winepress all by myself;
no one from the nations joined me.
I stomped on them 8 in my anger;
I trampled them down in my rage.
Their juice splashed on my garments,
and stained 9 all my clothes.
63:4 For I looked forward to the day of vengeance,
and then payback time arrived. 10
63:5 I looked, but there was no one to help;
I was shocked because there was no one offering support. 11
So my right arm accomplished deliverance;
my raging anger drove me on. 12
63:6 I trampled nations in my anger,
I made them drunk 13 in my rage,
I splashed their blood on the ground.” 14
63:7 I will tell of the faithful acts of the Lord,
of the Lord’s praiseworthy deeds.
I will tell about all 15 the Lord did for us,
the many good things he did for the family of Israel, 16
because of 17 his compassion and great faithfulness.
63:8 He said, “Certainly they will be my people,
children who are not disloyal.” 18
He became their deliverer.
63:9 Through all that they suffered, he suffered too. 19
The messenger sent from his very presence 20 delivered them.
In his love and mercy he protected 21 them;
he lifted them up and carried them throughout ancient times. 22
63:10 But they rebelled and offended 23 his holy Spirit, 24
so he turned into an enemy
and fought against them.
63:11 His people remembered the ancient times. 25
Where is the one who brought them up out of the sea,
along with the shepherd of 26 his flock?
Where is the one who placed his holy Spirit among them, 27
63:12 the one who made his majestic power available to Moses, 28
who divided the water before them,
gaining for himself a lasting reputation, 29
63:13 who led them through the deep water?
Like a horse running on flat land 30 they did not stumble.
63:14 Like an animal that goes down into a valley to graze, 31
so the Spirit of the Lord granted them rest.
In this way 32 you guided your people,
gaining for yourself an honored reputation. 33
[63:1] 1 sn Edom is here an archetype for the Lord’s enemies. See 34:5.
[63:1] 2 tn Heb “[in] bright red garments, from Bozrah.”
[63:1] 3 tn The interrogative particle is understood by ellipsis; note the first line of the verse.
[63:1] 4 tn Heb “honored in his clothing”; KJV, ASV “glorious in his apparel.”
[63:1] 5 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] 6 tn Heb “I, [the one] speaking in vindication [or “righteousness”], great to deliver.”
[63:2] 7 tn Heb “and your garments like one who treads in a vat?”
[63:3] 8 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] 9 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] 10 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] 11 sn See Isa 59:16 for similar language.
[63:5] 12 tn Heb “and my anger, it supported me”; NIV “my own wrath sustained me.”
[63:6] 13 sn See Isa 49:26 and 51:23 for similar imagery.
[63:6] 14 tn Heb “and I brought down to the ground their juice.” “Juice” refers to their blood (see v. 3).
[63:7] 15 tn Heb “according to all which.”
[63:7] 16 tn Heb “greatness of goodness to the house of Israel which he did for them.”
[63:7] 17 tn Heb “according to.”
[63:8] 18 tn Heb “children [who] do not act deceitfully.” Here the verb refers to covenantal loyalty.
[63:9] 19 tn Heb “in all their distress, there was distress to him” (reading לוֹ [lo] with the margin/Qere).
[63:9] 20 tn Heb “the messenger [or “angel”] of his face”; NIV “the angel of his presence.”
[63:9] 21 tn Or “redeemed” (KJV, NAB, NIV), or “delivered.”
[63:9] 22 tn Heb “all the days of antiquity”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “days of old.”
[63:10] 23 tn Or “grieved, hurt the feelings of.”
[63:10] 24 sn The phrase “holy Spirit” occurs in the OT only here (in v. 11 as well) and in Ps 51:11 (51:13 HT), where it is associated with the divine presence.
[63:11] 25 tn Heb “and he remembered the days of antiquity, Moses, his people.” The syntax of the statement is unclear. The translation assumes that “his people” is the subject of the verb “remembered.” If original, “Moses” is in apposition to “the days of antiquity,” more precisely identifying the time period referred to. However, the syntactical awkwardness suggests that “Moses” may have been an early marginal note (perhaps identifying “the shepherd of his flock” two lines later) that has worked its way into the text.
[63:11] 26 tn The Hebrew text has a plural form, which if retained and taken as a numerical plural, would probably refer to Moses, Aaron, and the Israelite tribal leaders at the time of the Exodus. Most prefer to emend the form to the singular (רָעָה, ra’ah) and understand this as a reference just to Moses.
[63:11] 27 sn See the note at v. 10.
[63:12] 28 tn Heb “who caused to go at the right hand of Moses the arm of his splendor.”
[63:12] 29 tn Heb “making for himself a lasting name.”
[63:13] 30 tn Heb “in the desert [or “steppe”].”
[63:14] 31 tn The words “to graze” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
