Isaiah 63:3-19

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

no one from the nations joined me.

I stomped on them ¹  in my anger;

I trampled them down in my rage.

Their juice splashed on my garments,

and stained ²  all my clothes.

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

and then payback time arrived. ³ 

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

I was shocked because there was no one offering support. ⁴ 

So my right arm accomplished deliverance;

my raging anger drove me on. ⁵ 

63:6 I trampled nations in my anger,

I made them drunk ⁶  in my rage,

I splashed their blood on the ground.” ⁷ 

A Prayer for Divine Intervention

63:7 I will tell of the faithful acts of the Lord,

of the Lord’s praiseworthy deeds.

I will tell about all ⁸  the Lord did for us,

the many good things he did for the family of Israel, ⁹ 

because of ¹⁰  his compassion and great faithfulness.

63:8 He said, “Certainly they will be my people,

children who are not disloyal.” ¹¹ 

He became their deliverer.

63:9 Through all that they suffered, he suffered too. ¹² 

The messenger sent from his very presence ¹³  delivered them.

In his love and mercy he protected ¹⁴  them;

he lifted them up and carried them throughout ancient times. ¹⁵ 

63:10 But they rebelled and offended ¹⁶  his holy Spirit, ¹⁷ 

so he turned into an enemy

and fought against them.

63:11 His people remembered the ancient times. ¹⁸ 

Where is the one who brought them up out of the sea,

along with the shepherd of ¹⁹  his flock?

Where is the one who placed his holy Spirit among them, ²⁰ 

63:12 the one who made his majestic power available to Moses, ²¹ 

who divided the water before them,

gaining for himself a lasting reputation, ²² 

63:13 who led them through the deep water?

Like a horse running on flat land ²³  they did not stumble.

63:14 Like an animal that goes down into a valley to graze, ²⁴ 

so the Spirit of the Lord granted them rest.

In this way ²⁵  you guided your people,

gaining for yourself an honored reputation. ²⁶ 

63:15 Look down from heaven and take notice,

from your holy, majestic palace!

Where are your zeal ²⁷  and power?

Do not hold back your tender compassion! ²⁸ 

63:16 For you are our father,

though Abraham does not know us

and Israel does not recognize us.

You, Lord, are our father;

you have been called our protector from ancient times. ²⁹ 

63:17 Why, Lord, do you make us stray ³⁰  from your ways, ³¹ 

and make our minds stubborn so that we do not obey you? ³² 

Return for the sake of your servants,

the tribes of your inheritance!

63:18 For a short time your special ³³  nation possessed a land, ³⁴ 

but then our adversaries knocked down ³⁵  your holy sanctuary.

63:19 We existed from ancient times, ³⁶ 

but you did not rule over them,

they were not your subjects. ³⁷ 

[63:3]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ sn See Isa 59:16 for similar language.

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

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

[63:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “and I brought down to the ground their juice.” “Juice” refers to their blood (see v. 3).

[63:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “according to all which.”

[63:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “greatness of goodness to the house of Israel which he did for them.”

[63:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “according to.”

[63:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “children [who] do not act deceitfully.” Here the verb refers to covenantal loyalty.

[63:9]  ¹² tn Heb “in all their distress, there was distress to him” (reading לוֹ [lo] with the margin/Qere).

[63:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “the messenger [or “angel”] of his face”; NIV “the angel of his presence.”

[63:9]  ¹⁴ tn Or “redeemed” (KJV, NAB, NIV), or “delivered.”

[63:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “all the days of antiquity”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “days of old.”

[63:10]  ¹⁶ tn Or “grieved, hurt the feelings of.”

[63:10]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ sn See the note at v. 10.

[63:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “who caused to go at the right hand of Moses the arm of his splendor.”

[63:12]  ²² tn Heb “making for himself a lasting name.”

[63:13]  ²³ tn Heb “in the desert [or “steppe”].”

[63:14]  ²⁴ tn The words “to graze” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[63:14]  ²⁵ tn Or “so” (KJV, ASV), or “thus” (NAB, NRSV).

[63:14]  ²⁶ tn Heb “making for yourself a majestic name.”

[63:15]  ²⁷ tn This probably refers to his zeal for his people, which motivates him to angrily strike out against their enemies.

[63:15]  ²⁸ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “the agitation of your intestines and your compassion to me they are held back.” The phrase “agitation of your intestines” is metonymic, referring to the way in which one’s nervous system reacts when one feels pity and compassion toward another. אֵלַי (’elay, “to me”) is awkward in this context, where the speaker represents the nation and, following the introduction (see v. 7), utilizes first person plural forms. The translation assumes an emendation to the negative particle אַל (’al). This also necessitates emending the following verb form (which is a plural perfect) to a singular jussive (תִתְאַפָּק, tit’appaq). The Hitpael of אָפַק (’afaq) also occurs in 42:14.

[63:16]  ²⁹ tn Heb “our protector [or “redeemer”] from antiquity [is] your name.”

[63:17]  ³⁰ tn Some suggest a tolerative use of the Hiphil here, “[why do] you allow us to stray?” (cf. NLT). Though the Hiphil of תָעָה (ta’ah) appears to be tolerative in Jer 50:6, elsewhere it is preferable or necessary to take it as causative. See Isa 3:12; 9:15; and 30:28, as well as Gen 20:13; 2 Kgs 21:9; Job 12:24-25; Prov 12:26; Jer 23:13, 32; Hos 4:12; Amos 2:4; Mic 3:5.

[63:17]  ³¹ tn This probably refers to God’s commands.

[63:17]  ³² tn Heb “[Why do] you harden our heart[s] so as not to fear you.” The interrogative particle is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[63:18]  ³³ tn Or “holy” (ASV, NASB, NRSV, TEV, NLT).

[63:18]  ³⁴ tn Heb “for a short time they had a possession, the people of your holiness.”

[63:18]  ³⁵ tn Heb “your adversaries trampled on.”

[63:19]  ³⁶ tn Heb “we were from antiquity” (see v. 16). The collocation עוֹלָם + מִן + הָיָה (hayah + min + ’olam) occurs only here.

[63:19]  ³⁷ tn Heb “you did not rule them, your name was not called over them.” The expression “the name is called over” indicates ownership; see the note at 4:1. As these two lines stand they are very difficult to interpret. They appear to be stating that the adversaries just mentioned in v. 18 have not been subject to the Lord’s rule in the past, perhaps explaining why they could commit the atrocity described in v. 18b.