The Prophets · Old Testament

Isaiah 63

Isaiah 63: the winepress trodden alone and a prayer that calls the Lord our father

General context

The chapter begins with a question: who is this coming from Edom with dyed garments from Bozrah? The answer is I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Asked why his clothing is red like a treader of the winefat, he says he has trodden the winepress alone, trampling the people in his fury, and their blood stained his garments. The day of vengeance is in his heart and the year of his redeemed has come; he looked and there was none to help, so his own arm brought salvation. He will tread the people down in his anger and bring their strength to the earth. A new voice then recalls the lovingkindnesses of the Lord and his goodness to the house of Israel. The Lord called them his people and became their Saviour; in all their affliction he was afflicted, and he carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit, so he became their enemy and fought against them. Then he remembered the days of old and Moses, asking where the one is who brought them up out of the sea and led them by the right hand of Moses through the deep. The speakers ask the Lord to look down from heaven and ask where his zeal and mercies are. They call him their father even though Abraham does not know them and Israel does not acknowledge them, and ask why he has made them err and hardened their heart, begging him to return for his servants' sake. Adversaries have trodden down the sanctuary, and the speakers say they are his, unlike those never called by his name.

Cited passages: Isaiah 63:1, Isaiah 63:2, Isaiah 63:3, Isaiah 63:4, Isaiah 63:5, Isaiah 63:6, Isaiah 63:7, Isaiah 63:8, Isaiah 63:9, Isaiah 63:10, Isaiah 63:11, Isaiah 63:12, Isaiah 63:13, Isaiah 63:15, Isaiah 63:16, Isaiah 63:17, Isaiah 63:18, Isaiah 63:19

Isaiah 63 (KJV)

¹Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.

²Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?

³I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.

⁴For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.

⁵And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me.

⁶And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth.

⁷I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses.

⁸For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour.

⁹In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

¹⁰But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.

¹¹Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? where is he that put his holy Spirit within him?

¹²That led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make himself an everlasting name?

¹³That led them through the deep, as an horse in the wilderness, that they should not stumble?

¹⁴As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest: so didst thou lead thy people, to make thyself a glorious name.

¹⁵Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? are they restrained?

¹⁶Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O Lord, art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting.

¹⁷O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

¹⁸The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.

¹⁹We are thine: thou never barest rule over them; they were not called by thy name.

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

Edom and Bozrah are named as the place the figure comes from, and the text gives no reason for the choice and does not say who the trodden people are. The one who answers is identified only by his own words, I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save, and by an arm that brought salvation when none would help, a phrase the chapter shares with the Lord's action in chapter 59. The chapter does not say who asks the questions in verses 1 and 2. From verse 7 the voice changes to a speaker who remembers the Lord's goodness to the house of Israel and then joins a we who call the Lord our father; these speakers are unnamed. Moses is named twice as the one by whose right hand the people were led through the sea; the he who remembered the days of old in verse 11 is not clearly the Lord or the people, and the text leaves it open. Abraham and Israel are named as ancestors who, the speakers say, do not know or acknowledge them. The statement that the Lord was turned to be their enemy and fought against them is the speakers' account of the past, stated plainly. The sanctuary is said to have been trodden down by adversaries who are not named, and the prayer that begins here runs without a break into the next chapter. No date is given, and the day of vengeance is named but not located.

Cited passages: Isaiah 63:1, Isaiah 63:5, Isaiah 59:16, Isaiah 63:7, Isaiah 63:16, Isaiah 63:12, Isaiah 63:10, Isaiah 63:18, Isaiah 64:1, Isaiah 63:4

Literary context

The chapter opens as a dialogue at a distance: two questions about a figure approaching, and two answers from him, the second longer and darker than the first. The colour red is explained by the winepress, and the winepress is explained as trampling people, so the image is unfolded in stages. The word alone governs the scene; there was none with him, none to help, none to uphold. Then the mode changes from vision to remembrance. The speaker piles up the Lord's kindnesses, lovingkindnesses, praises, goodness, mercies, and tells Israel's story in three moves, adoption, rebellion, and a remembering of the days of old and Moses. The questions of the first half, who is this and wherefore, are answered; the questions of the second half, where is he that brought them up, where is thy zeal, why hast thou made us to err, are left open. Carrying, a verb the book has used for the Lord's care since chapter 46, appears again: he bare them, and carried them all the days of old. The prayer ends by claiming the Lord as father against two other fathers who do not know them, and with the plain words We are thine.

Cited passages: Isaiah 63:1, Isaiah 63:2, Isaiah 63:3, Isaiah 63:5, Isaiah 63:7, Isaiah 63:8, Isaiah 63:10, Isaiah 63:11, Isaiah 63:15, Isaiah 63:17, Isaiah 63:9, Isaiah 46:4, Isaiah 63:16, Isaiah 63:19

Key moments

Who comes from Edom? (Isaiah 63:1). A figure in dyed garments approaches from Bozrah and names himself mighty to save.
The winepress trodden alone (Isaiah 63:3). He explains his red garments as the blood of peoples trampled in his fury.
None to help (Isaiah 63:5). Finding no one to uphold him, his own arm brings salvation.
Afflicted in all their affliction (Isaiah 63:9). The speaker recalls the Lord's pity and how he carried his people in the days of old.
Turned to be their enemy (Isaiah 63:10). After Israel's rebellion the Lord fought against them.
Where is he that brought them up? (Isaiah 63:11). The text says he remembered the days of old and Moses, asking where the one who brought them through the sea is.
Thou art our father (Isaiah 63:16). The speakers claim the Lord as father though Abraham and Israel do not know them.

For reflection

The speakers call the Lord their father while saying Abraham and Israel do not know them, and in the next breath ask why he has made them err. What does it look like to keep addressing someone as father while accusing him?