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Isaiah 63

KJV · Chapter 63/66

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.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

A dramatic vision of a warrior coming from Edom with garments stained red, who reveals himself to be the Lord himself, treading alone the "winepress" of wrath against the nations. The chapter continues with a remembrance of God's past faithfulness and a prayer asking him to act again as before.

Explanation

The striking image of the warrior with garments stained crimson "like him that treadeth in the winefat" uses winemaking imagery (treading grapes with the feet) as a powerful and violent metaphor for divine judgment on the hostile nations, with Edom once again standing as Israel's symbolic enemy. The second half of the chapter shifts tone completely, becoming a prayer recalling the "lovingkindnesses of the Lord" during the Exodus, mentioning Moses and asking, "where is he that brought them up out of the sea?" in a sincere cry for a new divine intervention. This kind of prayer, blending historical remembrance with present petition, is a common pattern in the psalms of lament. The practical application today is that actively remembering how God acted in the past can strengthen faith and prayer in times of present difficulty.

Fun facts

  • The image of the warrior with blood-stained garments "like him that treadeth in the winefat" is picked up almost word for word in Revelation 19:13, in the description of Christ returning in judgment, showing this passage's strong influence on Christian apocalyptic literature.
  • The question "where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock?" (v. 11) is a direct reference to Moses and the crossing of the Red Sea, used here as an argument in prayer: if God acted this way before, he could act again.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Isaiah 63:1The dyed garments again point to Edom’s capital, Bozrah, the same city from chapter 34, and set up the next image, of the winepress. Here it is God Himself who arrives victorious from a battle against this enemy nation.
  2. Isaiah 63:2Treading grapes in the winepress was how wine was made at the time: grapes crushed underfoot, staining clothes red. The prophet uses this common everyday scene to describe, in violent terms, a military victory — the liquid staining God’s garments is the blood of defeated enemies, not real wine.
  3. Isaiah 63:3“I have trodden the winepress alone” describes God acting by Himself in the battle against Edom, with no allied army, and the blood sprinkled on His garments returns to the same violent image from the start of the chapter, of wine as a metaphor for spilled blood.
  4. Isaiah 63:4“The day of vengeance” and “the year of my redeemed” combine two seemingly opposite concepts, punishment and healing, suggesting that the judgment on Edom also serves to restore or relieve Israel.
  5. Isaiah 63:5“There was none to help” nearly repeats the phrase from chapter 59, reinforcing the pattern that, faced with the absence of any ally, it is God’s own arm that secures the victory.
  6. Isaiah 63:6Trampling down the peoples and bringing their strength “to the earth” continues the description of the victory over Edom, an image of complete domination with no resistance capable of stopping the attack.
  7. Isaiah 63:7From here the tone shifts from war to grateful remembrance: the text now recalls the “lovingkindnesses” and “mercies” of the Lord toward the house of Israel throughout its whole history.
  8. Isaiah 63:8“Children that will not lie” describes God’s original expectation when He chose the people as His own, a hope that contrasts with the rebellion reported right after.
  9. Isaiah 63:9The expression about the angel who accompanies the people is unusual, tied to the idea of a presence of God walking alongside them. It’s used here to recall how God personally shared in the people’s suffering throughout their whole history, not just watched from a distance.
  10. Isaiah 63:10“Vexed his holy Spirit” is one of the Old Testament’s few mentions of this specific expression, describing how the people’s rebellion turned God, who should have been an ally, into a direct adversary.
  11. Isaiah 63:11Remembering “the days of old, Moses,” recovers the Exodus as a reference point for a time when the relationship with God worked well, asking where that same power that guided the people through the sea is now.
  12. Isaiah 63:12“Dividing the water before them” returns to the crossing of the Red Sea, the same historical anchor repeated several times in the book to justify hope for a similar new act of deliverance.
  13. Isaiah 63:13Guiding the people through the depths of the sea “as an horse in the wilderness,” without stumbling, describes an impossible crossing made with total ease, reinforcing the miraculous character of the remembered event.
  14. Isaiah 63:14Comparing the rest given to the people to cattle going peacefully down into the valley extends the pastoral image used elsewhere in the book, here tied specifically to the Exodus journey through the wilderness.
  15. Isaiah 63:15The request for God to “look down from heaven, and behold” directly questions why the same zeal and strength of other times seem restrained now, a transition from historical remembrance to present supplication.
  16. Isaiah 63:16Saying that Abraham does not know the people today is an acknowledgment that the dead patriarchs can no longer intervene in their lives. The text uses this to reinforce that the one acting now, directly, is God, called Father here, with no need for an ancestral intermediary.
  17. Isaiah 63:17The question about why God “hardened our heart” echoes the language used about Pharaoh in the Exodus, now disturbingly applied to God’s own people, asking why God’s distance seems to have caused the people’s own estrangement.
  18. Isaiah 63:18“But a little while” acknowledges that the people’s possession of the land was brief compared to the longer history of oppression, and “trodden down thy sanctuary” probably refers to the temple’s destruction by the Babylonians.
  19. Isaiah 63:19Comparing themselves to peoples “thou never barest rule over” expresses the feeling of abandonment at the height of the plea: feeling as distant from God as a nation that never had any relationship with Him at all.

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