62.8 God swears by symbols of his own power—his right hand (48.13) and his arm (59.16). The threat that enemies would enjoy the food, drink, or other goods for which one had labored was a traditional curse or punishment for breach of covenant (Deut 28.30–34).
62.10–11 Zion’s vindication is proclaimed in words reminiscent of Second Isaiah (40.3–5, 10; 49.22).
62.12 See v. 4.
ISAIAH 63
Vengeance on Edom
1“Who is this that comes from Edom,
from Bozrah in garments stained crimson?
Who is this so splendidly robed,
marching in his great might?”
“It is I, announcing vindication,
mighty to save.”
2“Why are your robes red,
and your garments like theirs who tread the wine press?”
3“I have trodden the wine press alone,
and from the peoples no one was with me;
I trod them in my anger
and trampled them in my wrath;
their juice spattered on my garments,
and stained all my robes.
4For the day of vengeance was in my heart,
and the year for my redeeming work had come.
5I looked, but there was no helper;
I stared, but there was no one to sustain me;
so my own arm brought me victory,
and my wrath sustained me.
6I trampled down peoples in my anger,
I crushed them in my wrath,
and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”
God’s Mercy Remembered
7I will recount the gracious deeds of the LORD,
the praiseworthy acts of the LORD,
because of all that the LORD has done for us,
and the great favor to the house of Israel
that he has shown them according to his mercy,
according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
8For he said, “Surely they are my people,
children who will not deal falsely”
and he became their savior
9in all their distress.
It was no messengera or angel
but his presence that saved them;b
in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;
he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
10But they rebelled
and grieved his holy spirit;
therefore he became their enemy;
he himself fought against them.
11Then theyc remembered the days
of old, of Moses his servant.d
Where is the one who brought them up out of the sea
with the shepherds of his flock?
Where is the one who put within them
his holy spirit,
12who caused his glorious arm
to march at the right hand of Moses,
who divided the waters before them
to make for himself an everlasting name,
13who led them through the depths?
Like a horse in the desert,
they did not stumble.
14Like cattle that go down into the valley,
the spirit of the LORD gave them rest.
Thus you led your people,
to make for yourself a glorious name.
A Prayer of Penitence
15Look down from heaven and see,
from your holy and glorious habitation.
Where are your zeal and your might?
The yearning of your heart and your compassion?
They are withheld from me.
16For you are our father,
though Abraham does not know us
and Israel does not acknowledge us;
you, O LORD, are our father;
our Redeemer from of old is your name.
17Why, O LORD, do you make us stray from your ways
and harden our heart, so that we do not fear you?
Turn back for the sake of your servants,
for the sake of the tribes that are your heritage.
18Your holy people took possession for a little while;
but now our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary.
19We have long been like those whom you do not rule,
like those not called by your name.
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a Gk: Heb anguish
b Or savior. 9In all their distress he was distressed; the angel of his presence saved them;
c Heb he
d Cn: Heb his people
63.1–6 The triumphant return of the Divine Warrior.
63.1 Who is this? Challenged by the prophet, the majestic figure coming from Edom identifies himself as the mighty Savior (see Ps 24.8–10). Edom, a symbol of wicked, foreign enemies (Jer 49.7–22). Bozrah, a major city of Edom (34.6).
63.2–3 In response to the question why his robes are red, God the warrior explains that he has been trampling the wine press, a symbol of judgment (Joel 3.13; Rev 14.19–20), and his clothes have been spattered by its juice, a metaphor for the lifeblood of his enemies (v. 6).
63.4 Day of vengeance. See 34.8; 61.2.
63.5 Cf. 59.16.
63.7–64.12 On the basis of God’s gracious activity in the past, the community appeals to God for mercy and help in its present miserable circumstances.
63.7–14 An introductory historical recitation of God’s mighty redemptive acts in the exodus, the wilderness wandering, and the settlement of the land. This recitation serves both as praise and as the basis for the laments and petitions that follow.
63.9 His presence. See Ex 33.12–16. Carried them. Cf. Ex 19.4.
63.10 Rebellion, punishment, and repentance characterized Israel’s relationship with God (Ps 78).
63.11 Put within them his holy spirit, perhaps a reference to the imparting of the spirit to the seventy elders of Israel (Num 11.16–17, 25–29).
63.15–16 God is petitioned to have compassion on his people again, for God is their true father, not the mortal patriarchs Abraham and Israel, who no longer care about their descendants (cf. 51.1–2).
63.17 Israel’s continuing transgression is attributed to a divine hardening of the heart (6.9–10; Ex 4.21;7.3; Jn 12.40; Rom 9.18).
63.18–19 Cf. Ps 79.
ISAIAH 64
1O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
so that the mountains would quake at your presence—
2e as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
so that the nations might tremble at your presence!
3When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
4From ages past no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who works for those who wait for him.
5You meet those who gladly do right,
those who remember you in your ways.
But you were angry, and we sinned;
because you hid yourself we transgressed.f
6We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7There is no one who calls on your name,
or attempts to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
and have deliveredg us into the hand of our iniquity.
8Yet, O LORD, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
9Do not be exceedingly angry, O LORD,
and do not remember iniquity forever.
Now consider, we are all your people.
10Your holy cities have become a wilderness,
Zion has become a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.
11Our holy and beautiful house,
where our ancestors praised you,
has been burned by fire,
and all our pleasant places have become ruins.
12After all this, will you restrain yourself, OLORD?
Will you keep silent, and punish us so severely?
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64.1–3 God is petitioned to reveal his awesome might in a theophany as of old (Judg 5.4–5; Ps 68.7–8; Hab 3.2–15).
64.5–7 Confession of sins.
64.8–12 Prayer that God turn aside from his anger and comfort his people against the enemies who have destroyed God’s cities (Ps 79).
64.8–9 Since God fathered and fashioned Israel as his own people, why should he destroy the work of his own hand (see Job 10.8–12)?
64.12 Restrain yourself, either from further acts of wrath or from continuing indifference to Israel’s plight (see 42.14–17). Either way, the plaintive question constitutes a mild rebuke of God.
ISAIAH 65
The Righteousness of God’s Judgment
1I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask,
to be found by those who did not seek me.
I said, “Here I am, here I am,”
to a nation that did not call on my name.
2I held out my hands all day long
to a rebellious people,
who walk in a way that is not good,
following their own devices;
3a people who provoke me
to my face continually,
sacrificing in gardens
and offering incense on bricks;
4who sit inside tombs,
and spend the night in secret places;
who eat swine’s flesh,
with broth of abominable things in their vessels;
5who say, “Keep to yourself,
do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.”
These are a smoke in my nostrils,
a fire that burns all day long.
6See, it is written before me:
I will not keep silent, but I will repay;
I will indeed repay into their laps
7theirh iniquities and theiri ancestors’ iniquities together,
says the LORD;
because they offered incense on the mountains
and reviled me on the hills,
I will measure into their laps
full payment for their actions.
8Thus says the LORD:
As the wine is found in the cluster,
and they say, “Do not destroy it,
for there is a blessing in it,”
so I will do for my servants’ sake,
and not destroy them all.
9I will bring forth descendantsj from Jacob,
and from Judah inheritorsk of my mountains;
my chosen shall inherit it,
and my servants shall settle there.
10Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks,
and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,
for my people who have sought me.
11But you who forsake the LORD,
who forget my holy mountain,
who set a table for Fortune
and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny;
12I will destine you to the sword,
and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter;
because, when I called, you did not answer,
when I spoke, you did not listen,
but you did what was evil in my sight,
and chose what I did not delight in.
13Therefore thus says the Lord GOD:
My servants shall eat,
but you shall be hungry;
my servants shall drink,
but you shall be thirsty;
my servants shall rejoice,
but you shall be put to shame;
14my servants shall sing for gladness of heart,
but you shall cry out for pain of heart,
and shall wail for anguish of spirit.
15You shall leave your name to my chosen to use as a curse,
and the Lord GOD will put you to death;
but to his servants he will give a different name.
16Then whoever invokes a blessing in the land
shall bless by the God of faithfulness,
and whoever takes an oath in the land
shall swear by the God of faithfulness;
because the former troubles are forgotten
and are hidden from my sight.
The Glorious New Creation
17For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
18But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
and its people as a delight.
19I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress.
20No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
21They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23They shall not labor in vain,
or bear children for calamity;l
for they shall be offspring blessed by the LORD—
and their descendants as well.
24Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
25The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
says the LORD.
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e Ch 64.1 in Heb
f Meaning of Heb uncertain
g Gk Syr Old Latin Tg: Heb melted
h Gk Syr: Heb your
i Gk Syr: Heb your
j Or a descendant
k Or an inheritor
l Or sudden terror
65.1–25 As if to answer the rebuke implicit in the questions of 64.12, this chapter provides a defense of God’s action. Israel’s judgment is deserved; nevertheless God will save a remnant.
65.1–7 Israel will be judged because of its constant rebellion.
65.1–2 God spoke, but Israel did not listen (Rom 10.20–21). Held out my hands, a gesture of prayer or entreaty (1.15; 1 Kings 8.22, 38, 54; Ps 143.6; Lam 1.17).
65.3–5 Israel continues the pagan rituals that anger God: sacrificing in gardens, presumably a syncretistic fertility ritual; sitting inside tombs, for consulting the dead (Deut 18.11–12); eating swine’s flesh (Deut 14.8). Too holy. The participants in these pagan practices claimed a dangerous holiness that set them apart from others.
65.6–7 God will not keep silent (see 64.12), but will punish the Israelites fully for these iniquities.
65.8–16 Nevertheless, God will not destroy all Israel; a remnant will be saved.
65.8 Servants. In contrast to Second Isaiah, this writer uses the plural when speaking of Israel as God’s servants.
65.9 Jacob, descendants of the Northern Kingdom. Judah, descendants of the Southern Kingdom.
65.10 Sharon,
rich pastureland along the Mediterranean between Joppa and Mount Carmel (1 Chr 27.29). Valley of Achor, a valley near Jericho (Josh 7.24–26; Hos 2.15).
65.11–12 Those who forsake God for such pagan deities as Fortune and Destiny will perish.
65.13–16 God’s servants will prosper, while the wicked suffer.
65.16 God of faithfulness. Blessings and oaths in this era of salvation will emphasize God’s faithfulness, because the former experience of God’s anger, punishment, and absence will be a forgotten and hidden thing of the past.
65.17–25 God will create new heavens and a new earth of joy, peace, and tranquility for his people.
65.17 Former things. See 43.18.
65.20–23 God’s people will enjoy long life and the fruits of their labor (62.8–9). Days of a tree. See Job 14.7–9.
65.24 Cf. 30.19.
65.25 Cf. 11.6–9.
ISAIAH 66
The Worship God Demands
1Thus says the LORD:
Heaven is my throne
and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house that you would build for me,
and what is my resting place?
2All these things my hand has made,
and so all these things are mine,a
says the LORD.
But this is the one to whom I will look,
to the humble and contrite in spirit,
who trembles at my word.
3Whoever slaughters an ox is like one who kills a human being;
whoever sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck;
whoever presents a grain offering, like one who offers swine’s blood;b
whoever makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol.
These have chosen their own ways,
and in their abominations they take delight;
4I also will choose to mockc them,
and bring upon them what they fear;
because, when I called, no one answered,
when I spoke, they did not listen;
but they did what was evil in my sight,
and chose what did not please me.
The LORD Vindicates Zion
5Hear the word of the LORD,
you who tremble at his word:
Your own people who hate you
and reject you for my name’s sake
have said, “Let the LORD be glorified,
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