Isaiah 63-64

Complete Jewish Bible

63 Who is this, coming from Edom,
from Botzrah with clothing stained crimson,
so magnificently dressed,
so stately in his great strength?

“It is I, who speak victoriously,
I, well able to save.”

²Why is your apparel red,
your clothes like someone treading a winepress?

³“I have trodden the winepress alone;
from the peoples, not one was with me.
So I trod them in my anger,
trampled them in my fury;
so their lifeblood spurted out on my clothing,
and I have stained all my garments;
⁴for the day of vengeance that was in my heart
and my year of redemption have come.
⁵I looked, but there was no one to help,
and I was appalled that no one upheld me.
Therefore my own arm brought me salvation,
and my own fury upheld me.
⁶In my anger I trod down the peoples,
made them drunk with my fury,
then poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”

⁷I will recall the grace of Adonai
and the praises of Adonai,
because of all that Adonai has granted us
and his great goodness toward the house of Isra’el,
which he bestowed on them in keeping with his mercy,
in keeping with the greatness of his grace.
⁸For he said, “They are indeed my people,
children who are not disloyal.”
So he became their Savior.
⁹In all their troubles he was troubled;
then the Angel of His Presence saved them;
in his love and pity he redeemed them.

He had lifted them up and carried them
throughout the days of old.
¹⁰However, they rebelled,
they grieved his Holy Spirit;
so he became their enemy
and himself fought against them.

¹¹But then his people remembered
the days of old, the days of Moshe:
“Where is he who brought them up from the sea
with the shepherds of his flock?
Where is he who put his Holy Spirit
right there among them,
¹²who caused his glorious arm to go
at Moshe’s right hand?
He divided the water ahead of them,
to make himself an eternal name;
¹³he led them through the deep
like a sure-footed horse through the desert;
¹⁴like cattle going down into a valley
the Spirit of Adonai had them rest.
This is how you led your people,
to make yourself a glorious name.”

¹⁵Look down from heaven; and see
from your holy, glorious dwelling.
Where are your zeal and your mighty deeds,
your inner concern and compassion?
Don’t hold back, ¹⁶for you are our father.
Even if Avraham were not to know us,
and Isra’el were not to acknowledge us,
you, Adonai, are our father,
Our Redeemer of Old is your name.

¹⁷Adonai, why do you let us wander from your ways
and harden our hearts, so that we do not fear you?
Return, for the sake of your servants,
the tribes who are your possession.
¹⁸Your holy people held your sanctuary such a short time,
before our adversaries trampled it down.
¹⁹For so long we have been like those you never ruled,
like those who were not called by your name!

^(64:1)We wish you would tear open heaven and come down,
so the mountains would shake at your presence!

64 ⁽²⁾It would be like fire kindling the brush,
and the fire then makes the water boil.
Then your enemies would know your name,
the nations would tremble before you!
²⁽³⁾When you did tremendous things
that we were not expecting,
we wished that you would come down,
so that the mountains would shake at your presence!
³⁽⁴⁾No one has ever heard,
no ear perceived, no eye seen,
any God but you.
You work for him who waits for you.
⁴⁽⁵⁾You favored those who were glad to do justice,
those who remembered you in your ways.
When you were angry, we kept sinning;
but if we keep your ancient ways, we will be saved.
⁵⁽⁶⁾All of us are like someone unclean,
all our righteous deeds like menstrual rags;
we wither, all of us, like leaves;
and our misdeeds blow us away like the wind.
⁶⁽⁷⁾No one calls on your name
or bestirs himself to take hold of you,
for you have hidden your face from us
and caused our misdeeds to destroy us.

⁷⁽⁸⁾But now, Adonai, you are our father;
we are the clay, you are our potter;
and we are all the work of your hands.
⁸⁽⁹⁾Do not be so very angry, Adonai!
Don’t remember crime forever.
Look, please, we are all your people.
⁹⁽¹⁰⁾Your holy cities have become a desert,
Tziyon a desert, Yerushalayim a ruin.
¹⁰⁽¹¹⁾Our holy, beautiful house,
where our ancestors used to praise you,
has been burned to the ground;
all we cherished has been ruined.
¹¹⁽¹²⁾Adonai, after all this,
will you still hold back?
Will you still stay silent
and punish us past endurance?