Isaiah 63-64
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Vengeance on Edom
63 “Who is this coming 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.”(A)
2 “Why are your robes red
and your garments like theirs who tread the winepress?”(B)
3 “I have trodden the winepress 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 I stained all my robes.(C)
4 For the day of vengeance was in my mind,
and the year for my redeeming work had come.(D)
5 I looked, but there was no helper;
I was abandoned, and there was no one to sustain me,
so my own arm brought me victory,
and my wrath sustained me.(E)
6 I trampled down peoples in my anger;
I crushed them[a] in my wrath,
and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”(F)
God’s Mercy Remembered
7 I 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.(G)
8 For he said, “Surely they are my people,
children who will not act deceitfully,”
and he became their savior
9 in all their distress.
It was no messenger or angel
but his presence that saved them;
in his love and pity it was he who redeemed them;
he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.(H)
10 But they rebelled
and grieved his holy spirit;
therefore he became their enemy;
he himself fought against them.(I)
11 Then they[b] remembered the days of old,
of Moses his servant.[c]
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,(J)
12 who 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,(K)
13 who led them through the depths?
Like a horse in the desert,
they did not stumble.(L)
14 Like 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.(M)
A Prayer of Penitence
15 Look down from heaven and see,
from your holy and glorious habitation.
Where are your zeal and your might?
Your great pity and your compassion are withheld from me.(N)
16 For 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.(O)
17 Why, O Lord, do you let us stray from your ways
and let our heart harden, so that we do not fear you?
Turn back for the sake of your servants,
the tribes that are your heritage.(P)
18 Your holy people took possession for a little while,
but now our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary.(Q)
19 We have long been like those whom you do not rule,
like those not called by your name.(R)
64 O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
so that the mountains would quake at your presence—(S)
2 [d]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!(T)
3 When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,
you came down; the mountains quaked at your presence.(U)
4 From 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.(V)
5 You 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.[e](W)
6 We 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.(X)
7 There 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 delivered[f] us into the hand of our iniquity.(Y)
8 Yet, O Lord, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.(Z)
9 Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord,
and do not remember iniquity forever.
Now consider, we are all your people.(AA)
10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
Zion has become a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.(AB)
11 Our holy and beautiful house,
where our ancestors praised you,
has been burned by fire,
and all our pleasant places have become ruins.(AC)
12 After all this, will you restrain yourself, O Lord?
Will you keep silent and punish us so severely?(AD)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.