Isaiah 63

Living Bible

63 Who is this who comes from Edom, from the city of Bozrah, with his magnificent garments of crimson? Who is this in royal robes, marching in the greatness of his strength?

“It is I, the Lord, announcing your salvation; I, the Lord, the one who is mighty to save!”

² “Why are your clothes so red, as from treading out the grapes?”

³ “I have trodden the winepress alone. No one was there to help me. In my wrath I have trodden my enemies like grapes. In my fury I trampled my foes. It is their blood you see upon my clothes. ⁴ For the time has come for me to avenge my people, to redeem them from the hands of their oppressors. ⁵ I looked but no one came to help them; I was amazed and appalled. So I executed vengeance alone; unaided, I meted out judgment. ⁶ I crushed the heathen nations in my anger and made them stagger and fall to the ground.”

⁷ I will tell of the loving-kindnesses of God. I will praise him for all he has done; I will rejoice in his great goodness to Israel, which he has granted in accordance with his mercy and love. ⁸ He said, “They are my very own; surely they will not be false again.” And he became their Savior. ⁹ In all their affliction he was afflicted, and he personally saved them.^[a] In his love and pity he redeemed them and lifted them up and carried them through all the years.

¹⁰ But they rebelled against him and grieved his Holy Spirit. That is why he became their enemy and personally fought against them. ¹¹ Then they remembered those days of old when Moses, God’s servant, led his people out of Egypt, and they cried out, “Where is the One who brought Israel through the sea, with Moses as their shepherd? Where is the God who sent his Holy Spirit to be among his people? ¹² Where is he whose mighty power divided the sea before them when Moses lifted up his hand, and established his reputation forever? ¹³ Who led them through the bottom of the sea? Like fine stallions racing through the desert, they never stumbled. ¹⁴ Like cattle grazing in the valleys, so the Spirit of the Lord gave them rest. Thus he gave himself a magnificent reputation.”

¹⁵ O Lord, look down from heaven and see us from your holy, glorious home; where is the love for us you used to show—your power, your mercy, and your compassion? Where are they now? ¹⁶ Surely you are still our Father! Even if Abraham and Jacob would disown us, still you would be our Father, our Redeemer from ages past. ¹⁷ O Lord, why have you hardened our hearts and made us sin and turn against you? Return and help us, for we who belong to you need you so.^{[b] 18} How briefly we possessed Jerusalem! And now our enemies have destroyed her. ¹⁹ O God, why do you treat us as though we weren’t your people, as though we were a heathen nation that never called you “Lord”?