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Chapter 63

The Divine Warrior[a]

Who is this that comes from Edom,
    in crimsoned garments, from Bozrah?
Who is this, glorious in his apparel,
    striding in the greatness of his strength?
“It is I, I who announce vindication,
    mighty to save.”(A)
Why is your apparel red,
    and your garments like one who treads the wine press?(B)
“The wine press I have trodden alone,
    and from the peoples no one was with me.
I trod them in my anger,
    and trampled them down in my wrath;
Their blood spurted on my garments,
    all my apparel I stained.
For a day of vindication was in my heart,
    my year for redeeming had come.(C)
I looked about, but there was no one to help,
    I was appalled that there was no one to lend support;
So my own arm brought me victory
    and my own wrath lent me support.(D)
I trampled down the peoples in my anger,
    I made them drunk in my wrath,
    and I poured out their blood upon the ground.”

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Footnotes

  1. 63:1–6 Two questions are raised at the approach of a majestic figure coming from Edom. It is the Lord, his garments red with the blood from the judgment battle. Edom (its capital Bozrah) plundered Judah after the fall of Jerusalem; cf. 34:5–17. Wine press: here a symbol of a bloody judgment; cf. Lam 1:15; Jl 4:13.

15 Another angel came out of the temple, crying out in a loud voice to the one sitting on the cloud, “Use your sickle and reap the harvest, for the time to reap has come, because the earth’s harvest is fully ripe.”(A)

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