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Isaiah

About this book
Chapter 63

1 Who is this who comes from Edom, dressed in bright red, coming from Bozrah? Who is this one wearing royal attire, who marches confidently because of his great strength? “It is I, the one who announces vindication, and who is able to deliver!” 2 Why are your clothes red? Why do you look like someone who has stomped on grapes in a vat?⁠ 3 “I have stomped grapes in the wine press all by myself; no one from the nations joined me. I stomped on them in my anger; I trampled them down in my rage.⁠ Their juice splashed on my garments and stained all my clothes.⁠ 4 For I looked forward to the day of vengeance, and then payback time arrived. 5 I looked, but there was no one to help;⁠ I was shocked because there was no one offering support. So my right arm accomplished deliverance; my raging anger drove me on. 6 I trampled nations in my anger; I made them drunk in my rage; I splashed their blood on the ground.”⁠ 7 I will tell of the faithful acts of the Lord, of the Lord’s praiseworthy deeds. I will tell about all the Lord did for us, the many good things he did for the family of Israel, because of his compassion and great faithfulness. 8 He said, “Certainly they will be my people, children who are not disloyal.” He became their deliverer. 9 Through all that they suffered, he suffered too. The messenger sent from his very presence delivered them.⁠ In his love and mercy he protected them; he lifted them up and carried them throughout ancient times.⁠ 10 But they rebelled and offended his Holy Spirit, so he turned into an enemy and fought against them.⁠ 11 His people remembered the ancient times. Where is the one who brought them up out of the sea, along with the shepherd of his flock? Where is the one who placed his Holy Spirit among them,⁠ 12 the one who made his majestic power available to Moses, who divided the water before them, gaining for himself a lasting reputation,⁠ 13 who led them through the deep water? Like a horse running through the wilderness they did not stumble.⁠ 14 As an animal that goes down into a valley to graze, so the Spirit of the Lord granted them rest.⁠ In this way you guided your people, gaining for yourself an honored reputation.⁠ 15 Look down from heaven and take notice, from your holy, majestic palace!⁠ Where are your zeal and power? Do not hold back your tender compassion! 16 For you are our father,⁠ though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not recognize us. You, Lord, are our father; you have been called our Protector from ancient times.⁠ 17 Why, Lord, do you make us stray from your ways and make our minds stubborn so that we do not obey you? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your inheritance! 18 For a short time your special nation possessed a land, but then our adversaries knocked down your holy sanctuary. 19 We existed from ancient times, but you did not rule over them; they were not your subjects.

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 63:14 and LXX Isaiah 63:14

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

Isaiah 63 describes the Spirit of God giving rest to the people, comparing it to an animal grazing in a valley. The Greek Septuagint translation removes the reference to rest, changing it to describe the Spirit guiding them.

Passages

Isaiah 63:14

Hebrew Bible
12 the one who made his majestic power available to Moses, who divided the water before them, gaining for himself a lasting reputation, 13 who led them through the deep water? Like a horse running through the wilderness they did not stumble. 14 As an animal that goes down into a valley to graze, so the Spirit of the Lord granted them rest. In this way you guided your people, gaining for yourself an honored reputation. 15 Look down from heaven and take notice, from your holy, majestic palace! Where are your zeal and power? Do not hold back your tender compassion! 16 For you are our father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not recognize us. You, Lord, are our father; you have been called our Protector from ancient times.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

LXX Isaiah 63:14

Septuagint
12 who led Moses with his right hand, the arm of his glory? he forced the water to separate from before him, to make himself an everlasting name. 13 He led them through the deep, as a horse through the wilderness, and they did not faint, 14 and as cattle through a plain: the Spirit came down from the Lord, and guided them: thus you led your people, to make yourself a glorious name. 15 Turn from heaven, and look from your holy habitation and from your glory: where is your zeal and your strength? where is the abundance of your mercy and of your compassions, that you have withheld yourself from us? 16 For you are our Father; for though Abraham did not know us, and Israel did not acknowledge us, yet you, Lord, our Father, deliver us: your name has been upon us from the beginning.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Isaiah

References

"... Given then the rare but here explicit linguistic connection (to be led by the Spirit, together with walking), and the ethical/moral context of living/behaving rightly and doing God’s will, and that this is in the larger context of a psalm that we know was important for Paul (also in nearby soteriological contexts), it is likely that Paul was deliberately alluding to it also for “walk by/ led by the Spirit.” Even if it is only a partial background that Paul is echoing, the context of the psalm could be expected to shed light on Paul’s meaning in his usage that has been influenced by it ... Beale acknowledges that Psalm 143 is part of the “important background for Galatians 5:18.” However, he argues that it is not the primary background for two reasons: 1) the psalm uses ὁδηγέω instead of ἄγω (in Paul). But LXX Isaiah 63:14 also uses the same verb in the only place it directly describes the Spirit leading; and anyway, the two verbs are close synonyms; 2) Isaiah 63 is part of an eschatological exodus-new exodus context, while the psalm is applying the concept to David’s life. But that is surely not a limitation for Paul, for whom the Psalms indeed function eschatologically ..."
Scott A. Swanson, The Instruction of the Spirit: The Wisdom Framework for Pauline Spirit Dependence (Mid-America Journal of Theology, No. 29, 2018), 81–128.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Isaiah 63:14 and LXX Isaiah 63:14

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