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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 Psalm 78:52

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Isaiah’s image of God leading his people like cattle recalls the wilderness imagery of Psalm 78, where the exodus generation is guided like a flock through barren places made livable. Both use pastoral language to describe guidance from danger to rest.

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

Psalm 78:52

Hebrew Bible
50 He sent his anger in full force. He did not spare them from death; he handed their lives over to destruction. 51 He struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, the first fruits of their reproductive power in the tents of Ham. 52 Yet he brought out his people like sheep; he led them through the wilderness like a flock. 53 He guided them safely along, and they were not afraid; but the sea covered their enemies. 54 He brought them to the border of his holy land, to this mountainous land that his right hand acquired.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

References

"... As they travel, the flock will find pasture in every “barren hill.” In Isaiah 41:18 the Lord causes water to flow in these lonely places. A “barren place” is where one would not expect to find sufficient pasture, but the Lord will lead his flock there because he has turned the Wilderness into fertile pastures; pasture, is often a metaphor for the people of Israel as the “sheep of his pasture.” Hosea 13:6 is a pre-exilic negative use of the image. The Lord will feed the people in their pasture but they became arrogant and satisfied and turned away from their shepherd. The verbs 'to hunger' and 'to thirst' appear in several other Wilderness Tradition contexts. (Psalm 78:26, the wind was led in order to feed the people quail; Psalm 78:52, exodus context, led like a flock; Psalm 80:2, led Jacob like a flock; Isaiah 63:14, led this people like cattle) Much like Isaiah 49:8, Psalm 107:5 describes the return from exile in terms of the hungry and thirsty being led on straight paths. Later in the psalm, the Lord turns the desert into water and the hungry are brought into the land (verses 33-38) ..."
Phillip J. Long, The Origin of the Eschatological Feast as a Wedding Banquet in The Origin of the Eschatological Feast as a Wedding Banquet in the Synoptic Gospels: an Intertextual Study (Andrews University, 2013), 149.

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 Psalm 78:52

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