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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 Genesis 49:10 and Isaiah 63:2 and Neofiti Genesis 49:10

Hebrew Bible · Targum

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Summary

In Genesis, Jacob blesses Judah with such plenty that he will wash his robes in wine. The Aramaic Targum Neofiti interprets the wine as blood on a warrior Messiah's garments, echoing Isaiah 63, where God's clothes are stained as if from a winepress.

Passages

Genesis 49:10

Hebrew Bible
9 You are a lion’s cub, Judah, from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches and lies down like a lion; like a lioness—who will rouse him? 10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; the nations will obey him. 11 Binding his foal to the vine, and his colt to the choicest vine, he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Isaiah 63:2

Hebrew Bible
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.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

Neofiti Genesis 49:10

Targum
10 Kings shall not cease from those of the house of Judah, nor scribes who teach the Law from his sons’ sons, until the time when King Messiah comes, to whom the kingship belongs, and all the kingdoms shall be subject to him. 11 How beautiful is King Messiah, who is to arise from those of the house of Judah! He girds his loins and goes out to battle against those who hate him, and he kills kings together with rulers. He reddens the mountains with the blood of their slain and whitens the hills with the fat of their warriors. His garments are rolled in blood; he is like one who treads grapes.
300–600 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Neofiti Genesis

References

"... In the targums the kingdom of God is also referred to as being revealed, as in Luke 19:11, and the Sibylline Oracles 3:46-50. It is arguable that when speaking of the epiphaneia of Christ and of the grace of God, Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:8 and the author of the Pastoral Epistles are dependent on Jewish rather than Hellenistic terminology. The Palestinian Targum paraphrase of Genesis 49:10-11 presents the figure of a warring Messiah, one whose garments have been rolled in blood — a clear reference to Isaiah 63:2. The figure of the Christ we meet in Revelation 19:11-12 is the same as the one of the Palestinian Targum. The Apocalypse, here as in many other places, seems to be dependent on targumic tradition in its presentation of the Christian mystery ..."
Martin McNamara, Targum and Testament Revisited: Aramaic Paraphrases of the Hebrew Bible: A Light on the New Testament, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010), 212.

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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Genesis 49:10 and Isaiah 63:2 and Neofiti Genesis 49:10

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