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Jonathan Isaiah

About this book
Chapter 63

1 Who has spoken these things? He who will bring the blow upon Persia, the mighty vengeance upon Bozrah, to execute vengeance and judgment for His people, as He has sworn to them by His Memra. He has said, “I will reveal myself as I have spoken in righteousness; great is my power to save.” 2 Why are the mountains red from the blood of the slain? Yes, the valleys will flow like wine from the winepress. 3 As the grapes are trodden in the vat, so He will increase the slaughter in the camps of the nations; they will have no strength before me; yes, I will slay them in my anger and tread them down in my fury; and I will break the strength of their mighty ones before me, and all their wise men I will consume. 4 For the day of vengeance is before me, and the year of the salvation of my people has come. 5 And it is revealed before me that there is no man whose works are good, and it is known to me that there is no man who will stand up and pray on behalf of them; yes, I will redeem them by the arm of my strength, and by the Memra of my delight I will help them. 6 And I will slay the nations in my anger, and I will tread them down in my fury,⁠ and I will cast the slain of their mighty ones into the lowest parts of the earth. 7 The prophet said, “I will mention the loving-kindness of the LORD, the praise of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has dealt bountifully with us, and His great goodness toward the house of Israel, which He has given to them according to His mercies and according to the multitude of His loving-kindnesses.” 8 And He said, “Surely they are my people, children who will not lie”; and His Memra became their salvation. 9 Whenever they sinned against Him, so that He might have brought distress upon them, He did not distress them; but an angel was sent from Him, who in His mercy redeemed them; and in His compassion He delivered them; and He bore them and carried them all the days of old. 10 But they rebelled against the word of His holy prophets and blasphemed, and His Memra became their enemy, and He waged war against them. 11 And He had compassion for the glory of His name, because of the remembrance of His goodness of old, the mighty works that He did by the hands of Moses for His people; so that the nations should not say, “Where is He who brought them up out of the sea? Where is He who led them through the wilderness like a shepherd his flock? Where is He who made the word of His holy prophets to dwell among them? 12 He who led them by the right hand of Moses, the arm of His glory, dividing the waters of the Red Sea before them, to make Himself an everlasting name? 13 He who led them through the depths, like a horse that does not stumble in the plain?” So they too did not stumble. 14 As a beast is led in a plain, the Memra of the LORD led them; so You led Your people, to make Yourself a glorious name. 15 Look down from heaven and reveal Yourself from the habitation of Your holiness and of Your glory; where is Your vengeance and Your great might? The multitude of Your mercies and Your compassion toward me are restrained. 16 For You are He, whose mercies towards us are as many as a father’s towards his children;⁠ for Abraham has not brought us up out of Egypt, and Israel has not performed wonderful works for us in the wilderness; You are the LORD; Your mercies towards us are many, like a father’s towards his children, O our Redeemer; Your name is from everlasting. 17 Why have You cast us off, O LORD, that we should go astray from the paths that are right in Your sight, like the nations that have no part in the instruction of Your Torah? Our heart is not turned away from Your fear; return Your Shekinah to Your people, for the sake of Your righteous servants, to whom You have sworn by Your Memra to make the tribes among them Your inheritance. 18 The people of Your holiness possessed Your sanctuary but a little while; our adversaries have trodden it down. 19 We are Your people who were of old; You have not given the teaching of Your Torah to the nations, neither is Your name invoked upon them; You have not inclined the heavens to them and revealed Yourself; the mountains quaked before You.

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 63:6 and Ephesians 4:9 and Jonathan Isaiah 63:6

Hebrew Bible · New Testament · Targum

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Summary

Isaiah 63 ends with blood being "splashed on the ground," which the Aramaic translation in the Targum interprets as the “lowest parts of the earth,” a reference to cosmic judgment. Ephesians may have been influenced by a similar Aramaic tradition.

Passages

Isaiah 63:6

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

Ephesians 4:9

New Testament
8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he captured captives; he gave gifts to men.” 9 Now what is the meaning of “he ascended,” except that he also descended to the lower regions, namely, the earth? 10 He, the very one who descended, is also the one who ascended above all the heavens, in order to fill all things.
90–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ephesians

Jonathan Isaiah 63:6

Targum
5 And it is revealed before me that there is no man whose works are good, and it is known to me that there is no man who will stand up and pray on behalf of them; yes, I will redeem them by the arm of my strength, and by the Memra of my delight I will help them. 6 And I will slay the nations in my anger, and I will tread them down in my fury, and I will cast the slain of their mighty ones into the lowest parts of the earth. 7 The prophet said, “I will mention the loving-kindness of the LORD, the praise of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has dealt bountifully with us, and His great goodness toward the house of Israel, which He has given to them according to His mercies and according to the multitude of His loving-kindnesses.”
200–300 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jonathan Isaiah

References

"... It is striking that “Edom” does not here occasion a reference to Rome (compare 34:9), even though military “retribution” is the principal issue (verses 1–3). But it may be that Rome is understood as a matter of course, in accordance with Amoraic interpretative habit (compare 34:9 ). In verse 5 (compare also verse 9), there is a clear back reference to the apparently non-messianic theology of vindication which is characteristic of the later meturgeman (compare 59:16) ... On the other hand, the reference to “the lower earth” in verse 6 might be considered by scholars of the New Testament in respect of Ephesians 4:9 ..."
Bruce D. Chilton, The Isaiah Targum: Introduction, Translation, Apparatus and Notes, ArBib 11 (Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, 1987), 121.

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 63:6 and Ephesians 4:9 and Jonathan Isaiah 63:6

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