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LXX Isaiah

Septuagint

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Chapter 63

1 Who is this that is come from Edom, with red garments from Bozrah? thus fair in his clothing, with mighty strength? I speak of righteousness and saving judgment. 2 Why are your garments red, and your clothing as if fresh from a trodden winepress? 3 I am full of trodden grape, and of the nations there is not a man with me; and I trampled them in my fury, and dashed them to pieces as earth, and brought down their blood to the earth.⁠ 4 For the day of retribution has come upon them, and the year of redemption is at hand. 5 And I looked, and there was no helper;⁠ and I observed, and none upheld: therefore my arm delivered them, and my anger drew near. 6 And I trampled them in my anger, and brought down their blood to the earth. 7 I remembered the mercy of the Lord, the praises of the Lord in all things in which he repays us. The Lord is a good judge to the house of Israel; he deals with us according to his mercy, and according to the abundance of his righteousness. 8 And he said, Is it not my people? the children surely will not be rebellious: and he became to them deliverance 9 out of all their affliction: not an ambassador, nor a messenger, but the Lord himself saved them, because he loved them and spared them: he himself redeemed them, and took them up, and lifted them up all the days of old. 10 But they disobeyed, and provoked his Holy Spirit: so he turned to be an enemy, he himself contended against them. 11 Then he remembered the ancient days, he that brought up from the land the shepherd of the sheep: where is he that put his Holy Spirit in them? 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. 17 Why have you caused us to err, Lord, from your way? and hardened our hearts, that we should not fear you? Return for your servants' sake, for the sake of the tribes of your inheritance, 18 that we may inherit a small part of your holy mountain. Our adversaries have trodden down your sanctuary. 19 We have become as at the beginning, when you did not rule over us, and your name was not called upon us. If you would open the heaven,⁠ trembling will take hold upon the mountains from you, and they shall melt,

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 63:3 and LXX Isaiah 63:3

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

In Isaiah 63, God tramples the nations in fury, his garments becoming soaked with blood. The Greek Septuagint removes the reference to blood on his clothes; the change reflects an attempt to soften the harsh image of God acting violently.

Passages

Isaiah 63:3

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

LXX Isaiah 63:3

Septuagint
2 Why are your garments red, and your clothing as if fresh from a trodden winepress? 3 I am full of trodden grape, and of the nations there is not a man with me; and I trampled them in my fury, and dashed them to pieces as earth, and brought down their blood to the earth. 4 For the day of retribution has come upon them, and the year of redemption is at hand.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Isaiah

References

"... Cruelty in God ... In LXX Isaiah 63:3, the notion of God’s appearance in clothes stained red with blood is avoided; further, God does not save himself but others ..."
Martin Meiser, The Septuagint and Its Reception: Collected Essays (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022), 21–22.

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 63:3 and LXX Isaiah 63:3

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