Isaiah 63:2
in Isaiah 63Why are Your clothes red, and Your garments like one who treads the winepress?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winevat?
KJV
Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?
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This verse in Isaiah 63
Commentary
5 notes on this verse(Version 2.) Why then is your garment red, and your clothing like one who treads in the winepress? LXX: Why are your garments red, and your clothes like those who tread the winepress, full of trampled grapes? Where it is now spoken of as red, in Hebrew it is read as Edom (). Therefore, even above where Edom is written, it is not a place name, but the name of blood. Again, the Angels inquire and say: We have learned that you are the one who speaks of justice, and salvation for all is established in your judgment.
This site's exposition
Who is this that cometh from Edom
on Isaiah 63:1-2
The chapter opens as a watchman's dialogue, a challenge shouted at a figure returning from Edom's capital Bozrah with garments dyed red, glorious in apparel and travelling in the greatness of his strength. The answer comes in the first person, I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save, identifying the traveler as the Lord himself returning from a completed act of judgment on Edom, the nation descended from Esau and a recurring figure for hostility to Zion. Delitzsch reads the dialogue form as deliberate drama, the prophet staging a question so the answer can be heard rather than merely reported. Verse 2 presses the watchman's second question, why the red stain, setting up the explanation the next verse gives in the speaker's own words.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
on Isaiah 63:1-2
(2.) Of the efficacy of his power, which is therein exerted: He is mighty to save, able to bring about the promised redemption, whatever difficulties and oppositions may lie in the way of it. 'Tis I who to my promise faithful stand, I, who the powers of death, hell, and the grave, Have foil'd with this all-conquering hand, I, who most ready am, and mighty too, to save.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel - For ללבושך lilebushecha, twenty-nine MSS. (nine ancient) of Kennicott’s, and thirty of De Rossi s, and one edition, have ללבושיך lilebusheycha in the plural; so the Septuagint and Syriac. And all the ancient Versions read it with מ mem, instead of the first ל lamed. But the true reading is probably מלבושך malbushecha in the singular, as in Isa 63:3. - L.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The image was appropriate, as the country round Bozrah abounded in grapes. This final blow inflicted by Messiah and His armies (Re 19:13-15) shall decide His claim to the kingdoms usurped by Satan, and by the "beast," to whom Satan delegates his power. It will be a day of judgment to the hostile Gentiles, as His first coming was a day of judgment to the unbelieving Jews.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Who hath spoken these things? He who shall bring the blow upon Persia, the mighty vengeance upon Bozrah, to execute vengeance of judgment of His people, as He hath sworn unto them by His Word. He hath said, Behold, I shall reveal myself as I have spoken in righteousness, great is my power to save.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מַדּ֥וּעַ | madua' | why? | H4069 → | 72 times |
| אָדֹ֖ם | ʾadom | [does] redness | H122 → | |
| לִלְבוּשֶׁ֑ךָ | lilvushekha | [belong] to clothing your | H3830 → | 33 times |
| וּבְגָדֶ֖יךָ | uvegadeikha | and [are] garments? your | H899 → | 217 times |
| כְּדֹרֵ֥ךְ | kedorekh | like [one who] treads | H1869 → | 62 times |
| בְּגַֽת׃ | begat | in a winepress | H1660 → |
מַדּ֥וּעַwhy?
madua'H4069 →72 times
אָדֹ֖ם[does] redness
ʾadomH122 →
לִלְבוּשֶׁ֑ךָ[belong] to clothing your
lilvushekhaH3830 →33 times
וּבְגָדֶ֖יךָand [are] garments? your
uvegadeikhaH899 →217 times
כְּדֹרֵ֥ךְlike [one who] treads
kedorekhH1869 →62 times
בְּגַֽת׃in a winepress
begatH1660 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Revelation 19:13He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His name is The Word of God.
it leads to
- John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
- Isaiah 63:1–6
Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah with crimson-stained garments? Who is this robed in splendor, marching in the greatness of His strength? “It is I, proclaiming vindication, mighty to save.”
- John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
- Psalms 58:10
The righteous will rejoice when they see they are avenged; they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.
- Revelation 14:20
And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and the blood that flowed from it rose as high as the bridles of the horses for a distance of 1,600 stadia.
- John 1:1
Through
Revelation 19:15And from His mouth proceeds a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath…
it leads to
- Isaiah 63:2–6
Why are Your clothes red, and Your garments like one who treads the winepress?
- Revelation 1:16
He held in His right hand seven stars, and a sharp double-edged sword came from His mouth. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest.
- Revelation 2:27
He will rule them with an iron scepter and shatter them like pottery—just as I have received authority from My Father.
- Isaiah 63:2–6
About Isaiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.