Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 63:6
And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth.
6. Repetition of the thought of Isa 63:3.
And I will tread down the people ] R.V. rightly, And I trod down the peoples, though the verb differs from either of those in Isa 63:3. Past tenses are to be restored throughout.
make ( made) them drunk ] Some MSS., as well as the first printed edition of the Hebrew Bible (Soncino, 1488) read “broke them in pieces.” The Targ. likewise supports this reading, which is more suitable to the context than that of the received text. The orthographic difference is minute (substitution of for ).
and I will strength ] R.V. and I poured out their lifeblood, as in Isa 63:3. The A.V. thinks of another noun, similar in form, but from a different root, meaning “glory” (cf. 1Sa 15:29).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And I will tread them down – Or rather, I did tread them down. The allusion here is to a warrior who tramples on his foes and treads them in the dust (see the notes at Isa 25:10).
And made them drunk – That is, I made them reel and fall under my fury like a drunken man. In describing the destruction of Idumea in Isa 34:5, Yahweh says that his sword was made drunk, or that it rushed intoxicated from heaven. See the notes on that verse. But here he says that the people, under the terrors of his wrath, lost their power of self-command, and fell to the earth like an intoxicated man. Kimchi says that the idea is, that Yahweh extended the cup of his wrath for them to drink until they became intoxicated and fell. An image of this kind is several times used in the Scriptures (see the notes at Isa 51:17; compare Psa 75:8). Lowth and Noyes render this, I crushed them. The reason of this change is, that according to Kennicott, twenty-seven manuscripts (three of them ancient) instead of the present Hebrew reading va’ashakerem, And I will make them drunk, read va’ashaberem, I will break or crush them. Such a change, it is true, might easily have been made from the similarity of the Hebrew letters, (k) and (b). But the authority for the change does not seem to me to be sufficient, nor is it necessary. The image of making them stagger and fall like a drunken man, is more poetic than the other, and is in entire accordance with the usual manner of writing by the sacred penman. The Chaldee renders it, I cast to the lowest earth the slain of their strong ones.
And I will bring down their strength – I subdued their strong places, and their mighty armies. Such is the sense giver, to the passage by our translators. But Lowth and Noyes render it, more correctly, I spilled their life-blood upon the ground. The word which our translators have rendered strength ( netsach), is the same word which is used in Isa 63:3, and which is rendered there blood (see the note at that verse). It is probably used in the same sense here, and means that Yahweh had brought their blood to the earth; that is, he had spilled it upon the ground. So the Septuagint renders it, I shed their blood ( kategagon to haima) upon the earth. This finishes the vision of the mighty conqueror returning from Edom. The following verse introduces a new subject. The sentiment in the passage is, that Yahweh by his own power, and by the might of his own arm, would subdue all his foes and redeem his people. Edom in its hostility to his people, the apt emblem of all his foes, would be completely humbled; and in its subjugation there would be the emblem and the pledge that all his enemies would be destroyed, and that his own church would be safe. See the notes at Isa. 34; Isa 35:1-10.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. And make them drunk in my fury – “And I crushed them in mine indignation”] For vaashkerem, and I made them drunken, twenty-seven MSS., (three ancient,) twelve of De Rossi’s, and the old edition of 1488, have vaashabberem, and I crushed them: and so the Syriac and Chaldee. The Septuagint have omitted this whole line.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Make them drunk: the Hebrew often expresseth calamities by a cup of wine, or strong drink, by which the distressed persons are made drunk, Psa 75:8; Isa 51:21,22; they go as it were to and fro, not knowing what to do with themselves; and in special drunk with their own blood, Isa 49:26; Rev 16:6.
I will bring down their strength to the earth; whatever it is wherein their strength lies, their strong ones, or their strong places, or deep counsels, &c., he will bring to the very dust, to nothing; like drunken men, they shall fall to the ground, not being able to stand; the most miserable condition that men can fall into, Psa 36:12.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. Rather, preterites, “Itrod down . . . made them drunk.” The same imageoccurs Isa 51:17; Isa 51:21-23;Psa 75:8; Jer 25:26;Jer 25:27.
will bring down . . .strength to . . . earthrather, “I spilled theirlife-blood (the same Hebrew words as in Isa63:3) on the earth” [LOWTHand Septuagint].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And I will tread down the people in mine anger,….
[See comments on Isa 63:3],
and make them drunk in my fury; or with it s the wrath of God is signified by a cup, which he gives wicked men to drink, and which is an inebriating one to them, Ps 75:8, and here it signifies the cup of the wine of the fierceness of God’s wrath, which shall be given to mystical Babylon, to antichrist and his followers,
Re 14:10:
and I will bring down their strength to the earth; their strong kingdoms, fortified cities, and mighty men, their wealth and riches, of which they boasted, and in which they trusted; see Isa 26:5. The eighteenth chapter of the Revelation is a commentary on these words.
s “excandescentia mea”, Junius Tremellius “aestu meo”, Cocceius; so Gataker.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
6. And I will tread down the peoples. From the preceding statement he draws the conclusion, that God’s wrath is sufficiently powerful to destroy the wicked, without calling for the assistance of others; and he does so in order that the Jews may not be deterred from cherishing favorable hopes by the strength that is arrayed against them.
And will make them drunk. The expression, “make drunk,” must here be taken in a different sense from what it formerly had in some passages. We have seen that sometimes we are made drunk, when God strikes us with fury or madness, (Isa 29:9,) or with a spirit of giddiness, (Isa 19:14,) or, in a word, “gives us up to a reprobate mind.” (Rom 1:28.) But here it means nothing else than “to fill,” and to strike even to satiety, or, as we commonly say, ( tout leur saoul ,) “to their heart’s content;” a metaphor which the prophets frequently employ.
And will cast down their strength to the earth. That is, though they think that they are invincible, yet I will cast down and destroy them. The meaning may be thus summed up. “The Jews, when they are afflicted, must not call in question their salvation, as if God hated them, and must not be amazed at the chastisements which they endure, as if they happened by chance; for other nations, by whom they are now oppressed, shall be punished, there shall be a revolution of affairs, and they shall not escape who chant a triumph before the time. He produces as an example the Edomites, because they were nearer and better known than others, and were also the most injurious.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) I will tread down . . .Better, I trod; and so throughout the verse.
Make them drunk, implies a change of imagery from that of the battle to that of the cup of wrath, as in Isa. 51:17, Psa. 75:8, Jer. 25:15. The section which thus closes has often been applied (as, e.g., in the Prayer-Book Epistle for the Monday before Easter) to the passion of our Lord. In that agony and death it has been said He was alone, and none was with Him. He trod the winepress of the wrath of God. It is obvious, however, that this, though we may legitimately apply some of Isaiahs phrases to it, is not an interpretation of this passage, which paints a victory, and not a passion. The true analogue in the New Testament is that of the victory of the triumphant Christ in Rev. 19:11-13; but it may be conceded that, from one point of view, the agony and the cross were themselves a conflict with the powers of evil (Joh. 12:31-32; Col. 2:15), and that as He came out of that conflict as a conqueror, the words in which Isaiah paints the victor over Edom may, though in a much remoter analogy, be applicable to Him in that conflict also.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 63:6 And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth.
Ver. 6. Make them drunk in my fury. ] I will give them large draughts of my displeasure. as Psa 75:9 I will infatuate and utterly disable them to rebel and resist; yea, I will make them drunk with their own blood, as with new wine. Isa 49:26 Rev 16:6 See Trapp on “ Rev 16:6 “ The perverse Jews, at the last destruction of their city, became a famous instance, being buried, as it were, in a bog of blood.
And I will bring down their strength.
a Oecolam.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
make them drunk in. Some codices, with one early printed edition, and Aramaean, read “brake them in pieces with”.
strength = life-blood, as in Isa 63:3.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
make: Isa 63:2, Isa 63:3, Isa 49:26, Isa 51:21-23, Job 21:20, Psa 60:3, Psa 75:8, Jer 25:16, Jer 25:17, Jer 25:26, Jer 25:27, Lam 3:15, Rev 14:10, Rev 16:6, Rev 16:19, Rev 18:3-6
I will bring: Isa 25:10-12, Isa 26:5, Isa 26:6, Rev 18:21
Reciprocal: Jdg 15:8 – General Isa 10:6 – tread them Isa 59:18 – According Jer 13:13 – I will Jer 48:26 – ye him Lam 2:4 – he poured Nah 3:11 – shalt be drunken
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
63:6 And I will tread down the people in my anger, and make them {f} drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth.
(f) I will so astonish them and make them so giddy that they will not know which way to go.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Warrior explained that He had trodden down the people whom He had purposed to judge, and had killed them. He explained that the figure of treading grapes represented putting human beings to death.
This is a picture of Messiah on earth, following His second advent, having defeated Israel’s enemies (cf. Isa 52:7-12; Zec 14:3; Rev 14:17-20; Rev 16:16; Rev 19:13; Rev 19:15-21). The enemies are unbelievers living in the Great Tribulation who refuse to accept the Warrior’s previous sacrifice of Himself for their sins-hostile enemies of the Israelites (cf. Rev 12:15-17).