Isaiah 63:6

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.] Or, Their blood, as it is rendered Isa 63:3, eo quod vita et virtus hominis in sanguine, {a} because life and strength is in the blood.

{a} Oecolam.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

63:6 made them stagger: The wicked nations would be forced to drink from the intoxicating cup of God’s wrath (49:26; 51:17, 21).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

I will so astonish them and make them so giddy, that they shall not know which way to go.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Rather, preterites, "I trod down . . . made them drunk." The same image occurs Isa 51:17, Isa 51:21-23; Psa 75:8; Jer 25:26-27.

will bring down . . . strength to . . . earth--rather, "I spilled their life-blood (the same Hebrew words as in Isa 63:3) on the earth" [LOWTH and Septuagint].

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 6. And make them drunk in my fury - "And I crushed them in mine indignation"] For ואשכרם vaashkerem, and I made them drunken, twenty-seven MSS., (three ancient,) twelve of De Rossi's, and the old edition of 1488, have ואשברם vaashabberem, and I crushed them: and so the Syriac and Chaldee. The Septuagint have omitted this whole line.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(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 Isaiah’s 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.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 ב for כ).

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).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And I will tread down the people in mine anger,.... See Gill 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, Psa 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, Rev 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.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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 ואשׁכרם va'ăshakerēm, ‘And I will make them drunk,’ read ואשׁברם va'ăshaberēm, ‘I will break or crush them.’ Such a change, it is true, might easily have been made from the similarity of the Hebrew letters, כ (k) and ב (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’ (נצח nētsach), 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 (κατήγαγον τὸ αίμα katēgagon 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.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Drunk with the wine of my fury, Psalm lxxiv. 9., and Ezechiel xxiii. 31. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

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.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

I will tread down... make drunk ... bring down; rather, I trode down... made drunk... brought down. See the comment on ver. 3. The destruction was to be utter, overwhelming, absolute one from which there could be no recovery. (comp. Rev_19:11-21, where the simile of the wine-press, and the "vesture dipped in blood," seem introduced with a special reference to this passage)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Drunk - They go as it were to and fro, not knowing what to do with themselves. Bring down - Whatever it is wherein their strength lies, he will bring to the very dust, to nothing.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

“And I tread the nations in, my anger, and I make them drunk in my wrath, and I bring down to the earth their juice.” The use of the word tread leads to the resumption of the figure of a wine-press, which is employed besides this passage in Lam 1:15; Joe 3:13; Rev 14:19-20). In order to connect the common reading with the context, we have only to assume a mixture of metaphors, such as we continually meet with in Isaiah, or a sudden change of figure, which is not only common but characteristic of this prophet.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And I trod Heb. וְאָבוּס. An expression of wallowing in blood and treading with the feet. Comp. (Ezekiel 16:6) “wallowing (מִתְבּוֹסֶסֶת) in your blood.” Comp. also (Jer. 12:10): “They trod (בֹּסְסוּ) My field.”

their power Heb. נִצְחָם, the might of their victory.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Nations. Other nations beside Edom.

ואוריד לארץ נצחם And I will pour out their blood to the earth.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.