Why are Your clothes red, and Your garments like one who treads the winepress?
Parallel translations
- WEB Why is your clothing red, and your garments like him who treads in the wine vat?
- KJV Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?
- NKJV Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress?
- NASB Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like one who treads in the wine press?
- NLT Why are your clothes so red, as if you have been treading out grapes?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
An onlooker asks why the warrior's clothing is red like that of someone treading grapes. It matters because it sets up the image of God's righteous judgment.
Overview
The question prepares for the answer in the following verses: the redness is blood from judgment, pictured as treading the winepress. The winepress is a recurring biblical image of God's wrath against sin (Joel 3:13; Revelation 14:19-20). The vivid imagery underscores the seriousness of divine justice that the warrior has carried out.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 63:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.