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.
Parallel translations
- WEB I trod down the peoples in my anger, and made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”
- BSB I trampled the nations in My anger; in My wrath I made them drunk and poured out their blood on the ground.”
- NKJV I have trodden down the peoples in My anger, Made them drunk in My fury, And brought down their strength to the earth.”
- NASB “I trampled down the peoples in My anger And made them drunk with My wrath, And I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”
- NLT I crushed the nations in my anger and made them stagger and fall to the ground, spilling their blood upon the earth.”
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
God treads down the nations in His anger and pours out their lifeblood. It matters because it portrays the certainty and severity of God's judgment on persistent evil.
Overview
The winepress imagery concludes with the full execution of judgment, sobering in its finality. While such language is difficult, it affirms that God will not leave wickedness unpunished forever. The New Testament holds together God's patience now (2 Peter 3:9) with His coming righteous judgment (Revelation 19:15), so that mercy in Christ is to be received before that day.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Rev 16:19And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
- Rev 14:10The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
- Isa 49:26And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.
- Ps 60:3Thou hast shewed thy people hard things: thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment.
- Isa 51:21–23Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
- Jer 25:26–27And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
- Jer 25:16–17And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.
- Isa 29:9Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
- Job 21:20His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
- Isa 63:2–3Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?
- Isa 26:5–6For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust.
- Rev 18:21And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
- Rev 16:6For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
- Ps 75:8For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.
- Rev 18:3–6For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
- Isa 25:10–12For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.
- Lam 3:15He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 63:6 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.