Bible Strands
Isaiah 63:4
For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redemption had come.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God speaks in the first person, declaring His internal resolve immediately after describing His solitary judgment of the nations and before explaining His self-sustained salvation. The passage marks the precise moment when divine retribution and deliverance transition from intention to execution.
The words — The Hebrew נָקָם (na.Kam) literally means vengeance, paired with גְּאֻלָּה (ge.'u.La) meaning redemption, both anchored by the verb בָּאָה (Ba.'ah) translated as "had come." These terms frame the timing of judgment and deliverance as a settled reality rather than a future possibility.
The thread — The pairing of a "day of vengeance" and a "year of recompense/favor" recurs in Isaiah 34:8, Isaiah 61:2, and Isaiah 35:4. These passages consistently link divine retribution with God's appointed time for deliverance and comfort.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to recognize that divine judgment and salvation operate on God's sovereign timeline rather than human urgency. It demands acknowledgment that God's resolve to act is internally fixed before external circumstances unfold.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 34:8 For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
- Isaiah 61:2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of our God’s vengeance, to comfort all who mourn,
- Isaiah 35:4 Say to those with anxious hearts: “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance. With divine retribution He will come to save you.”
- Jeremiah 51:6 Flee from Babylon! Escape with your lives! Do not be destroyed in her punishment. For this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance; He will pay her what she deserves.
- Revelation 18:20 Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced for you His judgment against her.
- Luke 21:22 For these are the days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written.
- Revelation 6:9 And when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony they had upheld.
- Revelation 11:13 And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand were killed in the quake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
- Zechariah 3:8 Hear now, O high priest Joshua, you and your companions seated before you, who are indeed a sign. For behold, I am going to bring My servant, the Branch.