Christmas Season · First Sunday after Christmas Day · Year A
Isaiah 63:7-9
The Gracious Deeds of the Lord
December 28, 2025
Overview & Insights
“In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them.” (Isaiah 63:9)
Where Are Your Zeal and Your Might?: As the chiasm in chapters 56–66 treads its return path, the vision of the battling warrior (63:1–6) paired with the one in 59:15b–20. This prayer, then, pairs with the prayer in 59:9–15a. As the new vision was bloodier, the new prayer is much longer and more urgent. It has the features of a lament on the part of the community such as those that appear in the Psalms and in Lamentations, but like some of them (and like chapter 62) it unfolds as more of a stream of consciousness and closes with a question. It does suggest an alternating between confrontation (63:7–14, 17–19; 64:5–7) and plea (63:15–16; 64:1–4, 8–12), but elements of confession, questioning, prayer, appeal, and accusation interweave and repeat without forming a consistent pattern. While the prayer’s aim and many of its motifs thus parallel those of Psalms 44 and 89, it lacks their calculatedness and structure.
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Commentary
Commentary on Isaiah 63:7-9 Working Preacher
Argues the Hebrew hesed in verse 7 (God's steadfast loyalty) is the theological center of the passage, contrasting it with the fragility and failure described in the preceding verses of chapter 63.
Isaiah 63:7-9 Commentary Center for Excellence in Preaching
Reformed preaching notes on this short, densely worded recollection of God's mercies, aimed at helping a preacher build a Christmas-season sermon on divine presence rather than distant sovereignty.
Isaiah 63 Bible Commentary Enduring Word (David Guzik)
Verse-by-verse evangelical study notes on the whole chapter, setting the mercy language of verses 7-9 against the day-of-vengeance imagery that opens the chapter.
Isaiah 63:7 Commentaries BibleHub (classic commentaries)
Aggregates public-domain commentaries verse by verse on 'the lovingkindnesses of the LORD,' the phrase that opens this reading.
Background & Word Study
Isaiah 63:7-9 Sefaria
Hebrew text alongside classical Jewish commentators (Rashi, Radak, and others), giving access to the passage's reception within Jewish tradition rather than a Christian lectionary reading of it.
Introductory Issues in Isaiah Enter the Bible (Luther Seminary)
Seminary-level background lesson on Isaiah's composition and the book's three major sections, situating chapter 63 within Third Isaiah's post-exilic setting.
Isaiah 63:7 Interlinear BibleHub (Interlinear)
Hebrew text with morphology and Strong's numbers for the verse, useful for word-level study of hesed and the other mercy-terms stacked in this verse.
Questions preachers ask
What does Isaiah mean by the angel of his presence?
Literally the angel of his face, the messenger in whom God himself is present rather than merely represented. The verse says God did not send a deputy to the people’s affliction: he was afflicted with them, and lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
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