I trod down the peoples in my anger repeats the theme of verse 3 in summary form, using all its keywords. The peoples (literally “peoples”) may refer to the Edomites or to all the nations. We prefer the wider understanding and view this line as a statement about God’s judgment on all evildoers.

I made them drunk in my wrath: Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch emend the Hebrew verb in Masoretic Text rendered made drunk to read “shattered,” and so does New Revised Standard Version with “crushed.” Although this may seem an attractive alternative and is essentially parallel to the verb trod, translators should retain Masoretic Text, which Dead Sea Scrolls and Hebrew Old Testament Text Project support. The sense of the verb made … drunk is fully consistent with the theme of treading out the grapes in the wine press. The wine that was produced in the wine press can be seen as a figure for God’s anger; the implied sense is that this wine made the nations drunk, meaning, they became senseless and lost (compare 51.17). For this line Bible en français courant translates “I made them drunk on my fury.” For translators who prefer a nonfigurative rendering, de~Waard recommends the following rendering in Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (1982): “I made them feel all my anger.”

And I poured out their lifeblood on the earth describes further the LORD’s punishment of the nations. He exterminated them. I poured out is literally “I caused to flow down.” For lifeblood see the comments on Isa 63.3. On the earth means simply “on the ground.”

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• In my fury I trampled down the peoples,
making them drunk in my rage,
and pouring their blood onto the ground.”

• I was so angry that I trampled on the nations;
I was so furious I made them drunk,
pouring their blood out on the ground.”

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .