Isaiah 61

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor and humble. He has sent me to bandage up the hearts of those who are broken, to announce freedom for the captives, and the opening of the prison for those who are locked up.

1The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

Note"LORD" in small capitals stands for the personal name of God in Hebrew, four consonants usually written YHWH, which readers did not say aloud; "Lord GOD" renders the doubled Hebrew phrase "my Lord YHWH." "Anointed" means to have olive oil poured over the head, the ceremony that publicly marked out a king, a priest, or occasionally a prophet as chosen for a task; the Hebrew noun formed from this verb is "messiah," and the Greek equivalent is "christ." The word behind "meek" (KJV) covers both material poverty and low social standing, the people at the bottom, with no power and no one to speak for them. "Proclaim liberty" is the exact legal phrase used in Israel's law for the release of slaves and the canceling of debts (see the note on verse 2).

2He sent me to announce the year when the LORD shows his favor, and the day when our God pays back, and to comfort everyone who is grieving.

2To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

Note"The acceptable year of the LORD", literally the year of the LORD's favor or goodwill. It echoes the jubilee described in Israel's law: every fiftieth year, debts were canceled, Israelites sold into slavery went free, and land that families had been forced to sell reverted to them. "Vengeance" translates a Hebrew word closer to legal redress than to personal spite: the settling of accounts on behalf of people who have been wronged. Note the contrast of scale, a whole year of favor against a single day of reckoning.

3He sent me to care for those who grieve in Zion: to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a heavy, hopeless spirit. Then they will be called oaks of righteousness, trees the LORD himself planted, so that he will be honored.

3To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

NoteMourners in this culture sat in ashes and threw dust or ashes over their heads; ashes are therefore a visible uniform of grief. Scented oil rubbed on the head and skin was the opposite signal, what you did for a feast, and what you stopped doing while in mourning. In Hebrew the phrase is also a pun: pe'er (a decorated headdress) in place of 'epher (ashes), two words that sound almost identical. "Zion" is the hill in Jerusalem on which the temple stood, and by extension the city itself and the people who belong to it. "Oaks" (KJV "trees") are long-lived, deep-rooted hardwoods, a standard image for something that stands for generations rather than a season.

4They will rebuild the places that have been in ruins for ages. They will raise up the sites that were destroyed long ago. They will repair the wrecked cities that have lain empty for many generations.

4And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.

NoteThe ruins in view are the towns of Judah left wrecked and emptied after the Babylonian armies destroyed Jerusalem and deported its population in 587 BC. "Desolations of many generations" points to sites that have lain abandoned so long that no one alive remembers them inhabited.

5Foreigners will stand and take care of your flocks. People from other lands will do your plowing and tend your vineyards.

5And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.

6But you will be called the priests of the LORD. People will call you the servants of our God. You will eat the wealth of the nations, and you will take pride in their riches.

6But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.

Note"Gentiles" (KJV) simply translates the Hebrew word for "the nations", everyone who is not Israel. Priests in Israel were given no farmland of their own; they lived on portions of the offerings and produce that other people brought to the sanctuary. That is the point of "you will eat the riches of the nations": the whole people is pictured as occupying the priests' position, supported by what others bring in.

7Instead of your shame you will get a double share. Instead of public disgrace they will be glad about what they receive. So in their own land they will own a double share, and their joy will last forever.

7For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.

NoteA "double share" carries two legal echoes. Under inheritance law the firstborn son received twice the portion of any other son, so a double share means the status of the favored heir. Under the law on theft and damages, an offender had to repay the victim double, so it also means compensation paid for a wrong suffered. Both senses are active here.

8"I am the LORD. I love justice, and I hate robbery and wrongdoing. I will faithfully give them what they are owed, and I will make an agreement with them that lasts forever."

8For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

Note"Judgment" in the KJV means justice (the right settling of cases, not condemnation. The second phrase is genuinely difficult in Hebrew. The same consonants can be read as "wrongdoing" or "iniquity" (as most modern versions take it) or as "burnt offering," which gives the KJV's "robbery for burnt offering") that is, stolen goods presented to God as sacrifice. A burnt offering was an animal placed on the altar and burned up entirely, with no portion kept back for the worshiper or the priest. A "covenant" is a formal binding agreement, sworn and publicly witnessed, of the kind made between a king and his people or between two states.

9Their children will be known among the nations, and their descendants among all the peoples. Everyone who sees them will admit that they are a people the LORD has blessed.

9And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed.

10I will be very glad in the LORD. My whole self will celebrate because of my God. He has dressed me in clothes of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, the way a bridegroom puts on a fine headdress, and the way a bride puts on her jewels.

10I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.

Note"My soul" in Hebrew means the whole living person, the self, not an inner part of it. The verb translated "decketh himself" (KJV) comes from the same root as the word for a priest's turban, so the bridegroom is pictured putting on an ornamented headdress like a priest's; a bridegroom on his wedding day was dressed with something of the ceremony of a priest at the sanctuary.

11As the ground makes plants sprout, and as a garden makes the seeds planted in it come up, so the Lord GOD will make righteousness and praise spring up in front of all the nations.

11For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.