Isaiah 61
← chapter 60 chapter 62 →
The Great Isaiah Scroll, the best preserved of the biblical scrolls found at Qumran from the second century BC, contains all the verses in this chapter.
Book	Book of Isaiah
Category	Nevi'im
Christian Bible part	Old Testament
Order in the Christian part	23

Isaiah 61 is the sixty-first chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.^[1][2] This book contains the prophecies spoken by the prophet Isaiah, and is a part of the Book of the Prophets.^[3][4]

Text

• The original text is written in Hebrew language.
• This chapter is divided into 11 verses.

Textual versions

Some most ancient manuscripts containing this chapter in Hebrew language:

• Masoretic Text (10th century)
• Dead Sea Scrolls: (2nd century BC)^[5][6]
  • 1QIsa^a: complete^[5]
  • 1QIsa^b: extant: verses 1‑2^[5]
  • 4QIsa^b (4Q56): extant: verses 1‑3^[5]
  • 4QIsa^h (4Q62): extant: verses 1-2^[5]
  • 4QIsa^m (4Q66): extant: verses 3-6^[5]

Ancient translations in Koine Greek:

• Septuagint (3rd century BC)
• Theodotion version (~AD 180)

Structure

This chapter can be grouped into:

• Isaiah 61:1–11 = The Good News of Salvation

Verse 1

The 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;^[7]

• "The Spirit of the Lord God" - Hebrew, The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh.' The Chaldee renders this, 'The prophet said, the spirit of prophecy from the presence of Yahweh God is upon me.' The Syriac, 'The Spirit of the Lord God.' The Septuagint, Πνεῦμα Κυρίου Pneuma Kuriou - 'The Spirit of the Lord,' omitting the word אדני 'ădonāy. So Luke quotes it in Luke 4:18. That this refers to the Messiah is abundantly proved by the fact that the Lord Jesus expressly applied it to himself (see Luke 4:21).^[8]
• "is upon me; because … hath anointed me"—quoted by Jesus as His credentials in preaching (Luke 4:18-21). The Spirit is upon Me in preaching, because Jehovah hath anointed Me from the womb (Luke 1:35), and at baptism, with the Spirit "without measure," and permanently "abiding" on Me (Isaiah 11:2; John 1:32; 3:34; Psalm 45:7; with which compare 1 Kings 1:39, 40; 19:16; Exodus 29:7). "Anointed" as Messiah, Prophet, Priest, and King.^[9]
• "Because the Lord hath anointed me" - The word rendered 'hath anointed' (משׁח mâshach), is that from which the word Messiah is derived (see the notes at Isaiah 45:1). prophets and kings were set apart to their high office, by the ceremony of pouring oil on their heads; and the idea here is that God had set apart the Messiah for the office which he was to bear, and had abundantly endowed him with the graces of which the anointing oil was an emblem. The same language is used in reference to the Messiah in Psalm 45:7 (compare Hebrews 1:9).^[8]
• "To preach good tidings" - On the meaning of the word (בשׂר bâs'ar) rendered here 'to preach good tidings,' see the notes at Isaiah 52:7. The Septuagint renders it, Εὐαγγελίσασθαι Euangelisasthai - 'To evangelize,' to preach the gospel.^[8]
• "Unto the meek - The word rendered 'meek' (ענוים ‛ănâviym) properly denotes the afflicted, the distressed, the needy. The word 'meek' means those who are patient in the reception of injuries, and stands opposed to revengeful and irascible. This is by no means the sense of the word here. It refers to those who were borne down by calamity in any form, and would be particularly applicable to those who had been sighing in a long captivity in Babylon. It is not improperly rendered by the Septuagint by the word πτωχοῖς ptōchois, 'poor,' and in like manner by Luke Luk 4:18; and the idea is, that the Redeemer came to bring a joyful message to those who were oppressed and borne down by the evils of poverty and calamity (compare Matthew 11:5).^[8]
• "To bind up the broken-hearted" (compare Psalm 147:3, where this is declared to be the office of Jehovah himself). "Binding up" is an ordinary expression in Isaiah's writings for "healing" (see Isaiah 1:6; Isaiah 3:7; Isaiah 30:26).^[10]
• "To proclaim liberty to the captives" - This evidently is language which is taken from the condition of the exiles in their long captivity in Babylon. The Messiah would accomplish a deliverance for those who were held under the captivity of sin similar to that of releasing captives from long and painful servitude. The gospel does not at once, and by a mere exertion of power, open prison doors, and restore captives to liberty. But it accomplishes an effect analogous to this: it releases the mind captive under sin; and it will finally open all prison doors, and by preventing crime will prevent the necessity of prisons, and will remove all the sufferings which are now endured in confinement as the consequence of crime. It may be remarked further, that the word here rendered 'liberty' (דרור derôr) is a word which is properly applicable to the year of Jubilee, when all were permitted to go free (Leviticus 25:10): 'And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty (דרור derôr) throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.' So in Jeremiah 34:8-9, it is used to denote the manumission of slaves: 'To proclaim liberty (דרור derôr) unto them; that every man should let his man-servant and every man his maid-servant, being an Hebrew, or an Hebrewess, go free.'^[8] The Targum states, ""to the prisoners appear in light." It may be rendered, "open clear and full light to the prisoners",^[11] so Aben Ezra interprets it;^[12][13]
• "And the opening of the prison to them that are bound." St. Luke, following the Septuagint, has, "and recovering of sight to the blind." It is thought by some that the original Hebrew text has been corrupted. Others regard the Septuagint rendering as a paraphrase.^[10]

Verse 2

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,

and the day of vengeance of our God;

to comfort all that mourn;^[14]