Isaiah 61

General context

A speaker says the Spirit of the Lord God is upon him because the Lord has anointed him to preach good tidings to the meek, bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to captives and the opening of the prison, proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, and comfort all who mourn. Those who mourn in Zion are to receive beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for heaviness, and to be called trees of righteousness, the Lord's planting. They will rebuild the old wastes and repair cities desolate for many generations. Strangers will feed their flocks and the sons of the alien will be their plowmen and vinedressers, while they themselves will be named priests of the Lord and ministers of our God and eat the riches of the Gentiles. For their shame they will have double, and everlasting joy. The Lord says he loves judgment and hates robbery for burnt offering, will direct their work in truth and make an everlasting covenant with them; their seed will be known among the Gentiles as the seed the Lord has blessed. The speaker then rejoices in the Lord, who has clothed him with garments of salvation and a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom with ornaments and a bride with jewels. As the earth brings forth its bud and a garden its seed, the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

Cited passages: Isaiah 61:1, Isaiah 61:2, Isaiah 61:3, Isaiah 61:4, Isaiah 61:5, Isaiah 61:6, Isaiah 61:7, Isaiah 61:8, Isaiah 61:9, Isaiah 61:10, Isaiah 61:11

Isaiah 61 (KJV)

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The speaker of verses 1 to 3 says the Lord has anointed and sent him, and the chapter never names him. The word servant does not appear in this chapter; the speaker is identified only by the Spirit upon him and the tasks listed. Verse 8 is marked as the Lord's own speech, I the Lord, and verse 10 returns to a rejoicing me whose relation to the first speaker is not stated. The people addressed are those who mourn in Zion and a plural ye who will be called priests of the Lord; they are not otherwise named. The old wastes and desolations of many generations are mentioned without saying what destroyed them or when. Strangers and sons of the alien are assigned farm work, and the addressees are assigned priesthood; no date, king or setting is given. The Gospel of Luke later reports these opening lines being read aloud from the book of the prophet Esaias, in wording that adds recovering of sight to the blind and stops before the day of vengeance, followed by the statement This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. That is a later citation, not something this chapter says.

Cited passages: Isaiah 61:1, Isaiah 61:8, Isaiah 61:10, Isaiah 61:3, Isaiah 61:6, Isaiah 61:4, Isaiah 61:5, Luke 4:17, Luke 4:18, Luke 4:19, Luke 4:21, Isaiah 61:2

Literary context

The opening is a list of infinitives hung on one sending: to preach, to bind up, to proclaim, to proclaim, to comfort, to appoint, to give. The gifts to the mourners come as three exchanges in one verse, beauty for ashes, oil of joy for mourning, garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, and the mourners are then renamed as trees and as a planting. The chapter keeps trading one thing for another: waste cities for repaired ones, shame for double, strangers at the plow for the addressees at the altar. Clothing runs through it, from the garment of praise to the garments of salvation and robe of righteousness, and the closing image of bridegroom and bride prepares the marriage language of the next chapter, where the land is called married. The last verse answers the opening with growth instead of proclamation: what was announced in verse 1 springs up like a bud in verse 11, and the word righteousness, applied to trees in verse 3 and a robe in verse 10, is what finally grows. The acceptable year and the day of vengeance are named together, and the winepress scene in chapter 63 returns to that day.

Cited passages: Isaiah 61:1, Isaiah 61:3, Isaiah 61:4, Isaiah 61:7, Isaiah 61:5, Isaiah 61:6, Isaiah 61:10, Isaiah 62:4, Isaiah 61:11, Isaiah 61:2, Isaiah 63:4

Key moments

1. Anointed to preach good tidings (Isaiah 61:1). The speaker says the Spirit of the Lord God is on him to bring good news to the meek and liberty to captives.
2. The acceptable year and day of vengeance (Isaiah 61:2). The speaker is sent to proclaim both the Lord's favour and his vengeance, and to comfort mourners.
3. Beauty for ashes (Isaiah 61:3). The mourners in Zion receive joy for mourning and are called trees of righteousness.
4. Old wastes rebuilt (Isaiah 61:4). The mourners will repair cities desolate for many generations.
5. Named priests of the Lord (Isaiah 61:6). Strangers will farm while the addressees are called ministers of God.
6. Double for shame (Isaiah 61:7). In place of shame the people will have a double portion and everlasting joy.
7. Clothed like a bridegroom (Isaiah 61:10). The speaker rejoices in garments of salvation, dressed like a bridegroom and a bride.

For reflection

The mourners in Zion are given beauty for ashes, but the ashes and the mourning are named first. What does it mean that comfort here is an exchange rather than an erasure, and what would be lost if the ashes were simply forgotten?