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Isaiah

About this book
Chapter 61

1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has chosen me. He has commissioned me to encourage the poor,⁠ to help the brokenhearted,⁠ to decree the release of captives and the freeing of prisoners,⁠ 2 to announce the year when the Lord will show his favor,⁠ the day when our God will seek vengeance, to console all who mourn, 3 to strengthen those who mourn in Zion by giving them a turban, instead of ashes, oil symbolizing joy, instead of mourning, a garment symbolizing praise, instead of discouragement. They will be called oaks of righteousness, trees planted by the Lord to reveal his splendor. 4 They will rebuild the perpetual ruins and restore the places that were desolate; they will reestablish the ruined cities, the places that have been desolate since ancient times. 5 “Foreigners will take care of your sheep; foreigners will work in your fields and vineyards. 6 You will be called, ‘the Lord’s priests, servants of our God.’⁠ You will enjoy the wealth of nations⁠ and boast about the riches you receive from them. 7 Instead of shame, you will get a double portion; instead of humiliation, they will rejoice over the land they receive.⁠ Yes, they will possess a double portion in their land and experience lasting joy. 8 For I, the Lord, love justice and hate robbery and sin. I will repay them because of my faithfulness; I will make a permanent covenant with them. 9 Their descendants will be known among the nations, their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will recognize that the Lord has blessed them.” 10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; I will be overjoyed because of my God. For he clothes me in garments of deliverance; he puts on me a robe symbolizing vindication. I look like a bridegroom when he wears a turban as a priest would; I look like a bride when she puts on her jewelry. 11 For just as the ground produces its crops and a garden yields its produce, so the Sovereign Lord will cause deliverance to grow and give his people reason to praise him in the sight of all the nations.

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 61:1 and LXX Isaiah 61:1

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

Isaiah 61 describes a messenger sent by God to comfort the grieving and free captives. In the Greek Septuagint, the language of freeing prisoners is changed to giving sight to the blind, reshaping the imagery and meaning of the text.

Passages

Isaiah 61:1

Hebrew Bible
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has chosen me. He has commissioned me to encourage the poor, to help the brokenhearted, to decree the release of captives and the freeing of prisoners, 2 to announce the year when the Lord will show his favor, the day when our God will seek vengeance, to console all who mourn, 3 to strengthen those who mourn in Zion by giving them a turban, instead of ashes, oil symbolizing joy, instead of mourning, a garment symbolizing praise, instead of discouragement. They will be called oaks of righteousness, trees planted by the Lord to reveal his splendor.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

LXX Isaiah 61:1

Septuagint
1 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me; he has sent me to preach glad news to the poor, to heal the broken in heart, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind; 2 to declare the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of retribution; to comfort all that mourn; 3 that there should be given to those who mourn in Zion glory instead of ashes, the oil of joy to the mourners, the garment of glory for the spirit of heaviness: and they shall be called generations of righteousness, the planting of the Lord for glory.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Isaiah

References

"... A quick reading of the above texts gives an impression that there are only a few minor differences. However, a thorough analysis of various compositional elements (such as the syntax relation, the structure, the grammar, the choice of words, to name but a few), viewed within the LXX-Isaiah as a whole, seems to indicate that those discrepancies are significant. In verse 1, besides his omission of יהוה (as the subject of the verb משח that is translated as ἔχρισέν), the Isaiah translator renders the particle יען by οὗ εἵνεκεν instead of an expected διὰ (7:5 for יעןכי) or ὅτι (30:12; 65:12; 65:4). While this does not seem to alter the meaning of this verse, it is worth noting his use of the infinitive ἰάσασθαι (to heal) for חבש (to bind up) as well as καὶ τυφλοῖς ἀνάβλεψιν (and a recovery of sight to the blind) for ולאסוריםפקח־קוח (and an opening “of eyesight” to them that are bound). Even if the rendition of ἀνάβλεψιν (compare also Aquila) might be explained as a possible reading of a single word פקחקוח (compare 1QIsaa and 1QIsab) understood in an intensive sense of eye-opening, the Isaiah translator’s interpretative intention here should not be denied. This becomes obvious from his use of the noun ... ..."
Abi T. Ngunga, Messianism in the Old Greek of Isaiah: An Intertextual Analysis, FRLANT 245 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013), 197–198.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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  • Why was the word (recovery of sight to the blind) removed? Was it an intentional act?

    Rome, March 16, 2024

  • Thanks to the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as a spirit body, all those who were drowned by Noah's flood have been released as spirit bodies into God's heaven (1 Peter 3:18-19). Why was Jesus interested in them in the first place? Why not something more recent, like those of Sodom a ...

    Wayne, July 2, 2024

Isaiah 61:1 and LXX Isaiah 61:1

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