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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 61:6 and LXX Isaiah 61:6

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

Isaiah 61 describes Israel consuming the “wealth of the nations,” implying conquest. The Greek Septuagint translation softens this by saying “strength” instead of “wealth,” interpreting the Hebrew in a less literal sense.

Passages

Isaiah 61:6

Hebrew Bible
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.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

LXX Isaiah 61:6

Septuagint
5 And strangers shall come and feed your flocks, and aliens shall be your plowmen and vine-dressers. 6 But you shall be called priests of the Lord, the ministers of God: you shall eat the strength of nations, and shall be admired because of their wealth. 7 Thus they will inherit the land a second time, and everlasting joy shall be upon their head. 8 For I am the Lord who love righteousness, and hate robberies of injustice; and I will give their labor to the just, and will make an everlasting covenant with them.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Isaiah

References

"... Two passages toward the end of Isaiah contain the phrase “wealth of the nations.” Isaiah 61:6 uses it as something Israel is to eat, perhaps conveying the idea that Israel will plunder ('consume') the nations’ riches. The LXX translators, though, chose to render it using its more common gloss ἰσχὺν ('strength') rather than πλοῦτος. Isaiah 66:12 uses the phrase 'glory of the nations', which may be translated as 'wealth of the nations.' The picture, however, is one of foreign wealth flowing toward Jerusalem like a river, not of Gentiles carrying it as tribute. Rather, the Gentiles escort the Jewish remnant, a repatriation which is seen in verse 20 as an act of 'offering'. Therefore, despite the idea of Gentile wealth being destined for Jerusalem, neither passage here pictures that wealth being carried in a pilgrimage as tribute to King Yahweh ..."
Charles E. Cruise, “The 'Weath of the Nations': A Study in the Intertextuality of Isaiah 60:5,11,” JETS 5.8 (2015): 283–297.

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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Isaiah 61:6 and LXX Isaiah 61:6

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