Isaiah 61: The Spirit of the Lord Is upon Me
Good news to the poor, liberty to captives, the year of the LORD's favor, and the words read at Nazareth
"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; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn" (61:1–2).
"To 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. And they shall build the old wastes… And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks… But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God" (vv. 3–6).
"For 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" (v. 8). "I 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" (v. 10).
"And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias… And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down… And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears" (Luke 4:16–21).
| Verses | What it says | What to notice |
|---|---|---|
| 61:1a | The Spirit of the Lord GOD on me, because the LORD anointed me | Anointing (mashach) for a prophet as well as a king or priest (1 Kings 19:16). 1QIsa-a lacks "Adonai." |
| 61:1b | To bring good news to the humble (anavim); to bind up the broken-hearted; to proclaim release (deror) to captives and opening to the bound | Deror is the jubilee word of Leviticus 25:10 and the release of Jeremiah 34:8. Basser, "bring good news": the herald's verb (40:9; 52:7). |
| 61:2 | To proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn | "Year" and "day" are paired, as in 34:8 and 63:4. Luke's quotation stops before "day." |
| 61:3 | For Zion's mourners: a turban (pe'er) for ashes (efer), oil of joy, a mantle of praise; oaks of righteousness, the LORD's planting | Pe'er / efer: a wordplay. Mourning reversed into festal dress. |
| 61:4 | They will rebuild ancient ruins, restore desolations, renew ruined cities | Compare 58:12; Nehemiah 2:17. |
| 61:5–6 | Foreigners will tend your flocks and vineyards; you will be called priests of the LORD, ministers of our God; you will eat the nations' wealth | The whole people as priests (Exodus 19:6); compare 1 Peter 2:9. |
| 61:7 | Instead of shame, a double portion; everlasting joy | The firstborn's double portion (Deuteronomy 21:17). |
| 61:8–9 | I the LORD love justice, hate robbery with wrong (be'olah); an everlasting covenant; their offspring known among the nations | Be'olah: the Masoretic vowels read "in burnt offering" (KJV); the same letters read "with injustice" (Greek, many modern versions). |
| 61:10 | I rejoice greatly: he has clothed me in garments of salvation, a robe of righteousness, like a bridegroom with a priestly turban, like a bride with jewels | Who speaks: the herald, or Zion? The voice is debated. |
| 61:11 | As the earth brings forth its shoots, the LORD GOD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations | The garden image of 58:11; 60:21. |
| Line | Hebrew (Masoretic Text) | Great Isaiah Scroll (described) | Greek Isaiah (library's Giguet) | Luke 4:18–19 (Greek New Testament) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spirit | "The Spirit of the Lord GOD (Adonai YHWH) is upon me" | "The Spirit of YHWH," without "Adonai" | "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me" | "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me" (Pneuma Kyriou ep' eme) |
| Anointing | "because the LORD has anointed me" | Same | "because of which he has anointed me" | "because of which he anointed me" (hou heineken echrisen me) |
| The poor | "to bring good news to the humble (anavim)" ("he has sent me" follows) | Same | "he has sent me to bring good news to the poor" | "to bring good news to the poor (ptōchois)"; "he has sent me" goes with the next line |
| The broken-hearted | "to bind up the broken-hearted" | "and to bind up…" | "to heal the broken in heart" | Not in the oldest manuscripts of Luke or the library's Greek New Testament; present in later manuscripts and the KJV ("to heal the brokenhearted") |
| Captives | "to proclaim release (deror) to captives" | Same | "to proclaim release (aphesis) to captives" | "to proclaim release (aphesin) to captives" |
| The bound / the blind | "and to the bound, opening (peqach-qoach)" | Same, written as one word | "and to the blind, sight" | "and recovery of sight to the blind" (typhlois anablepsin) |
| Isaiah 58:6 | (not in 61:1) | (not in 61:1) | In 58:6: "send away the crushed in release" | "to send away the crushed in release" (aposteilai tethrausmenous en aphesei): inserted from 58:6 |
| The year | "to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor (ratson)" | Same | "to proclaim (Giguet: publier) the year acceptable to the Lord" (Ziegler reportedly kalesai, "to call") | "to proclaim (kēryxai) the acceptable year of the Lord" |
| Vengeance | "and the day of vengeance of our God" | "a day of vengeance," without "and" | "and the day of retribution" | Not read: the quotation stops, and Jesus rolls up the scroll (4:20) |
| The mourners | "to comfort all who mourn" | Same | "to comfort all who mourn" | Not read (compare Matthew 5:4, "they that mourn… shall be comforted") |
What Luke's reading does with Isaiah
Luke's quotation follows the Greek, not the Hebrew, at the line about the blind: the Hebrew peqach-qoach ("opening") is spoken of those who are bound, and the Greek translator took it as the opening of eyes, which Luke gives as "recovering of sight to the blind" (KJV). Luke omits one line (in the oldest manuscripts), inserts a line from the Greek of 58:6, changes "call" to "proclaim," and stops in the middle of 61:2, before "the day of vengeance of our God." A scroll would not have both 58:6 and 61:1 in one place, so the reading as Luke gives it is a composition: either Luke (or his source) combined the texts, or the scene compresses a longer reading. Luke does not say why the reading stops where it does. Interpreters have proposed that the stop marks the present as a time of favor, with judgment later (compare Luke 21:22, "the days of vengeance"), or simply that Luke quotes the part he wishes to emphasize. Both are interpretations; the text records only the stop.
Only in Luke
Mark 6:1–6 and Matthew 13:53–58 tell of Jesus' rejection in his home town without the reading from Isaiah. Luke places the scene at the start of Jesus' ministry and makes the reading its program: good news for the poor (Luke 6:20; 7:22; 14:13, 21), release (aphesis, also "forgiveness," 24:47), and sight for the blind (18:35–43). The site keeps Luke's account as Luke's and does not merge it with Mark or Matthew. Whether a fixed cycle of prophetic readings existed in first-century synagogues is not documented; Luke says that Jesus "found the place where it was written."
Who speaks in Isaiah 61?
The speaker is anointed by the Spirit like the servant (42:1, "I have put my spirit upon him"), and announces good news like the herald of 40:9 and 52:7. He is not called "servant" here. He has been read as the prophet of chapters 56–66 describing his own commission (the Targum introduces him: "the prophet said," reported), as the servant of the songs, as an ideal figure for the whole people (who become "priests of the LORD," v. 6), and as a messianic figure. In 61:10 the voice may be Zion's. Readers should know that the identification is an interpretation in every case.
In the restoration period, a prophetic voice claims the Spirit and an anointing to announce reversal to Zion's mourners: release for captives and the bound, a year of favor, a day of vengeance on oppressors, ruins rebuilt, the people made priests. The jubilee language (deror, "year") applies the old law of release to a city in ruins.
At Qumran, 11Q13 (11QMelchizedek) joins 61:1–2 with Leviticus 25 and Isaiah 52:7 and makes Melchizedek the agent of an end-time jubilee, "the year of Melchizedek's favor"; 4Q521 says the Lord will "heal the wounded, give life to the dead, and proclaim good news to the poor" (both reported; C check). These texts show that 61:1–2 was read as an end-time prophecy before the Gospels.
Luke 4:16–21 presents Jesus reading 61:1–2a (with 58:6) and declaring it fulfilled "this day"; the quotation follows the Greek and stops before the day of vengeance. In Matthew 11:5 and Luke 7:22, Jesus answers John the Baptist's question with a list that ends "the poor have the gospel preached to them," drawing on 61:1 and 35:5–6 (an allusion, not a citation). Matthew 5:3–4 ("Blessed are the poor in spirit… they that mourn") has been heard as an echo of 61:1–3. Acts 10:38 says God "anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power."
Christians read 61:1–3 as the self-description of Jesus, the anointed (Christ), and Christian social movements have taken "good tidings to the poor" and "liberty to the captives" as a mandate. Jewish readers have read the passage of the prophet's mission and Israel's restoration. Historians can say that Luke presents the passage as programmatic and that it was already read eschatologically at Qumran; whether the scene in Luke 4 preserves a historical event in detail is debated.
Robbery and burnt offering
61:8 is a vowel question. The Masoretic Text reads be-olah, "in burnt offering" (KJV "I hate robbery for burnt offering"); the same consonants read be-awlah mean "with injustice" ("robbery and wrong," the library's Greek "the plunder of iniquity"). The Great Isaiah Scroll has the same letters, so it cannot decide between the two (described from a transcription).
What the evidence shows
- Luke 4:18–19 quotes Isaiah 61:1–2 in a form close to the Greek.
- Luke's reading stops before "the day of vengeance of our God."
- Luke 4:18 includes words from Isaiah 58:6.
- "To heal the brokenhearted" is missing from the oldest manuscripts of Luke 4:18.
- Isaiah 61:1–2 was read as an end-time text at Qumran. 11Q13; 4Q521 (reported; C check).
- Jesus stopped reading to separate his first and second comings. A theological interpretation; Luke gives no reason.
- A fixed synagogue lectionary assigned Isaiah 61 to that sabbath.
Continue the journey
Journey of a PassageIsaiah 61:1–3: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me": the scroll Jesus read at Nazareth (Luke 4:16–21)"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek… to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God." Luke 4:18–19 reports the words Jesus read in the synagogue at Nazareth.More from this lesson
Echoes Across Civilizations
Optional: how other ancient peoples told similar stories. Open one to compare, then come back to the lesson.
Debt release and libertySumerian · Babylonian · Assyrian and Nuzi
Did other ancient peoples cancel debts and free debt-slaves, like the Jubilee?
- Sumerian: Reforms of Uruinimgina (Urukagina) Shared literary world
- Babylonian: The Edict of Ammi-saduqa (a misharum decree) Possible historical contact
- Assyrian and Nuzi: Andurarum proclamations Possible historical contact
Why this matters to the rest of Scripture
- The reading at Nazareth.
- The jubilee: "proclaim liberty."
- Matthew 11:2–6; Luke 7:18–23"The poor have the gospel preached."
- Isaiah 42:1; 52:7The Spirit on the servant; the herald.