Isaías 61

ARC · Chapter 61/66

1O Espirito do Senhor Jehovah está sobre mim; porque o Senhor me ungiu, para prégar boas novas aos mansos: enviou-me a restaurar os contritos de coração, a apregoar liberdade aos captivos, e a abertura de prisão aos presos;

2A apregoar o anno acceitavel do Senhor e o dia da vingança do nosso Deus, a consolar todos os tristes;

3A ordenar aos tristes de Sião que se lhes dê ornamento por cinza, oleo de gozo por tristeza, vestidura de louvor por espirito angustiado; para que se chamem carvalhos de justiça, plantados do Senhor, para que seja glorificado.

4E edificarão os logares antigamente assolados, e restaurarão os de antes destruidos, e renovarão as cidades assoladas, destruidas de geração em geração.

5E haverá estrangeiros, e apascentarão os vossos rebanhos: e estranhos serão os vossos lavradores e os vossos vinheiros.

6Porém vós sereis chamados sacerdotes do Senhor, e vos chamarão ministros de nosso Deus: comereis a abundancia das nações, e na sua gloria vos gloriareis.

7Por vossa dupla vergonha, e affronta, exultarão sobre a sua parte; pelo que na sua terra possuirão o dobro, e terão perpetua alegria.

8Porque eu, o Senhor, amo o juizo, aborreço a rapina no holocausto; e farei que a sua obra seja em verdade; e farei um concerto eterno com elles.

9E a sua semente será conhecida entre as nações, e os seus descendentes no meio dos povos; todos quantos os virem os conhecerão, que são a semente bemdita do Senhor.

10Gozo-me muito no Senhor, a minha alma se alegra no meu Deus: porque me vestiu de vestidos de salvação, me cobriu com o manto de justiça, como quando o noivo se orna com atavio sacerdotal, e como a noiva se enfeita com as suas joias.

11Porque, como a terra produz os seus renovos, e como o horto faz brotar o que n'elle se semeia, assim o Senhor Jehovah fará brotar a justiça e o louvor para todas as nações.

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Summary

The prophet (or the Servant/Messiah) announces that the Spirit of the Lord is upon him to preach good news to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, and proclaim liberty to the captives. It is the "acceptable year of the Lord," bringing joy in place of mourning.

Explanation

This is one of the best-known passages in the book because Jesus reads it publicly in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:18-19) and declares, "today this scripture is fulfilled," applying this prophecy directly to his own messianic mission. The phrase "acceptable year of the Lord" likely points back to the "Year of Jubilee" from the Mosaic Law (Leviticus 25), a special year every fifty years when debts were forgiven, land was returned, and slaves were set free — a powerful image of total restoration and a fresh start. The promise that the restored will be called "trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord" uses the image of strong, enduring trees to describe the transformation of broken people into symbols of strength and stability. The practical application today is that the gospel Jesus announced has ancient prophetic roots in practical and spiritual liberation for society's most vulnerable.

Fun facts

  • Jesus read this very chapter aloud in the synagogue at Nazareth and said, "today is this scripture fulfilled in your ears" (Luke 4:21), one of the most striking moments of messianic self-identification recorded in the Gospels.
  • The "acceptable year of the Lord" is understood by many scholars as a reference to Israel's Year of Jubilee, a radical social system of debt forgiveness and redistribution every fifty years, described in Leviticus 25.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Isaías 61:1The anointing to announce good news and the acceptable year recall the year of Jubilee, when debts were forgiven and land returned every 50 years. Centuries later, the Gospel of Luke shows Jesus reading this same passage in a synagogue; Isaiah, however, speaks first of the end of the exile.
  2. Isaías 61:2“The acceptable year of the Lord” recalls the Jubilee, when debts were forgiven every 50 years; alongside it comes “the day of vengeance,” showing that the same message carries both relief and a reckoning.
  3. Isaías 61:3Trading ashes for festive oil describes mourning turning into joy: ashes on the head were a sign of deep sorrow at the time, and perfumed oil was used at celebrations. The shift from one to the other sums up the reversal of fortune announced in these final chapters.
  4. Isaías 61:4Rebuilding devastated places, desolations “of many generations,” acknowledges that the destruction wasn’t recent, but had built up over a long time, making the promise of restoration even more significant.
  5. Isaías 61:5Foreigners tending Israel’s flocks and fields reverses roles: instead of the people serving as foreign slaves, as in Egypt, it is now foreigners who work to sustain Israel.
  6. Isaías 61:6Calling the whole people “the Priests of the Lord” expands a role once restricted to a specific lineage, and the promise to eat “the riches of the Gentiles” ties this new status to material abundance coming from outside.
  7. Isaías 61:7“Double” shame refers to the suffering of the exile, and the promise to possess “the double” in their own land answers that shame with a proportional compensation — lasting joy replacing prolonged humiliation.
  8. Isaías 61:8“I hate robbery for burnt offering” repeats the criticism from other chapters against offerings obtained unjustly, and “an everlasting covenant” promised here reinforces that the new relationship with the people will be lasting, grounded in truth.
  9. Isaías 61:9Being “known among the Gentiles” as “the seed which the Lord hath blessed” describes international public recognition of the blessing on the people, not just an invisible or internal blessing.
  10. Isaías 61:10The comparison with a bridegroom and bride dressing up for a wedding describes the joy of restoration as a wedding feast. It’s one of the most frequently used images in the book for the relationship between God and the restored people.
  11. Isaías 61:11Comparing the growth of righteousness and praise to a garden’s natural sprouting once again uses the book’s agricultural imagery to describe something abstract happening as surely and visibly as a harvest.

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