The Year of Yahweh’s Favor
because Yahweh has anointed me,
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,[a]
to proclaim[b] release to the captives
and liberation to those who are bound,
2 to proclaim[c] the year of Yahweh’s favor,
and our God’s day of vengeance,
to comfort all those in mourning,
3 to give[d] for those in mourning in Zion,
to give them a head wrap instead of ashes,
the oil of joy instead of mourning,
a garment of praise instead of a faint spirit.
And they will be called[e] oaks of righteousness,
the planting of Yahweh, to show his glory.
4 And they shall build the ancient ruins,
they shall erect the former deserted places.
And they shall restore the devastated cities,[f]
the deserted places of many generations.[g]
5 And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks,[h]
and foreigners[i] shall be your farmers and vinedressers.
6 But[j] you shall be called the priests of Yahweh,
you will be called[k] servers of our God.
You shall eat the wealth of the nations,
and you shall boast in their riches.
7 Instead of your shame, a double portion,
and instead of insult, they will rejoice over their portion.
Therefore they will take a double portion in their land;
they shall possess everlasting joy.[l]
8 For I, Yahweh, love justice,
hate robbery and[m] injustice,
and I will faithfully[n] give their reward,
and I will make[o] an everlasting covenant with[p] them.
9 And their descendants[q] will be known among the nations,
and their offspring in the midst of the peoples.
All those who see them shall recognize them,
that they are descendants[r] whom Yahweh has blessed.
10 I will rejoice greatly in Yahweh;
my being shall shout in exultation in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation,
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns himself with a head wrap like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewelry.
11 For as the earth produces[s] its sprout,
and as a garden makes its plants sprout,
so the Lord Yahweh will make righteousness sprout,
and praise before all the nations.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 61:1 Literally “those broken of heart”
- Isaiah 61:1 Literally “call”
- Isaiah 61:2 Literally “call”
- Isaiah 61:3 Literally “place”
- Isaiah 61:3 Literally “it will be called to them”
- Isaiah 61:4 Literally “cities of devastation”
- Isaiah 61:4 Literally “generation and generation”
- Isaiah 61:5 Hebrew “flock”
- Isaiah 61:5 Literally “sons of a foreign country”
- Isaiah 61:6 Or “And”
- Isaiah 61:6 Literally “it shall be said of you”
- Isaiah 61:7 Literally “possession of joy everlasting shall be for them”
- Isaiah 61:8 Or “in”
- Isaiah 61:8 Literally “in the faithfulness”
- Isaiah 61:8 Literally “cut”
- Isaiah 61:8 Literally “to”
- Isaiah 61:9 Hebrew “descendant”
- Isaiah 61:9 Hebrew “descendant”
- Isaiah 61:11 Literally “brings out”