42:7 to open blind eyes, 1
to release prisoners 2 from dungeons,
those who live in darkness from prisons.
61:1 The spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me,
because the Lord has chosen 3 me. 4
He has commissioned 5 me to encourage 6 the poor,
to help 7 the brokenhearted,
to decree the release of captives,
and the freeing of prisoners,
4:19 to proclaim the year 8 of the Lord’s favor.” 9
1 sn This does not refer to literal physical healing of the blind. As the next two lines suggest, this refers metonymically to freeing captives from their dark prisons where their eyes have grown unaccustomed to light.
2 sn This does not refer to hardened, dangerous criminals, who would have been executed for their crimes in ancient Near Eastern society. This verse refers to political prisoners or victims of social injustice.
3 tn Heb “anointed,” i.e., designated to carry out an assigned task.
4 sn The speaker is not identified, but he is distinct from the Lord and from Zion’s suffering people. He possesses the divine spirit, is God’s spokesman, and is sent to release prisoners from bondage. The evidence suggests he is the Lord’s special servant, described earlier in the servant songs (see 42:1-4, 7; 49:2, 9; 50:4; see also 51:16).
5 tn Or “sent” (NAB); NCV “has appointed me.”
6 tn Or “proclaim good news to.”
7 tn Heb “to bind up [the wounds of].”
8 sn The year of the Lord’s favor (Grk “the acceptable year of the Lord”) is a description of the year of Jubilee (Lev 25:10). The year of the total forgiveness of debt is now turned into a metaphor for salvation. Jesus had come to proclaim that God was ready to forgive sin totally.
9 sn A quotation from Isa 61:1-2a. Within the citation is a line from Isa 58:6, with its reference to setting the oppressed free.