Isaías 61

VBL · Chapter 61/66

1El Espíritu del Señor Dios está sobre mí, porque el Señor me ha ungido para llevar la buena noticia a los pobres. Me ha enviado a curar a los quebrantados de corazón, a anunciar la liberación a los cautivos, a poner en libertad a los prisioneros,

2a anunciar el año de gracia del Señor y el día del castigo de nuestro Dios, para consolar a los que lloran.

3El Señor dará a todos los que lloran en Sión una corona en lugar de cenizas en su cabeza, el aceite de la felicidad en lugar de luto, ropa de alabanza en lugar de un espíritu de desesperación. Serán llamados robles de la integridad, plantados por el Señor para revelar su gloria.

4Reconstruirán las viejas ruinas; restaurarán los lugares abandonados hace mucho tiempo; restaurarán las ciudades que fueron destruidas, los lugares que quedaron desolados de generación en generación.

5Los extranjeros pastorearán sus rebaños, cuidarán sus campos y atenderán sus viñas.

6Serán llamados sacerdotes del Señor, identificados como ministros de nuestro Dios. Disfrutarán de las riquezas de las naciones y estarán orgullosos de tenerlas.

7En lugar de la vergüenza, recibirán una doble bendición; en lugar de los insultos, se alegrarán de que les den el doble de tierras, y su alegría durará para siempre.

8Yo, el Señor, amo lo que es justo. Odio el robo y la injusticia. Recompensaré fielmente a mi pueblo y haré un acuerdo eterno con él.

9Sus descendientes serán reconocidos entre las naciones, y sus hijos entre los pueblos. Todo el que los vea estará de acuerdo en que son gente que el Señor ha bendecido.

10¡Yo celebraré felizmente en el Señor! Todo mi ser gritará alabanzas a mi Dios. Porque me ha vestido con ropas de salvación, y me ha envuelto en un manto de bondad. Soy como un novio vestido para la boda, como una novia que lleva sus joyas.

11Como la tierra echa brotes y las plantas crecen en un jardín, así el Señor hace crecer la bondad y la alabanza ante todas las naciones.

📖 Chapter study

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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