Isaiah 61

The Year of the LORD’s Favor (Luke 4:16–30)

¹ The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me,

because the LORD has anointed Me

¹ to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted,

¹ to proclaim liberty to the captives

and freedom to the prisoners,

² to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor

and the day of our God’s vengeance,

² to comfort all who mourn,

³ to console the mourners in Zion—

to give them a crown of beauty for ashes,

³ the oil of joy for mourning,

and a garment of praise for a spirit of despair.

³ So they will be called oaks of righteousness,

the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.

⁴ They will rebuild the ancient ruins;

they will restore the places long devastated;

⁴ they will renew the ruined cities,

the desolations of many generations.

⁵ Strangers will stand and feed your flocks,

and foreigners will be your plowmen and vinedressers.

⁶ But you will be called the priests of the LORD;

they will speak of you as ministers of our God;

⁶ you will feed on the wealth of nations,

and you will boast in their riches.

⁷ Instead of shame, My people will have a double portion,

and instead of humiliation, they will rejoice in their share;

⁷ and so they will inherit a double portion in their land,

and everlasting joy will be theirs.

⁸ For I, the LORD, love justice;

I hate robbery and iniquity;

⁸ in My faithfulness I will give them their recompense

and make an everlasting covenant with them.

⁹ Their descendants will be known among the nations,

and their offspring among the peoples.

⁹ All who see them will acknowledge

that they are a people the LORD has blessed.

¹⁰ I will rejoice greatly in the LORD,

my soul will exult in my God;

¹⁰ for He has clothed me with garments of salvation

and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness,

¹⁰ as a bridegroom wears a priestly headdress,

as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

¹¹ For as the earth brings forth its growth,

and as a garden enables seed to spring up,

¹¹ so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise

to spring up before all the nations.