Isaiah 61

ישעיהו פרק ס״א

Section: נביאים · נביאים אחרונים | Book: Isaiah | Chapter: 61 of 66 | Day: 208 of 742

Date: September 7, 2026

קלאוד על הנ״ך

Chapter 61 begins with a shift of voice that is easy to miss. Chapter 60 was God speaking to Jerusalem; here a human being speaks in the first person: The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me (רוח אדני ה’ עלי יען משח ה’ אתי). Both Rashi and Radak identify the speaker as the prophet himself and take pains to define the anointing correctly. Rashi says plainly that this anointing is nothing but an expression of authority and greatness, not a literal application of oil, and Radak develops the point at length: the verb ‘to anoint’ is used for appointment generally, as when Elijah is told to anoint Hazael or to anoint Elisha as prophet in his place. Radak adds a precise distinction that explains why the verse needs two clauses at all. The spirit of prophecy can rest on a person without his being commissioned to carry that prophecy to others; here the prophet says both that the spirit is upon him and that he has been appointed, meaning he was sent specifically as a messenger, to speak these consolations and to write them down so that Jews enduring a long exile would find them recorded and not despair of redemption.

The mission itself is described in a rapid sequence of infinitives, each aimed at a broken constituency: to bring good tidings to the humble, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to captives (דרור) and release to the imprisoned (פקח קוח). Radak reads the humble and the broken-hearted as the exiles themselves, and his reasoning is worth noticing - they are called humble and broken because they bear the exile for the sake of God’s name, since had they been willing to abandon His unity and His Torah they could simply have become like the nations among whom they live. The suffering is therefore voluntary in a sense, which is what makes the consolation owed. The unusual phrase פקח קוח draws attention from every commentator; Rashi renders it as opening their captivity and freeing them, and Radak offers several readings, including one in the name of his father that קוח is a noun for the prison itself, the place where people are taken and confined.

Verse 2 pairs two things that sit uneasily together: a year of the Lord’s favor and a day of vengeance for our God. Radak reads the year of favor as the year of redemption, contrasting it explicitly with the years of exile, which were years of wrath - and he anchors this by quoting the previous chapter, ‘for in My anger I struck you’ (60:10), so that chapters 60 and 61 are read as one continuous argument. The day of vengeance he identifies with the war of Gog and Magog. Notice too the proportion in the Hebrew: a year of favor against a day of vengeance. Judgment is the brief episode; the favor is the sustained condition. Then verse 3, the most memorable line in the chapter, describing what is given to the mourners of Zion (אבלי ציון): a turban instead of ashes (פאר תחת אפר), the oil of joy instead of mourning, a garment of praise instead of a faint spirit. The Hebrew wordplay of פאר and אפר is untranslatable and unmistakable - two words sharing the same three letters in different order, the second being what mourners place on their heads, as Radak notes, and the first being ornament. The reversal is literally a rearrangement. Radak also observes that ‘garment of praise’ against ‘faint spirit’ can only work as metaphor, and defends it by pointing to Scripture’s willingness to speak of a spirit clothing a person, as in ‘a spirit clothed Amasai.’

From verse 4 the vision turns outward to reconstruction. Ancient ruins are rebuilt, desolations of generations are raised up, and strangers stand and pasture Israel’s flocks while foreigners serve as plowmen and vinedressers (verse 5). Then comes the verse that gives the chapter its distinctive theology: But you shall be called priests of the Lord, ministers of our God shall be said of you (verse 6). Radak’s explanation is the key to the passage and rescues it from sounding like mere privilege. The point of others doing the agricultural labor, he writes, is that Israel will be free from the business of the world and available to serve God, exactly as the priests were set aside and ready for the service of the Temple - free to occupy themselves with the Torah of God and with wisdom, to know the Lord. Leisure here is not indulgence but vocation. Radak also cites Ibn Ezra’s neat structural reading: the nations will stand to Israel as Israel stands to the sons of Aaron, so that the wealth of the nations functions as a kind of tithe. Rashi glosses the promise that Israel will ‘revel in their glory’ as taking their place in the honor those nations had held until now.

The closing movement gives the reason and then the response. Verse 7 promises a double portion in place of double shame, and verse 8 supplies the justification in God’s own voice: For I the Lord love justice, I hate robbery in a burnt offering. Radak turns this into a formal argument - since God loves justice, and since Israel bore the long exile for His name’s sake, leaving them without hope would itself be an injustice, so a doubled recompense is not generosity but the requirement of justice. Rashi reads the second half practically: God does not accept burnt offerings that are the product of robbery. Then the everlasting covenant, which Radak specifies is unlike the covenant at the Exodus precisely because that one had an end and this one will not. Verse 9 promises that their descendants will be recognizable among the nations as a stock the Lord has blessed, and Radak paints the scene concretely - Jews traveling abroad, not out of need but by choice, identifiable by their bearing and their honor. The chapter closes in the first person again, this time in joy: I will greatly rejoice in the Lord (שוש אשיש בה’), clothed in garments of salvation and wrapped in a robe of righteousness, like a bridegroom who dons a priestly turban and a bride who bedecks herself with her jewels. Radak, following the Targum, attributes these words to Jerusalem herself, and preserves his father’s beautiful reading of why the verse doubles its verbs: rejoicing ‘in the Lord’ invokes the attribute of mercy, in which body and soul both rejoice, while ‘in my God’ invokes the attribute of judgment, in which the soul alone exults, because the soul bears suffering more than the body does. The final verse plants the whole vision in the ground: as the earth brings forth its growth and a garden makes its seeds sprout, so God will make righteousness and praise sprout before all the nations. Radak’s comment on the image is the chapter’s last word on hope - the seed must first rot and disintegrate in the earth before it can grow, and what emerges is better and more abundant than what went in, one grain becoming many. Israel too lay for long ages in exile, corrupted and nearly hopeless, and will sprout when the time of redemption arrives.

פרק ס״א · Chapter 61

פסוק א׳ · Verse 1

Hebrew:

ר֛וּחַ אֲדֹנָ֥י יֱהֹוִ֖ה עָלָ֑י יַ֡עַן מָשַׁח֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה אֹתִ֜י לְבַשֵּׂ֣ר עֲנָוִ֗ים שְׁלָחַ֙נִי֙ לַחֲבֹ֣שׁ לְנִשְׁבְּרֵי־לֵ֔ב לִקְרֹ֤א לִשְׁבוּיִם֙ דְּר֔וֹר וְלַאֲסוּרִ֖ים פְּקַח־קֽוֹחַ׃

English:

The spirit of my Sovereign GOD is upon me, Because GOD has anointed me. I have been sent as a herald of joy to the humble, To bind up the wounded of heart, To proclaim release to the captives, Liberation to the imprisoned;

פסוק ב׳ · Verse 2

Hebrew:

לִקְרֹ֤א שְׁנַת־רָצוֹן֙ לַֽיהֹוָ֔ה וְי֥וֹם נָקָ֖ם לֵאלֹהֵ֑ינוּ לְנַחֵ֖ם כׇּל־אֲבֵלִֽים׃

English:

To proclaim a year of GOD’s favor And a day of vindication by our God; To comfort all who mourn—

פסוק ג׳ · Verse 3

Hebrew:

לָשׂ֣וּם ׀ לַאֲבֵלֵ֣י צִיּ֗וֹן לָתֵת֩ לָהֶ֨ם פְּאֵ֜ר תַּ֣חַת אֵ֗פֶר שֶׁ֤מֶן שָׂשׂוֹן֙ תַּ֣חַת אֵ֔בֶל מַעֲטֵ֣ה תְהִלָּ֔ה תַּ֖חַת ר֣וּחַ כֵּהָ֑ה וְקֹרָ֤א לָהֶם֙ אֵילֵ֣י הַצֶּ֔דֶק מַטַּ֥ע יְהֹוָ֖ה לְהִתְפָּאֵֽר׃

English:

To provide for the mourners in Zion— To give them a turban instead of ashes, The festive ointment instead of mourning, A garment of splendor instead of a drooping spirit. They shall be called terebinths of victory, Planted by GOD for glory’s sake.

פסוק ד׳ · Verse 4

Hebrew:

וּבָנוּ֙ חׇרְב֣וֹת עוֹלָ֔ם שֹׁמְמ֥וֹת רִאשֹׁנִ֖ים יְקוֹמֵ֑מוּ וְחִדְּשׁוּ֙ עָ֣רֵי חֹ֔רֶב שֹׁמְמ֖וֹת דּ֥וֹר וָדֽוֹר׃

English:

And they shall build the ancient ruins, Raise up the desolations of old, And renew the ruined cities, The desolations of many ages.

פסוק ה׳ · Verse 5

Hebrew:

וְעָמְד֣וּ זָרִ֔ים וְרָע֖וּ צֹאנְכֶ֑ם וּבְנֵ֣י נֵכָ֔ר אִכָּרֵיכֶ֖ם וְכֹרְמֵיכֶֽם׃

English:

Strangers shall stand and pasture your flocks, Aliens shall be your plowers and vine-trimmers;

פסוק ו׳ · Verse 6

Hebrew:

וְאַתֶּ֗ם כֹּהֲנֵ֤י יְהֹוָה֙ תִּקָּרֵ֔אוּ מְשָׁרְתֵ֣י אֱלֹהֵ֔ינוּ יֵאָמֵ֖ר לָכֶ֑ם חֵ֤יל גּוֹיִם֙ תֹּאכֵ֔לוּ וּבִכְבוֹדָ֖ם תִּתְיַמָּֽרוּ׃

English:

While you shall be called “Priests of GOD,” And termed “Servants of our God.” You shall enjoy the wealth of nations And revel in their riches.

פסוק ז׳ · Verse 7

Hebrew:

תַּ֤חַת בׇּשְׁתְּכֶם֙ מִשְׁנֶ֔ה וּכְלִמָּ֖ה יָרֹ֣נּוּ חֶלְקָ֑ם לָכֵ֤ן בְּאַרְצָם֙ מִשְׁנֶ֣ה יִירָ֔שׁוּ שִׂמְחַ֥ת עוֹלָ֖ם תִּהְיֶ֥ה לָהֶֽם׃

English:

Because your shame was double— Men cried, “Disgrace is their portion” — Assuredly, They shall have a double share in their land; Joy shall be theirs for all time.

פסוק ח׳ · Verse 8

Hebrew:

כִּ֣י אֲנִ֤י יְהֹוָה֙ אֹהֵ֣ב מִשְׁפָּ֔ט שֹׂנֵ֥א גָזֵ֖ל בְּעוֹלָ֑ה וְנָתַתִּ֤י פְעֻלָּתָם֙ בֶּאֱמֶ֔ת וּבְרִ֥ית עוֹלָ֖ם אֶכְר֥וֹת לָהֶֽם׃

English:

For I GOD love justice, I hate robbery with a burnt offering. I will pay them their wages faithfully, And make a covenant with them for all time.

פסוק ט׳ · Verse 9

Hebrew:

וְנוֹדַ֤ע בַּגּוֹיִם֙ זַרְעָ֔ם וְצֶאֱצָאֵיהֶ֖ם בְּת֣וֹךְ הָעַמִּ֑ים כׇּל־רֹֽאֵיהֶם֙ יַכִּיר֔וּם כִּ֛י הֵ֥ם זֶ֖רַע בֵּרַ֥ךְ יְהֹוָֽה׃ {פ}

English:

Their offspring shall be known among the nations, Their descendants in the midst of the peoples. All who see them shall recognize That they are a stock GOD has blessed.

פסוק י׳ · Verse 10

Hebrew:

שׂ֧וֹשׂ אָשִׂ֣ישׂ בַּֽיהֹוָ֗ה תָּגֵ֤ל נַפְשִׁי֙ בֵּֽאלֹהַ֔י כִּ֤י הִלְבִּישַׁ֙נִי֙ בִּגְדֵי־יֶ֔שַׁע מְעִ֥יל צְדָקָ֖ה יְעָטָ֑נִי כֶּֽחָתָן֙ יְכַהֵ֣ן פְּאֵ֔ר וְכַכַּלָּ֖ה תַּעְדֶּ֥ה כֵלֶֽיהָ׃

English:

I greatly rejoice in GOD, My whole being exults in my God— Who has clothed me with garments of triumph, Wrapped me in a robe of victory, Like a bridegroom adorned with a turban, Like a bride bedecked with her finery.

פסוק י״א · Verse 11

Hebrew:

כִּ֤י כָאָ֙רֶץ֙ תּוֹצִ֣יא צִמְחָ֔הּ וּכְגַנָּ֖ה זֵרוּעֶ֣יהָ תַצְמִ֑יחַ כֵּ֣ן ׀ אֲדֹנָ֣י יֱהֹוִ֗ה יַצְמִ֤יחַ צְדָקָה֙ וּתְהִלָּ֔ה נֶ֖גֶד כׇּל־הַגּוֹיִֽם׃

English:

For as the earth brings forth her growth And a garden makes the seed shoot up, So my Sovereign GOD will make Victory and renown shoot up In the presence of all the nations.

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