2:2 The kings of the earth 6 form a united front; 7
the rulers collaborate 8
against the Lord and his anointed king. 9
2:6 “I myself 10 have installed 11 my king
on Zion, my holy hill.”
45:7 You love 12 justice and hate evil. 13
For this reason God, your God 14 has anointed you 15
with the oil of joy, 16 elevating you above your companions. 17
61:1 The spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me,
because the Lord has chosen 18 me. 19
He has commissioned 20 me to encourage 21 the poor,
to help 22 the brokenhearted,
to decree the release of captives,
and the freeing of prisoners,
4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed 23 me to proclaim good news 24 to the poor. 25
He has sent me 26 to proclaim release 27 to the captives
and the regaining of sight 28 to the blind,
to set free 29 those who are oppressed, 30
1 sn The somewhat awkward naming of Jesus as from Nazareth here is actually emphatic. He is the key subject of these key events.
2 tn Or “how.” The use of ὡς (Jws) as an equivalent to ὅτι (Joti) to introduce indirect or even direct discourse is well documented. BDAG 1105 s.v. ὡς 5 lists Acts 10:28 in this category.
3 tn Grk “power, who.” The relative pronoun was replaced by the pronoun “he,” and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style, due to the length of the sentence in Greek.
4 tn The translation “healing all who were oppressed by the devil” is given in L&N 22.22.
5 sn See Acts 7:9.
6 sn The expression kings of the earth refers somewhat hyperbolically to the kings who had been conquered by and were subject to the Davidic king.
7 tn Or “take their stand.” The Hebrew imperfect verbal form describes their action as underway.
8 tn Or “conspire together.” The verbal form is a Niphal from יָסַד (yasad). BDB 413-14 s.v. יָסַד defines the verb as “establish, found,” but HALOT 417 s.v. II יסד proposes a homonym meaning “get together, conspire” (an alternate form of סוּד, sud).
9 tn Heb “and against his anointed one.” The Davidic king is the referent (see vv. 6-7).
10 tn The first person pronoun appears before the first person verbal form for emphasis, reflected in the translation by “myself.”
11 tn Or perhaps “consecrated.”
12 sn To love justice means to actively promote it.
13 sn To hate evil means to actively oppose it.
14 tn For other examples of the repetition of Elohim, “God,” see Pss 43:4; 48:8, 14; 50:7; 51:14; 67:7. Because the name Yahweh (“
15 sn Anointed you. When read in the light of the preceding context, the anointing is most naturally taken as referring to the king’s coronation. However, the following context (vv. 8-9) focuses on the wedding ceremony, so some prefer to see this anointing as part of the king’s preparations for the wedding celebration. Perhaps the reference to his anointing at his coronation facilitates the transition to the description of the wedding, for the king was also anointed on this occasion.
16 sn The phrase oil of joy alludes to the fact that the coronation of the king, which was ritually accomplished by anointing his head with olive oil, was a time of great celebration and renewed hope. (If one understands the anointing in conjunction with the wedding ceremony, the “joy” would be that associated with the marriage.) The phrase “oil of joy” also appears in Isa 61:3, where mourners are granted “oil of joy” in conjunction with their deliverance from oppression.
17 tn Heb “from your companions.” The “companions” are most naturally understood as others in the royal family or, more generally, as the king’s countrymen.
18 tn Heb “anointed,” i.e., designated to carry out an assigned task.
19 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).
20 tn Or “sent” (NAB); NCV “has appointed me.”
21 tn Or “proclaim good news to.”
22 tn Heb “to bind up [the wounds of].”
23 sn The phrase he has anointed me is an allusion back to Jesus’ baptism in Luke 3:21-22.
24 tn Grk “to evangelize,” “to preach the gospel.”
25 sn The poor is a key term in Luke. It refers to the pious poor and indicates Jesus’ desire to reach out to those the world tends to forget or mistreat. It is like 1:52 in force and also will be echoed in 6:20 (also 1 Pet 2:11-25). Jesus is commissioned to do this.
26 tc The majority of
27 sn The release in view here is comprehensive, both at a physical level and a spiritual one, as the entire ministry of Jesus makes clear (Luke 1:77-79; 7:47; 24:47; Acts 2:38; 5:31; 10:43).
28 sn Again, as with the previous phrase, regaining of sight may well mean more than simply miraculously restoring physical sight, which itself pictures a deeper reality (Luke 1:77-79; 18:35-43).
29 sn The essence of Jesus’ messianic work is expressed in the phrase to set free. This line from Isa 58 says that Jesus will do what the nation had failed to do. It makes the proclamation messianic, not merely prophetic, because Jesus doesn’t just proclaim the message – he brings the deliverance. The word translated set free is the same Greek word (ἄφεσις, afesi") translated release earlier in the verse.
30 sn Again, as with the previous phrases, oppressed may well mean more than simply political or economic oppression, but a deeper reality of oppression by sin (Luke 1:77-79; 18:35-43).
31 tn Or “dedicated.”