49:8 This is what the Lord says:
“At the time I decide to show my favor, I will respond to you;
in the day of deliverance I will help you;
I will protect you 1 and make you a covenant mediator for people, 2
to rebuild 3 the land 4
and to reassign the desolate property.
61:2 to announce the year when the Lord will show his favor,
the day when our God will seek vengeance, 5
to console all who mourn,
69:13 O Lord, may you hear my prayer and be favorably disposed to me! 6
O God, because of your great loyal love,
answer me with your faithful deliverance! 7
4:19 to proclaim the year 8 of the Lord’s favor.” 9
12:1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, 13 by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice – alive, holy, and pleasing to God 14 – which is your reasonable service.
1 tn The translation assumes the verb is derived from the root נָצָר (natsar, “protect”). Some prefer to derive it from the root יָצָר (yatsar, “form”).
2 tn Heb “a covenant of people.” A person cannot literally be a covenant; בְּרִית (bÿrit) is probably metonymic here, indicating a covenant mediator. Here עָם (’am, “people”) appears to refer to Israel. See the note at 42:6.
3 tn The Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “arise”) is probably used here in the sense of “rebuild.”
4 tn The “land” probably stands by metonymy for the ruins within it.
5 tn Heb “to announce the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of our God’s vengeance.
6 tn Heb “as for me, [may] my prayer be to you, O
7 tn Heb “O God, in the abundance of your loyal love, answer me in the faithfulness of your deliverance.”
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.
10 tn Although συσχηματίζεσθε (suschmatizesqe) could be either a passive or middle, the passive is more likely since it would otherwise have to be a direct middle (“conform yourselves”) and, as such, would be quite rare for NT Greek. It is very telling that being “conformed” to the present world is viewed as a passive notion, for it may suggest that it happens, in part, subconsciously. At the same time, the passive could well be a “permissive passive,” suggesting that there may be some consciousness of the conformity taking place. Most likely, it is a combination of both.
11 tn Grk “to this age.”
12 sn The verb translated test and approve (δοκιμάζω, dokimazw) carries the sense of “test with a positive outcome,” “test so as to approve.”
13 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.
14 tn The participle and two adjectives “alive, holy, and pleasing to God” are taken as predicates in relation to “sacrifice,” making the exhortation more emphatic. See ExSyn 618-19.
15 tn Grk “hardness.” Concerning this imagery, see Jer 4:4; Ezek 3:7; 1 En. 16:3.
16 tn Grk “in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”