Isaiah 61:8-11

61:8 For I, the Lord, love justice

and hate robbery and sin.

I will repay them because of my faithfulness;

I will make a permanent covenant with them.

61:9 Their descendants will be known among the nations,

their offspring among the peoples.

All who see them will recognize that

the Lord has blessed them.”

61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;

I will be overjoyed because of my God.

For he clothes me in garments of deliverance;

he puts on me a robe symbolizing vindication.

I look like a bridegroom when he wears a turban as a priest would;

I look like a bride when she puts on her jewelry.

61:11 For just as the ground produces its crops

and a garden yields its produce,

so the sovereign Lord will cause deliverance to grow,

and give his people reason to praise him in the sight of all the nations.


tn Heb “in faithfulness”; NASB, NRSV, NLT “faithfully.”

tn Heb “all who see them will recognize them, that they [are] descendants [whom] the Lord has blessed.”

sn The speaker in vv. 10-11 is not identified, but it is likely that the personified nation (or perhaps Zion) responds here to the Lord’s promise of restoration.

tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

tn Heb “my being is happy in my God”; NAB “in my God is the joy of my soul.”

tn Heb “robe of vindication”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV “robe of righteousness.”

tn Heb “like a bridegroom [who] acts like a priest [by wearing] a turban, and like a bride [who] wears her jewelry.” The words “I look” are supplied for stylistic reasons and clarification.

tn Or perhaps, “righteousness,” but the context seems to emphasize deliverance and restoration (see v. 10 and 62:1).

tn Heb “and praise before all the nations.”