107:14 He brought them out of the utter darkness, 1
and tore off their shackles.
107:15 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,
and for the amazing things he has done for people! 2
107:16 For he shattered the bronze gates,
and hacked through the iron bars. 3
107:2 Let those delivered by the Lord speak out, 4
those whom he delivered 5 from the power 6 of the enemy,
33:11 The Lord’s decisions stand forever;
his plans abide throughout the ages. 7
33:12 How blessed 8 is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people whom he has chosen to be his special possession. 9
33:13 The Lord watches 10 from heaven;
he sees all people. 11
61:1 The spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me,
because the Lord has chosen 12 me. 13
He has commissioned 14 me to encourage 15 the poor,
to help 16 the brokenhearted,
to decree the release of captives,
and the freeing of prisoners,
1 tn Heb “darkness and deep darkness.” See the note on the word “darkness” in v. 10.
2 tn Heb “and [for] his amazing deeds for the sons of man.” See v. 8.
3 sn The language of v. 16 recalls Isa 45:2.
4 tn Or “let the redeemed of the
5 tn Or “redeemed.”
6 tn Heb “hand.”
7 tn Heb “the thoughts of his heart for generation to generation.” The verb “abides” is supplied in the translation. The
8 tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1; 2:12; 34:9; 41:1; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).
9 tn Heb “inheritance.”
10 tn The Hebrew perfect verbal forms in v. 13 state general facts.
11 tn Heb “all the sons of men.”
12 tn Heb “anointed,” i.e., designated to carry out an assigned task.
13 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).
14 tn Or “sent” (NAB); NCV “has appointed me.”
15 tn Or “proclaim good news to.”
16 tn Heb “to bind up [the wounds of].”
17 tn The two aorist participles translated “freed” and “enslaved” are causal in force; their full force is something like “But now, since you have become freed from sin and since you have become enslaved to God….”
18 tn Grk “fruit.”