Isaiah 42:1

The Lord Commissions His Special Servant

42:1 ¹ “Here is my servant whom I support,

my chosen one in whom I take pleasure.

I have placed my spirit on him;

he will make just decrees ²  for the nations. ³ 

Isaiah 59:21

59:21 “As for me, this is my promise to ⁴  them,” says the Lord. “My spirit, who is upon you, and my words, which I have placed in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children and descendants from this time forward,” ⁵  says the Lord.

Isaiah 61:1

The Lord Will Rejuvenate His People

61:1 The spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me,

because the Lord has chosen ⁶  me. ⁷ 

He has commissioned ⁸  me to encourage ⁹  the poor,

to help ¹⁰  the brokenhearted,

to decree the release of captives,

and the freeing of prisoners,

Numbers 11:25-26

11:25 And the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to them, and he took some of the Spirit that was on Moses ¹¹  and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, ¹²  they prophesied, ¹³  but did not do so again. ¹⁴ 

Eldad and Medad

11:26 But two men remained in the camp; one’s name was Eldad, and the other’s name was Medad. And the spirit rested on them. (Now they were among those in the registration, ¹⁵  but had not gone to the tabernacle.) So they prophesied in the camp.

Matthew 3:16

3:16 After ¹⁶  Jesus was baptized, just as he was coming up out of the water, the ¹⁷  heavens ¹⁸  opened ¹⁹  and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove ²⁰  and coming on him.

John 1:32-33

1:32 Then ²¹  John testified, ²²  “I saw the Spirit descending like a dove ²³  from heaven, ²⁴  and it remained on him. ²⁵  1:33 And I did not recognize him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining – this is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’

John 3:34

3:34 For the one whom God has sent ²⁶  speaks the words of God, for he does not give the Spirit sparingly. ²⁷ 

Acts 10:38

10:38 with respect to Jesus from Nazareth, ²⁸  that ²⁹  God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power. He ³⁰  went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, ³¹  because God was with him. ³² 

[42:1]  ¹ sn Verses 1-7 contain the first of Isaiah’s “servant songs,” which describe the ministry of a special, ideal servant who accomplishes God’s purposes for Israel and the nations. This song depicts the servant as a just king who brings justice to the earth and relief for the oppressed. The other songs appear in 49:1-13; 50:4-11; and 52:13-53:12.

[42:1]  ² tn Heb “he will bring out justice” (cf. ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[42:1]  ³ sn Like the ideal king portrayed in Isa 11:1-9, the servant is energized by the divine spirit and establishes justice on the earth.

[59:21]  ⁴ tn Or “my covenant with” (so many English versions); NCV “my agreement with.”

[59:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “from now and on into the future.”

[61:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “anointed,” i.e., designated to carry out an assigned task.

[61:1]  ⁷ 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).

[61:1]  ⁸ tn Or “sent” (NAB); NCV “has appointed me.”

[61:1]  ⁹ tn Or “proclaim good news to.”

[61:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to bind up [the wounds of].”

[11:25]  ¹¹ tn Heb “on him”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:25]  ¹² tn The temporal clause is introduced by the temporal indicator וַיְהִי (vayÿhi), which need not be translated. It introduces the time of the infinitive as past time narrative. The infinitive construct is from נוּחַ (nuakh, “to rest”). The figurative expression of the Spirit resting upon them indicates the temporary indwelling and empowering by the Spirit in their lives.

[11:25]  ¹³ tn The text may mean that these men gave ecstatic utterances, much like Saul did when the Spirit came upon him and he made the same prophetic utterances (see 1 Sam 10:10-13). But there is no strong evidence for this (see K. L. Barker, “Zechariah,” EBC 7:605-6). In fact there is no consensus among scholars as to the origin and meaning of the verb “prophesy” or the noun “prophet.” It has something to do with speech, being God’s spokesman or spokeswoman or making predictions or authoritative utterances or ecstatic utterances. It certainly does mean that the same Holy Spirit, the same divine provision that was for Moses to enable him to do the things that God had commanded him to do, was now given to them. It would have included wisdom and power with what they were saying and doing – in a way that was visible and demonstrable to the people! The people needed to know that the same provision was given to these men, authenticating their leadership among the clans. And so it could not simply be a change in their understanding and wisdom.

[11:25]  ¹⁴ tn The final verb of the clause stresses that this was not repeated: “they did not add” is the literal rendering of וְלֹא יָסָפוּ (vÿlo’ yasafu). It was a one-time spiritual experience associated with their installation.

[11:26]  ¹⁵ tn The form of the word is the passive participle כְּתֻבִים (kÿtuvim, “written”). It is normally taken to mean “among those registered,” but it is not clear if that means they were to be among the seventy or not. That seems unlikely since there is no mention of the seventy being registered, and vv. 24-25 says all seventy went out and prophesied. The registration may be to eldership, or the role of the officer.

[3:16]  ¹⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[3:16]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “behold the heavens.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[3:16]  ¹⁸ tn Or “sky.” The Greek word οὐρανός (ourano") may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The same word is used in v. 17.

[3:16]  ¹⁹ tc ‡ αὐτῷ (autw, “to/before him”) is found in the majority of witnesses (א¹ C D^s L W 0233 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat), perhaps added as a point of clarification or emphasis. NA²⁷ includes the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[3:16]  ²⁰ sn The phrase like a dove is a descriptive comparison. The Spirit is not a dove, but descended like one in some sort of bodily representation.

[1:32]  ²¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events in the narrative. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style generally does not.

[1:32]  ²² tn Grk “testified, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[1:32]  ²³ sn The phrase like a dove is a descriptive comparison. The Spirit is not a dove, but descended like one in some sort of bodily representation.

[1:32]  ²⁴ tn Or “from the sky.” The Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context.

[1:32]  ²⁵ sn John says the Spirit remained on Jesus. The Greek verb μένω (menw) is a favorite Johannine word, used 40 times in the Gospel and 27 times in the Epistles (67 together) against 118 times total in the NT. The general significance of the verb μένω for John is to express the permanency of relationship between Father and Son and Son and believer. Here the use of the word implies that Jesus permanently possesses the Holy Spirit, and because he does, he will dispense the Holy Spirit to others in baptism. Other notes on the dispensation of the Spirit occur at John 3:5 and following (at least implied by the wordplay), John 3:34, 7:38-39, numerous passages in John 14-16 (the Paraclete passages) and John 20:22. Note also the allusion to Isa 42:1 – “Behold my servant…my chosen one in whom my soul delights. I have put my Spirit on him.”

[3:34]  ²⁶ tn That is, Christ.

[3:34]  ²⁷ tn Grk “for not by measure does he give the Spirit” (an idiom). Leviticus Rabbah 15:2 states: “The Holy Spirit rested on the prophets by measure.” Jesus is contrasted to this. The Spirit rests upon him without measure.

[10:38]  ²⁸ sn The somewhat awkward naming of Jesus as from Nazareth here is actually emphatic. He is the key subject of these key events.

[10:38]  ²⁹ 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.

[10:38]  ³⁰ 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.

[10:38]  ³¹ tn The translation “healing all who were oppressed by the devil” is given in L&N 22.22.

[10:38]  ³² sn See Acts 7:9.