Matthew 5:3

5:3 “Blessed ¹  are the poor in spirit, ²  for the kingdom of heaven belongs ³  to them.

Psalms 22:26

22:26 Let the oppressed eat and be filled! ⁴ 

Let those who seek his help praise the Lord!

May you ⁵  live forever!

Psalms 72:12-13

72:12 For he will rescue the needy ⁶  when they cry out for help,

and the oppressed ⁷  who have no defender.

72:13 He will take pity ⁸  on the poor and needy;

the lives of the needy he will save.

Isaiah 61:1-3

The Lord Will Rejuvenate His People

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

because the Lord has chosen ⁹  me. ¹⁰ 

He has commissioned ¹¹  me to encourage ¹²  the poor,

to help ¹³  the brokenhearted,

to decree the release of captives,

and the freeing of prisoners,

61:2 to announce the year when the Lord will show his favor,

the day when our God will seek vengeance, ¹⁴ 

to console all who mourn,

61:3 to strengthen those who mourn in Zion,

by giving them a turban, instead of ashes,

oil symbolizing joy, ¹⁵  instead of mourning,

a garment symbolizing praise, ¹⁶  instead of discouragement. ¹⁷ 

They will be called oaks of righteousness, ¹⁸ 

trees planted by the Lord to reveal his splendor. ¹⁹ 

Isaiah 66:2

66:2 My hand made them; ²⁰ 

that is how they came to be,” ²¹  says the Lord.

I show special favor ²²  to the humble and contrite,

who respect what I have to say. ²³ 

Zechariah 11:7

11:7 So I ²⁴  began to shepherd the flock destined for slaughter, the most afflicted ²⁵  of all the flock. Then I took two staffs, ²⁶  calling one “Pleasantness” ²⁷  and the other “Binders,” ²⁸  and I tended the flock.

Luke 4:18

4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed ²⁹  me to proclaim good news ³⁰  to the poor. ³¹ 

He has sent me ³²  to proclaim release ³³  to the captives

and the regaining of sight ³⁴  to the blind,

to set free ³⁵  those who are oppressed, ³⁶ 

James 2:5

2:5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! ³⁷  Did not God choose the poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?

[5:3]  ¹ sn The term Blessed introduces the first of several beatitudes promising blessing to those whom God cares for. They serve as an invitation to come into the grace God offers.

[5:3]  ² sn The poor in spirit is a reference to the “pious poor” for whom God especially cares. See Ps 14:6; 22:24; 25:16; 34:6; 40:17; 69:29.

[5:3]  ³ sn The present tense (belongs) here is significant. Jesus makes the kingdom and its blessings currently available. This phrase is unlike the others in the list with the possessive pronoun being emphasized.

[22:26]  ⁴ sn Eat and be filled. In addition to praising the Lord, the psalmist also offers a thank offering to the Lord and invites others to share in a communal meal.

[22:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “may your heart[s].”

[72:12]  ⁶ tn The singular is representative. The typical needy individual here represents the entire group.

[72:12]  ⁷ tn The singular is representative. The typical oppressed individual here represents the entire group.

[72:13]  ⁸ tn The prefixed verb form is best understood as a defectively written imperfect (see Deut 7:16).

[61:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “anointed,” i.e., designated to carry out an assigned task.

[61:1]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Or “sent” (NAB); NCV “has appointed me.”

[61:1]  ¹² tn Or “proclaim good news to.”

[61:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “to bind up [the wounds of].”

[61:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to announce the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of our God’s vengeance.

[61:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “oil of joy” (KJV, ASV); NASB, NIV, NRSV “the oil of gladness.”

[61:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “garment of praise.”

[61:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “a faint spirit” (so NRSV); KJV, ASV “the spirit of heaviness”; NASB “a spirit of fainting.”

[61:3]  ¹⁸ tn Rather than referring to the character of the people, צֶדֶק (tsedeq) may carry the nuance “vindication” here, suggesting that God’s restored people are a testimony to his justice. See v. 2, which alludes to the fact that God will take vengeance against the enemies of his people. Cf. NAB “oaks of justice.”

[61:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “a planting of the Lord to reveal splendor.”

[66:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “all these.” The phrase refers to the heavens and earth, mentioned in the previous verse.

[66:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “and all these were.” Some prefer to emend וַיִּהְיוּ (vayyihyu, “and they were”) to וְלִי הָיוּ (vÿli hayu, “and to me they were”), i.e., “and they belong to me.”

[66:2]  ²² tn Heb “and to this one I look” (KJV and NASB both similar).

[66:2]  ²³ tn Heb “to the humble and the lowly in spirit and the one who trembles at my words.”

[11:7]  ²⁴ sn The first person pronoun refers to Zechariah himself who, however, is a “stand-in” for the Lord as the actions of vv. 8-14 make clear. The prophet, like others before him, probably performed actions dramatizing the account of God’s past dealings with Israel and Judah (cf. Hos 1-3; Isa 20:2-4; Jer 19:1-15; 27:2-11; Ezek 4:1-3).

[11:7]  ²⁵ tc For the MT reading לָכֵן עֲנִיֵּי (lakhen ’aniyyey, “therefore the [most] afflicted of”) the LXX presupposes לִכְנַעֲנֵיּי (“to the merchants of”). The line would then read “So I began to shepherd the flock destined for slaughter for the sheep merchants” (cf. NAB). This helps to explain the difficult לָכֵן (lakhen) here but otherwise has no attestation or justification, so the MT is followed by most modern English versions.

[11:7]  ²⁶ sn The two staffs represent the two kingdoms, Israel and Judah. For other examples of staffs representing tribes or nations see Num 17:1-11; Ezek 37:15-23.

[11:7]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew term נֹעַם (no’am) is frequently translated “Favor” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); cf. KJV “Beauty”; CEV “Mercy.”

[11:7]  ²⁸ tn The Hebrew term חֹבְלִים (khovlim) is often translated “Union” (so NASB, NIV, NLT); cf. KJV, ASV “Bands”; NAB “Bonds”; NRSV, TEV, CEV “Unity”).

[4:18]  ²⁹ sn The phrase he has anointed me is an allusion back to Jesus’ baptism in Luke 3:21-22.

[4:18]  ³⁰ tn Grk “to evangelize,” “to preach the gospel.”

[4:18]  ³¹ 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.

[4:18]  ³² tc The majority of mss, especially the later Byzantines, include the phrase “to heal the brokenhearted” at this point (A Θ Ψ 0102 ˹ Ï). The phrase is lacking in several weighty mss (א B D L W Ξ Ë¹³ 33 579 700 892* pc lat sy^s co), including representatives from both the Alexandrian and Western texttypes. From the standpoint of external evidence, the omission of the phrase is more likely original. When internal evidence is considered, the shorter reading becomes almost certain. Scribes would be much more prone to add the phrase here to align the text with Isa 61:1, the source of the quotation, than to remove it from the original.

[4:18]  ³³ 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).

[4:18]  ³⁴ 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).

[4:18]  ³⁵ 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.

[4:18]  ³⁶ 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).

[2:5]  ³⁷ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.