Psalms 51:17

51:17 The sacrifices God desires are a humble spirit ¹  –

O God, a humble and repentant heart ²  you will not reject. ³ 

Psalms 147:3

147:3 He heals ⁴  the brokenhearted,

and bandages their wounds.

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 ⁵  me. ⁶ 

He has commissioned ⁷  me to encourage ⁸  the poor,

to help ⁹  the brokenhearted,

to decree the release of captives,

and the freeing of prisoners,

Luke 4:18

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

because he has anointed ¹⁰  me to proclaim good news ¹¹  to the poor. ¹² 

He has sent me ¹³  to proclaim release ¹⁴  to the captives

and the regaining of sight ¹⁵  to the blind,

to set free ¹⁶  those who are oppressed, ¹⁷ 

[51:17]  ¹ tn Heb “a broken spirit.”

[51:17]  ² tn Heb “a broken and crushed heart.”

[51:17]  ³ tn Or “despise.”

[147:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “the one who heals.”

[61:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “anointed,” i.e., designated to carry out an assigned task.

[61:1]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Or “sent” (NAB); NCV “has appointed me.”

[61:1]  ⁸ tn Or “proclaim good news to.”

[61:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “to bind up [the wounds of].”

[4:18]  ¹⁰ sn The phrase he has anointed me is an allusion back to Jesus’ baptism in Luke 3:21-22.

[4:18]  ¹¹ tn Grk “to evangelize,” “to preach the gospel.”

[4:18]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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).