What Does Isaiah 61:1 Mean?
The breath of the Lord LORD is upon me, for the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the bowed ones; he has sent me to bind up the broken of heart, to proclaim flowing freedom to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are chained.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;THE KEY
The breath resting upon the speaker becomes a sending that binds wounds, proclaims release, and opens confinement.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s breath is upon you as a sending: good news reaches the afflicted, the broken heart is bound, and release is proclaimed to those held fast. The verse joins tending what is broken with opening what confines, so neither wound nor captivity lies beyond its reach.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Your brokenness or captivity puts you beyond the reach of the LORD’s breath and sending.
THE ROOT
שְׁלָחַנִי
shelachani
GROWS FROM
ש־ל־ח
Send forth, release, let go.
The verse’s “he hath sent me” carries the shape of release: the sending moves outward toward those held fast. The same root appears in “Let my people go” and in Shiloach, “Sent,” joining the speaker’s commission to the verse’s promise of freedom.
ALSO GROWS
shallach: The command rendered “Let my people go” (Exodus 5:1).
שַׁלַּח
The same root makes sending and letting go part of one movement.
Shiloach: The Hebrew name behind Siloam, interpreted as “Sent” in John 9:7.
שִׁלֹחַ
The name ties sending to the pool where sight is restored.
פְּקַח־קוֹחַ
peqach-qoach
GROWS FROM
פ־ק־ח
Open, especially open the eyes.
The unusual word for the prisoners’ “opening” grows from the same root used for opening eyes. The image reaches beyond an unlocked prison: what confines can open, and what was unseen can come into view.
ALSO GROWS
vatippaqachnah: The phrase used when the eyes of Adam and Eve are opened (Genesis 3:7).
וַתִּפָּקַחְנָה
The same opening root links release from confinement with a change in what can be seen.
vayifqach: The verb used when the LORD opens the servant’s eyes (2 Kings 6:17).
וַיִּפְקַח
An opening reveals what was already present but unseen.
רוּחַ
ruach
GROWS FROM
ר־ו־ח
Breath, moving air, wind.
רוּחַ (ruach, breath) names the LORD’s living breath resting on the speaker, and the same word can also name wind. The verse’s sending is thus framed by breath as movement: it rests upon the speaker, then moves outward toward the bound and broken.
ALSO GROWS
ruach: The word for the wind God sends over the earth (Genesis 8:1).
רוּחַ
The breath upon the speaker is also moving air, keeping the divine presence concrete and active.
ruach: The word summoned from the four winds in Ezekiel 37:9.
רוּחַ
One word crosses wind and breath as the slain are animated, revealing breath as movement that carries life.
THE PATTERN
Divine sending makes freedom tangible by binding what is broken and loosening what holds people fast.
He mends the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.Is this not the fast I have chosen, to open the bonds of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to send the crushed away free, and to tear away every yoke?The breath of the LORD is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the emptied. He has sent me to heal the shattered in heart, to herald release to the captives, and the return of sight for the blind, to send the crushed away into release.THE THREAD
Is this not the fast I have chosen, to open the bonds of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to send the crushed away free, and to tear away every yoke?Isaiah 58:6 uses שַׁלַּח (shallach, “let go/send forth”) for “let the oppressed go free,” the same root as שְׁלָחַנִי (shelachani, “he sent me”) here. Sending becomes release: the bound are sent out from under the yoke.
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