Isaiah 61:3 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 61:3
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
Tsijon (as a permanent capital) · proper noun, a place name
give
לָתֵת֩la.Tet
H5414
to give · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
beauty
פְּאֵ֜רpe.'Er
H6287
an embellishment · noun, common masculine singular absolute
ashes
אֵ֗פֶר'E.fer
H665
ashes · noun, common masculine singular absolute
oil
שֶׁ֤מֶןShe.men
H8081
grease · noun, common masculine singular construct
joy
שָׂשׂוֹן֙sa.sOn
H8342
cheerfulness · noun, common masculine singular absolute
mourning
אֵ֔בֶל'E.vel
H60
lamentation · noun, common masculine singular absolute
garment
מַעֲטֵ֣הma.'a.Teh
H4594
a vestment · noun, common masculine singular construct
praise
תְהִלָּ֔הte.hi.Lah
H8416
laudation · noun, common feminine singular absolute
spirit
ר֣וּחַRu.ach
H7307
wind · noun, common feminine singular absolute
heaviness
כֵּהָ֑הke.Hah
H3544
feeble · adjective, feminine singular absolute
called
וְקֹרָ֤אve.ko.Ra'
H7121
to call out to (i.e. properly · conjunction + verb, pual sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
trees
אֵילֵ֣י'ei.Lei
H352
properly · noun, common masculine plural construct
righteousness
הַצֶּ֔דֶקha.Tze.dek
H6664
the right (natural · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
planting
מַטַּ֥עma.Ta'
H4302
something planted · noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָ֖הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
glorified
לְהִתְפָּאֵֽרle.hit.pa.'Er
H6286
to gleam · preposition + verb, hithpael infinitive construct
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 30:11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;
Jeremiah 17:7-8 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
John 16:20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall…
Isaiah 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covere…
Psalms 45:7 Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
Ecclesiastes 9:8 Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.
1 Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath…
Psalms 23:5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 61:1-3
He that is the best expositor of scripture has no doubt given us the best exposition of these verses, even our Lord Jesus himself, who read this in the synagogue at Nazareth (perhaps it was the lesson for the day) and applied it entirely to himself, saying, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears (Luk 4:17, Luk 4:18, Luk 4:21); and the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, in the opening of this text, were admired by all that heard them. As Isaiah was authorized and directed to proclaim liberty to the Jews in Babylon, so was Christ, God's messenger, to publish a more joyful jubilee to a lost world. And here we are told,
I. How he was fitted and qualified for this work: T…
To appoint . . . to give--The double verb, with the one and the same accusative, imparts glowing vehemence to the style.
beauty for ashes--There is a play on the sound and meaning of the Hebrew words, peer, epher, literally, "ornamental headdress" or tiara (Eze 24:17), worn in times of joy, instead of a headdress of "ashes," cast on the head in mourning (Sa2 13:19).
oil of joy--Perfumed ointment was poured on the guests at joyous feasts (Psa 23:5; Psa 45:7-8; Amo 6:6). On occasions of grief its use was laid aside (Sa2 14:2).
garment of praise--bright-colored garments, indicative of thankfulness, instead of those that indicate despondency, as sackcloth (Joh 16:20).
trees of righteousn…
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion "To impart gladness to the mourners of Zion" - A word necessary to the sense is certainly lost in this place, of which the ancient Versions have preserved no traces. Houbigant, by conjecture, inserts the word ששון sason, gladness, taken from the line next but one below, where it stands opposed to אבל ebel, sorrow or mourning, as the word lost here was to אבלי abeley, mourners: I follow him. - L.
Beauty for ashes "A beautiful crown instead of ashes" - In times of mourning the Jews put on sackcloth, or coarse and sordid raiment, and spread dust and ashes on their heads; on the contrary, splendid clothing and ointment poured on the head were the signs of…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 3-5) And they shall be called in her strong justices, the plantation of the Lord, to glorify. And they shall build the ancient places that were waste, and shall raise up the desolate cities, that were destroyed for generations and generations. And strangers shall stand and shall feed your flocks: and the sons of strangers shall be your husbandmen and your vinedressers. LXX: And they shall be called the generations of justice: the planting of the Lord to glory. And they shall build everlasting desolate places, which were previously deserted, they shall be raised up and renew deserted cities, desolate in generations, and foreigners shall come, and they shall feed your sheep, and the plowmen and vintners of other nations. After the Apostles, and the apostolic men have taken on the spirit of ashes and mourning, the oil of joy, and the garment, or according to the Septuagint, the robe of glory and praise: then they shall be called the generations of righteousness, the glorious planting of the Lord. Or according to the Hebrew, the strong ones, strong with the justice of God, or (according to Al. ut) the planting of the Lord for glorification: so that when they have been glorified, or they themselves have glorified the Lord, they shall build deserted cities from ancient times, and raise up ancient ruins, both the people of Judah and all the nations, who will have not only the knowledge of building and restoring cities, but they shall also be excellent shepherds, so that the old shepherds, to whom God had spoken through Ezekiel saying: O shepherds of Israel, do the shepherds feed themselves and not the sheep? (Ezek. 34:2) Let them hear with the apostle Peter: 'Feed my sheep' (John 21:17). And in a wondrous way, they shall move from being stone workers and shepherds to being farmers, that is, ploughmen and vintners, so that they may say with the Apostle: 'We are God's building, we are God's farm' (1 Corinthians 3:9). Finally, the Savior asks the scribes and Pharisees, the vintners and farmers of the Jews, what he should do to the evil vintners and farmers. And they answered: 'He will destroy the evil ones and give the vineyard to other farmers' (Matthew 21:41). He said to them: 'The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that will produce its fruit' (ibid., 43). These matters do not require interpretation. For how many of the leaders…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Head-dress — Not in common use among the Hebrews. It is first mentioned in Ex. 28:40 (A.V., “bonnets;” R.V., “head-tires”). It was used especially for purposes of ornament (Job 29:14; Isa. 3:23; 62:3). The Hebrew…
Headdress — The Hebrews do not appear to have regarded a covering for the head as an essential article of dress. Hats were unknown. The earliest notice we have of such a thing is in connection with the…
Oil — Only olive oil seems to have been used among the Hebrews. It was used for many purposes: for anointing the body or the hair (Ex. 29:7; 2 Sam. 14:2; Ps. 23:5; 92:10; 104:15; Luke 7:46); in some of the…
Teil tree — (an old name for the lime-tree, the tilia), Isa. 6:13, the terebinth, or turpentine-tree, the Pistacia terebinthus of botanists. The Hebrew word here used (elah) is rendered oak (q.v.) in Gen. 35:4;…
Afflictions · Of saints, end in joy and blessedness — Of saints, end in joy and blessedness
Afflictions And Adversities · .End in joy and blessedness — .End in joy and blessedness
Anointing · Omitted in mourning — Omitted in mourning
Anointing Of The Holy Spirit · Saints receive — Saints receive
Emblems Of The Holy Spirit, The · Comforting — Comforting
Glorifying God · All the blessings of God are designed to lead to — All the blessings of God are designed to lead to
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion,.... Or, "to the mourners of Zion" (u); such who are of Zion, belong to the church of God, and mourn for the corruptions in Zion's doctrines; for the perversion, abuse, and neglect of Zion's ordinances; for the disorders and divisions in Zion; for the declensions there, as to the exercise of grace, and the power of godliness; for the few instances of conversions there, or few additions to it; for the carelessness, ease, and lukewarmness of many professors in Zion; and for their unbecoming lives and conversations. Now one part of Christ's work is to "appoint" comfort to such; he has appointed it in counsel and covenant from eternity; made provision for…
To appoint to the mourners in Zion. He proceeds with the same subject; for he means that the punishment which was to be inflicted on the people shall be such as still to leave room for forgiveness. And, in order more fully to convince them of it, he says that the Lord has charged him with this office, that he may proclaim this deliverance; and not to himself only, but also to others, till the chief messenger arrive, namely, Christ, who actually bestows and exhibits what God at that time commanded to be made known for a future period. Yet he means that the "mourning" shall not hinder God from giving ground of joy, when he shall think proper; for "to appoint" has the same meaning as "to fix th…
The words of Jehovah Himself pass over here into the words of another, whom He has appointed as the Mediator of His gracious counsel. "The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is over me, because Jehovah hath anointed me, to bring glad tidings to sufferers, hath sent me to bind up broken-hearted ones, to proclaim liberty to those led captive, and emancipation to the fettered; to proclaim a year of grace from Jehovah, and a day of vengeance from our God; to comfort all that mourn; to put upon the mourners of Zion, to give them a head-dress for ashes, oil of joy for mourning, a wrapper of renown for an expiring spirit, that they may be called terebinths of righteousness, a planting of Jehovah for glorif…
Putting ashes on one’s head was a sign of mourning (note the reversal of the judgment stated in 3:16-25). Mourning would be replaced by joy. The words translated crown of beauty and ashes form a wordplay in Hebrew. • joyous blessing (literally oil of gladness): A face covered with oil was a sign of blessing and well-being (see Pss 45:8; 133:2). • The remnant would start out as small offshoots but would grow into great oaks (see Isa 60:21).
Rashi on Isaiah 61:3
the elms of righteousness Heb. אֵילֵי, an expression of trees (אִילָנוֹת). Comp. (supra 1:29) “of the elms (מֵאֵילִים) that you desired.” This is evidenced by the end of the verse, “the planting of the Lord etc.”
Holy Spirit, The Comforter, The · Given: By Christ — Given: By Christ
Joy · 2:11;4:7;5:11;9:2,14;13:5;14:7;16:5,6,8,9,11;17:15;19:8;20:5;21:1,6;28:7;30:5,11,12;32:1,2,11;33:21;35:9;36:8;40:16;42:4;43:4;45:15;46:4;51:8,12;53:6;63:5-7,11;64:10;68:3;69:32;70:4;71:23;85:6;89:15,16;97:11,12;100:1,2;104:34;105:3,43;119:1,2,14,16,55,111,162,165;126:5,6;132:16;138:5;149:2,5; — 2:11;4:7;5:11;9:2,14;13:5;14:7;16:5,6,8,9,11;17:15;19:8;20:5;21:1,6;28:7;30:5,11,12;32:1,2,11;33:21;35:9;36:8;40:16;42:4;43:4;45:15;46:4;51:8,12;53:6;63:5-7,11;64:10;68:3;69:32;70:4;71:23;85:6;89:15,16;97:11,12;100:1,2;104:34;105:3,43;119:1,2,14,16,55,111,162,165;126:5,6;132:16;138:5;149:2,5;
Oil · Illustrative of: The consolation of the gospel — Illustrative of: The consolation of the gospel
Praise · Saints should: Be endued with the spirit of — Saints should: Be endued with the spirit of
Righteousness · Promised to saints — Promised to saints
Salvation · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Seekers · 5:8;8:5,6; — 5:8;8:5,6;
Titles And Names Of Saints · Trees of righteousness — Trees of righteousness
Trees · Illustrative: (Good and fruitful,) of saints — Illustrative: (Good and fruitful,) of saints
Trinity · THE HOLY — THE HOLY
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
