Isaiah 61:6 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 61:6
But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.
to call out to (i.e. properly · verb, niphal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural
Priests
כֹּהֲנֵ֤יko.ha.Nei
H3548
literally one officiating · noun, common masculine plural construct
LORD
יְהוָה֙Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
call
יֵאָמֵ֖רye.'a.Mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Ministers
מְשָׁרְתֵ֣יme.sha.re.Tei
H8334
to attend as a menial or worshipper · verb, piel active participle, masculine plural construct
God
אֱלֹהֵ֔ינוּ'e.lo.Hei.nu
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
eat
תֹּאכֵ֔לוּto.Khe.lu
H398
to eat (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural
riches
חֵ֤ילcheil
H2428
probably a force · noun, common masculine singular construct
Gentiles
גּוֹיִם֙go.Yim
H1471
a foreign nation · noun, common masculine plural absolute
glory
וּבִכְבוֹדָ֖םu.vikh.vo.Dam
H3519
properly · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
boast
תִּתְיַמָּֽרוּtit.ya.Ma.ru
H3235
to exchange · verb, hithpael imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural
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
Exodus 19:6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
1 Peter 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus…
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…
Isaiah 60:5-7 Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unt…
Isaiah 66:21 And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the LORD.
Revelation 5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
2 Corinthians 11:23 Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, i…
Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God an…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 61:4-9
Promises are here made to the Jews now returned out of captivity, and settled again in their own land, which are to be extended to the gospel church, and all believers, who through grace are delivered out of spiritual thraldom; for they are capable of being spiritually applied.
I. It is promised that their houses shall be rebuilt (Isa 61:4), that their cities shall be raised out of the ruins in which they had long lain, and be fitted up for their use again: They shall build the old wastes; the old wastes shall be built, the waste cities shall be repaired, the former desolations, even the desolations of many generations, which it was feared would never be repaired, shall be raised up. The set…
But ye--as contrasted with the strangers. Ye shall have no need to attend to your flocks and lands: "strangers" will do that for you; your exclusive business will be the service of Jehovah as His "priests" (Exo 19:6, which remains yet to be realized; compare as to the spiritual Israel, Isa 66:21; Pe1 2:5, Pe1 2:9; Rev 1:6; Rev 5:10).
Ministers-- (Eze 44:11).
eat . . . riches of . . . Gentiles-- (Isa 60:5-11).
in their glory . . . boast yourselves--rather, "in their splendor ye shall be substituted in their stead"; ye shall substitute yourselves [MAURER].
Adam Clarke on Isaiah 61:5
Strangers shall - feed your flocks - Gentiles shall first preach to you the salvation of Christ, and feed with Divine knowledge the Jewish congregations.
John Gill on Isaiah 61:6
But ye shall be named the priests of the Lord,.... Or, "and ye shall be named", &c. which Jerom understands of the builders of cities, pastors of flocks, the ploughmen and vinedressers, the strangers and the sons of the alien, that these also should be called priests: but rather it designs the Jews, when they shall be called and converted, and when there will be no more the distinction of priests and common people, but they shall all be kings and priests unto God, a royal priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices to him, all ceremonial ones being at an end:
men shall call you the ministers of our God; Christian men shall call, own, and acknowledge you to be the servants of Christ, of Immanu…
The Church Fathers
(Vers. 6, 7.) But you will be called priests of the Lord, ministers of our God. It will be said to you: You will devour the strength of the nations, and in their glory you will boast. Instead of your shame, you will have a double portion, and instead of disgrace, they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs. For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery and wrongdoing. LXX: But you will be called priests of the Lord, ministers of our God. You shall devour the strength of nations, and in their riches you shall be admired. Thus they shall possess the land a second time, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. For I am the Lord, who loves justice, and I hate robbery and injustice. The builders of desolate cities and the shepherds of flocks, who themselves are the plowmen and vintners, that is, the sons of strangers, they too are the priests of God, to whom the Prophet now says: But you shall be called the priests of the Lord, and ministers of our God, it shall be said to you: doubtless it signifies the leaders of the churches. Certainly, it is to be understood about the Apostles that there is an order: When builders, shepherds, plowmen, and vine-dressers were appointed over the Churches from the Gentiles, you, about whom it is said: The remnants will be saved (Rom. IX, 27). And: Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we would have been like Sodom, and similar to Gomorrah (Isai. IV, 9), you will be called priests and ministers of God, just as the sons of David were. Of whom the Scripture says: But the sons of David were the priests of God (2 Kings 8:18). They shall devour the strength of the nations, and on their riches they shall be admired. For the glory of children are their fathers, and the profit of the people, the feasts of the priests (Proverbs 17). Concerning such riches, Paul wrote to the Corinthians: I give thanks to my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because in everything you have been enriched in Him, in all speech and in all knowledge, as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you lack no gift in any grace (2 Corinthians 1:4-5). But the courage of the nations is the triumph of the Martyrs: and we are proud in their glory, not with the pride that is a vice, to which God resists, in order to give grace to the humble; but with the…
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
Minister — One who serves, as distinguished from the master. (1.) Heb. meshereth, applied to an attendant on one of superior rank, as to Joshua, the servant of Moses (Ex. 33:11), and to the servant of Elisha (2…
Jews, The · Promises respecting: Gentiles assisting in their restoration — Promises respecting: Gentiles assisting in their restoration
Minister, Christian · .GOD — .GOD
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).
But ye shall be called the priests of Jehovah. This verse sheds somewhat more light on the preceding; for in the second part of it the Prophet foretells that believers shall enjoy the riches of the Gentiles, and shall be raised to glory as their successors. The Jews, indeed, seize eagerly on such declarations, and already devour by covetousness the wealth of all the nations, as if they would one day possess it, and vaunt as if the glory of the whole world would become their own.
But there are chiefly two things that ought to be observed in these words, that we may more fully understand them. First, the prophets, when they wish to describe the glory and happiness of the Kingdom of Christ, bo…
Even in Isa 61:3 with להם וקרא a perfect was introduced in the place of the infinitives of the object, and affirmed what was to be accomplished through the mediation of the Servant of Jehovah. The second turn in the address, which follows in Isa 61:4-9, continues the use of such perfects, which afterwards pass into futures. But the whole is still governed by the commencement in Isa 61:1. The Servant of Jehovah celebrates the glorious office committed to him, and expounds the substance of the gospel given him to proclaim. It points to the restoration of the promised land, and to the elevation of Israel, after its purification in the furnace of judgment, to great honour and dignity in the mids…
priests . . . ministers: The nation would fulfill its original calling (Exod 19:6).
Rashi on Isaiah 61:6
priests of the Lord Princes of the Holy One, blessed be He.
the possessions of the nations Heb. חֵיל גּוֹיִם, the possessions of the nations [after Jonathan].
you shall succeed [them] Heb. תִּתְיַמָּרוּ [derived from תְּמוּרָה, exchange]. You shall enter in their stead into the glory they have taken until now.
