Luke 4:18

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(18) The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.—The passage that follows reproduces, with a few unimportant variations, the LXX. version of Isaiah 61:1-2. The words “to heal the broken-hearted” are not in the best MSS. “To set at liberty them that are bruised” is not found in the present text of Isaiah. It is a legitimate inference that the passage which Jesus thus read was one in which He wished men to see the leading idea of His ministry. Glad tidings for the poor, remission of sins, comfort for the mourners, these were what He proclaimed now. These were proclaimed again in the beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount. We cannot fail to connect the opening words with the descent of the Spirit at His baptism. That was the “unction from the Holy One” (1John 2:20) which made Him the Christ, the true anointed of the Lord.

Recovering of sight to the blind.—The English version of Isaiah rightly follows the Hebrew in giving “the opening of the prison to them that are bound.” The blindness is that of those who have been imprisoned in the darkness.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:14-30 Christ taught in their synagogues, their places of public worship, where they met to read, expound, and apply the word, to pray and praise. All the gifts and graces of the Spirit were upon him and on him, without measure. By Christ, sinners may be loosed from the bonds of guilt, and by his Spirit and grace from the bondage of corruption. He came by the word of his gospel, to bring light to those that sat in the dark, and by the power of his grace, to give sight to those that were blind. And he preached the acceptable year of the Lord. Let sinners attend to the Saviour's invitation when liberty is thus proclaimed. Christ's name was Wonderful; in nothing was he more so than in the word of his grace, and the power that went along with it. We may well wonder that he should speak such words of grace to such graceless wretches as mankind. Some prejudice often furnishes an objection against the humbling doctrine of the cross; and while it is the word of God that stirs up men's enmity, they will blame the conduct or manner of the speaker. The doctrine of God's sovereignty, his right to do his will, provokes proud men. They will not seek his favour in his own way; and are angry when others have the favours they neglect. Still is Jesus rejected by multitudes who hear the same message from his words. While they crucify him afresh by their sins, may we honour him as the Son of God, the Saviour of men, and seek to show we do so by our obedience.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me - Or, I speak by divine appointment. I am divinely inspired to speak. There can be no doubt that the passage in Isaiah had a principal reference to the Messiah. Our Saviour directly applies it to himself, and it is not easily applicable to any other prophet. Its first application might have been to the restoration of the Jews from Babylon; but the language of prophecy is often applicable to two similar events, and the secondary event is often the most important. In this case the prophet uses most striking poetic images to depict the return from Babylon, but the same images also describe the appropriate work of the Son of God.

Hath anointed me - Anciently kings and prophets and the high priest were set apart to their work by anointing with oil, 1 Kings 19:15-16; Exodus 29:7; 1 Samuel 9:16, etc. This oil or ointment was made of various substances, and it was forbidden to imitate it, Exodus 30:34-38. Hence, those who were set apart to the work of God as king, prophet, or priest, were called the Lord's anointed, 1 Samuel 16:6; Psalm 84:9; Isaiah 45:1. Hence, the Son of God is called the "Messiah," a Hebrew word signifying the "Anointed," or the "Christ," a Greek word signifying the same thing. And by his being "anointed" is not meant that he was literally anointed, for he was never set apart in that manner, but that "God had set him apart" for this work; that "he" had constituted or appointed him to be the prophet, priest, and king of his people. See the notes at Matthew 1:1.

To preach the gospel to the poor - The English word "gospel" is derived from two words - "God" or "good," and "spell," an old Saxon word meaning "history, relation, narration, word, or speech," and the word therefore means "a good communication" or "message." This corresponds exactly with the meaning of the Greek word - "a good or joyful message - glad tidings." By the "poor" are meant all those who are destitute of the comforts of this life, and who therefore may be more readily disposed to seek treasures in heaven; all those who are sensible of their sins, or are poor in spirit Matthew 5:3; and all the "miserable" and the afflicted, Isaiah 58:7. Our Saviour gave it as one proof that he was the Messiah, or was from God, that he preached to "the poor," Matthew 11:5. The Pharisees and Sadducees despised the poor; ancient philosophers neglected them; but the gospel seeks to bless them - to give comfort where it is felt to be needed, and where it will be received with gratitude. Riches fill the mind with pride, with self-complacency, and with a feeling that the gospel is not needed. The poor "feel" their need of some sources of comfort that the world cannot give, and accordingly our Saviour met with his greatest success the gospel among the poor; and there also, "since," the gospel has shed its richest blessings and its purest joys. It is also one proof that the gospel is true. If it had been of "men," it would have sought the rich and mighty; but it pours contempt on all human greatness, and seeks, like God, to do good to those whom the world overlooks or despises. See the notes at 1 Corinthians 1:26.

To heal the brokenhearted - To console those who are deeply afflicted, or whose hearts are "broken" by external calamities or by a sense of their sinfulness.

Deliverance to the captives - This is a figure originally applicable to those who were in captivity in Babylon. They were miserable. To grant deliverance to "them" and restore them to their country - to grant deliverance to those who are in prison and restore them to their families - to give liberty to the slave and restore him to freedom, was to confer the highest benefit and impart the richest favor. In this manner the gospel imparts favor. It does not, indeed, "literally" open the doors of prisons, but it releases the mind captive under sin; it gives comfort to the prisoner, and it will finally open all prison doors and break off all the chains of slavery, and, by preventing "crime," prevent also the sufferings that are the consequence of crime.

Sight to the blind - This was often literally fulfilled, Matthew 11:5; John 9:11; Matthew 9:30, etc.

To set at liberty them that are bruised - The word "bruised," here, evidently has the same "general" signification as "brokenhearted" or the contrite. It means those who are "pressed down" by great calamity, or whose hearts are "pressed" or "bruised" by the consciousness of sin. To set them "at liberty" is the same as to free them from this pressure, or to give them consolation.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

18, 19. To have fixed on any passage announcing His sufferings (as Isa 53:1-12), would have been unsuitable at that early stage of His ministry. But He selects a passage announcing the sublime object of His whole mission, its divine character, and His special endowments for it; expressed in the first person, and so singularly adapted to the first opening of the mouth in His prophetic capacity, that it seems as if made expressly for this occasion. It is from the well-known section of Isaiah's prophecies whose burden is that mysterious "Servant of the Lord," despised of man, abhorred of the nation, but before whom kings on seeing Him are to arise, and princes to worship; in visage more marred than any man and His form than the sons of men, yet sprinkling many nations; laboring seemingly in vain, and spending His strength for naught and in vain, yet Jehovah's Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and be His Salvation to the ends of the earth (Isa 49:1-26, &c.). The quotation is chiefly from the Septuagint version, used in the synagogues.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Luke 4:17"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,.... By whom is meant, the third person in the Trinity; so called, to distinguish him from all other spirits; and who was given to Christ as man, without measure, whereby he was qualified for his great work: and intends the Spirit of Jehovah, with all his gifts and graces, who was, and abode on Christ, as a Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, of counsel and of might, of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord; he was upon him, and in him, the first moment of his conception, which was by his power; and he visibly descended on him at his baptism; and the phrase denotes the permanency and continuance of him with him:

because he hath anointed me; or "that he might anoint me": the Ethiopic version renders it, "by whom he hath anointed me"; for it was with the Holy Ghost he was anointed, as to be king and priest, so likewise to be a prophet: hence he has the name Messiah, which signifies anointed: and this unction he had, in order

to preach the Gospel to the poor: in Isaiah it is, "to the meek"; which design the same persons, and mean such as are poor in spirit, and are sensible of their spiritual poverty; have low and humble thoughts of themselves, and of their own righteousness; and seek to Christ for durable riches and true righteousness, and frankly acknowledge that all they have and are, is owing to the grace of God: and generally speaking, these are the poor of this world, and poor in their intellectuals, who have but a small degree of natural wisdom and knowledge: to these the Gospel, or glad tidings of the love, grace, and mercy of God in Christ, of peace, pardon, righteousness, life and salvation by Christ, were preached by him; and that in so clear a manner, and with such power and authority, as never was before, or since; and for this purpose was he anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows:

he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted; whose hearts are broken, and made contrite by the word of God, under the influence of the Spirit of God, and with a sense of sin; and are wounded with it, and are humbled for it; and are in great pain and distress, and even inconsolable, and ready to faint and die; for a wounded spirit who can bear? now Christ was sent to heal such persons by his own stripes, by binding up their wounds, by the application of his blood to them, which is a sovereign balm for every wound; by the discoveries of pardoning grace to their souls, and by opening and applying the comfortable promises of the Gospel, by his Spirit, to them:

to preach deliverance to the captives; who are captives to sin, Satan, and the law; from which, there is only deliverance by him; who saves his people from their sins, redeems them from the law, and leads captivity captive; and which liberty and deliverance are preached and published in the Gospel, and by Christ the author of them:

and recovering of sight to the blind; which in the prophet is, "and the opening of the prison to them that are bound"; and which the Septuagint render, as here in Luke, and the Chaldee paraphrase in part agrees with it, interpreting it thus, "to the prisoners", "be ye revealed to the light" now because persons in prison are in darkness, and see no light, therefore they are represented as blind; and both are the case of sinners, they are in the prison of sin and of the law, and are blind, ignorant, and insensible of their state; until Christ both opens the prison, and sets them free, and opens their eyes, and gives them spiritual sight; when he says to the prisoners go forth, to them that are in darkness show yourselves, Isaiah 49:9

To set at liberty them that are bruised: these words are not in Isaiah 61:1 but in the Septuagint version of Isaiah 58:6 from whence they seem to be taken, or else from Isaiah 42:7 it being allowable for a reader in the prophets, to skip from place to place, which our Lord here did, in order to explain this passage more fully.

Geneva Study Bible

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Luke 4:18-19. Isaiah 61:1-2, following the LXX. freely. The historical meaning is: that He, the prophet, is inspired and ordained by God to announce to the deeply unfortunate people in their banishment their liberation from captivity, and the blessed future of the restored and glorified theocracy that shall follow thereupon. The Messianic fulfilment of this announcement, i.e. the realization of their theocratic idea, came to pass in Christ and His ministry.[85]

οὗ εἵνεκεν] in the original text יַעַן: because, and to this corresponds οὗ εἵνεκεν: propterea quod, because, as ΟὝΝΕΚΕΝ is very frequently thus used by the classical writers. The expression of the LXX., which Luke preserves, is therefore not erroneous (de Wette and others), nor do the words ΟὟ ΕἽΝΕΚΕΝ introduce the protasis of a sentence whose apodosis is left out (Hofmann, Weissag. u. Erf. II. p. 96). The form εἵνεκεν (2 Corinthians 7:12) is, moreover, classical; it occurs in Pindar, Isthm. viii. 69, frequently in Herodotus (see Schweighaüser, Lex. sub. verb.), Dem. 45. 11. See generally, Krüger, II. § 68. 19. 1 f.

ἔχρισε] a concrete description, borrowed from the anointing of the prophets (1 Kings 19:16) and priests (Exodus 28:41; Exodus 30:30), of the consecration, which in this instance is to be conceived of as taking place by means of the spiritual investiture.[86]

ΠΤΩΧΟῖς] the poor עֲנָוִים. See on Matthew 5:3. They—in the original Hebrew the unhappy exiles—are more precisely designated by αἰχμαλώτ., as well as by the epithets, which are to be taken in their historical sense typically, τυφλοῖς and τεθραυσμένους (crushed to pieces), whereby the misery of the ΠΤΩΧΟΊ is represented as a blinding and a bruising. According to the typical reference to the Messiah, these predicates refer to the misery of the spiritual bondage, the cessation of which the Messiah was to announce and (ἀποστεῖλαι) to accomplish. Moreover, the LXX. varies considerably from the original Hebrew (doubtless the result of a various reading which mixed with this passage the parallel in Isaiah 42:7), and Luke again does not agree with the LXX., especially in ἀποστεῖλαι τεθραυσμ. ἐν ἀφέσει, which words are from Isaiah 58:6, whence Luke (not Jesus, who indeed read from the roll of the book) or his informant relating from memory having taken them erroneously, but by an association of ideas easily explained mixed them up in this place.

ἘΝΙΑΥΤῸΝ ΚΥΡΊΟΥ ΔΕΚΤΌΝ] an acceptable year of the Lord, i.e. a welcome, blessed year belonging to Jehovah, whereby is to be understood in the typical reference of the passage the Messianic period of blessing, while in the historical sense the blessed future of the theocracy after the exile is denoted by the words שְׁנַת־רָצוֹן לַיְהֹוָה, i.e. a year of satisfaction for Jehovah, which will be for Jehovah the time to show His satisfaction to His people (comp. Luke 2:14). The passage before us is strangely abused by the Valentinians, Clemens, Hom. xvii. 19, Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, and many more, to limit the ministry of Jesus to the space of one year,[87] which even the connection, of the original text, in which a day of vengeance against the enemies of God’s people follows, ought to have prevented. Even Wieseler, p. 272, makes an extraordinary chronological use of ἐνιαυτός and of σήμερον, Luke 4:21, in support of his assumption of a parallel with John 6:1 ff. in regard to time, according to which the sojourn of Jesus in Nazareth is said to have fallen on the Sabbath after Purim 782. The year is an allusion to the year of jubilee (Leviticus 25:9), as an inferior prefigurative type of the Messianic redemption. The three infinitives are parallel and dependent on ἀπέσταλκέ με, whose purpose they specify.

ἐν ἀφέσει] a well-known constructio pregnans: so that they are now in the condition of deliverance (Polybius, i. 79. 12, xxii. 9. 17), comp. Luke 2:39.

[85] Comp. Schleiermacher, L. J. p. 270 f.

[86] Observe the difference of tense, ἔχρισε … ἀπέσταλκε: He anointed me, He hath sent me (and I am here!); also the lively asyndeton in the two verbs (ἀπέστ. without καί), as well as also in the three infinitives.

[87] Keim also, D. geschichtl. Chr. p. 140 ff., has very recently arrived at this conclusion in view of Origen’s statement, de princip. iv. 5 : “a year and a few months,” and that too on the ground of the calculation of the Baptist’s death, according to the account of Josephus, Antt. xviii. 5, concerning the war of Antipas against Aretas. The testing of this combination does not belong to this place. But the Gospel of John stands decidedly opposed to the one-year duration of Christ’s official teaching. See, besides, the discussions on the subject in Weizsäcker, p. 306 ff.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 4:18-19 contain the text, Isaiah 61:1-2, free reproduction of the Sept[45], which freely reproduces the Hebrew, which probably was first read, then turned into Aramaean, then preached on by Jesus, that day. It may have been read from an Aramaean version. Most notable in the quotation is the point at which it stops. In Isaiah after the “acceptable year” comes the “day of vengeance”. The clause referring to the latter is omitted.—ἀποστεῖλαι τεθραυσμένους ἐν ἀφέσει (Luke 4:19) is imported (by Lk. probably) from Isaiah 58:6, the aim being to make the text in all respects a programme for the ministry of Jesus. Along with that, in the mind of the evangelist, goes the translation of all the categories named—poor, broken-hearted, captives, blind, bruised—from the political to the spiritual sphere. Legitimately, for that was involved in the declaration that the prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus.

[45] Septuagint.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

18. he hath anointed me] Rather, He anointed (aorist); the following verb is in the perfect. The word Mashach in the Hebrew would recall to the hearers the notion of the Messiah—“il m’a messianisé” (Salvador). “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power,” Acts 10:38. In illustration of the verse generally, as indicating the work primarily of Isaiah, but in its fullest sense, of Christ, see Matthew 11:5; Matthew 5:3, &c.

the poor] i. e. the poor in spirit (Matthew 11:28; Matthew 5:3), as the Hebrew implies.

to heal the broken-hearted] Omitted in א, B, D, L.

recovering of sight to the blind] Here the LXX. differs from the Hebrew, which has “opening of prison to the bound.” Perhaps this is a reminiscence of Isaiah 42:7.

to set at liberty them that are bruised] This also is not in Isaiah 61:1, but is a free reminiscence of the LXX. in Isaiah 58:6. Either the text of the Hebrew was then slightly variant, or the record introduces into the text a reminiscence of the discourse.

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 4:18-19. Πνεῦμα Κυρίου ἐπʼ ἐμὲ· οὗ εἵνεκεν ἔχρισέ με· εὐαγγελίσασθα. πτωχοῖς, ἀπέσταλκέ με, ἰάσασθαι τοὺς συντετριμμένους τὴν καρδίαν·—ἀνάβλεψιν, ἀποστεῖλαι τεθραυσμένους ἐν ἀφέσει· κηρύξαι ἐνιαυτὸν Κυρίου δεκτὸν καὶ ἡμέραν ἀνταποδόσεως) Isaiah 61:1-2, LXX: πνεῦμα—ἀνάβλεψιν· καλέσαι, κ.τ.λ. Several particulars here are worthy of being noticed. I. The Hebrew accents give us a most effective stopping. II. οὗ εἵνεκεν signifies the same as יֹען, for this reason because, on account of this inasmuch as. So Numbers 14:43, Οὗ εἵνεκα ἀπεστράφητε, because ye are turned away from. Ammonius says οὕνεκα signifies the same as ὅτι. The sense in this passage is, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me. Even then already Jesus implied distinctly that He was the Christ. It is from His anointing, that the abiding of the Spirit of the Lord on the Christ is deduced. As the[continuous] state of personal union [the union of His humanity and Divinity], so that of His anointing flows from the act. III. From the anointing flows the especial, nay, the preaching peculiarly characteristic of this Prophet, viz., that of the Gospel; from the oil flows the joy [i.e. from the anointing oil comes the joy, answering to the “good tidings,” Isaiah 61:1, and “the oil of joy,” Luke 4:3]: from the ‘sending’ [l. c., Luke 4:3] comes the “healing [Luke 4:18 : in Isaiah “to bind up”] of the broken-hearted.” IV. This very clause, curare contribulatos corde, “to heal the broken-hearted,” as the translator of Irenæu[46] has it, I am induced to retain chiefly on the authority of Irenæu[47], although others have omitted it.[48] V. Καὶ τυφλοῖς ἀναβλεψιν, is not taken from Isaiah 42:7, but from Isaiah 61:1. So the words are found in the LXX. translation for the Hebrew ולאסורים פקחקוח. Moreover פקח in the books of the Old Testament, denotes not every kind of opening whatever, but that of the ears once; besides, very frequently, the opening of the eyes. For this reason the seventy translators have referred it in this passage to the blind. However, Isaiah spake of such an opening of the eyes, as is vouchsafed, not to the blind, but to those set free from the darkness of a prison (see Isaiah 61:1), as the writer of the Chaldee paraphrase rightly saw. VI. ἈΠΟΣΤΕῖΛΑΙ ΤΕΘΡΑΥΣΜΈΝΟΥς ἘΝ ἈΦΈΣΕΙ, is taken from the preceding part, Isaiah 58:6, ἈΠΌΣΤΕΛΛΕ ΤΕΘΡΑΥΣΜΈΝΟΥς ἘΝ ἈΦΈΣΕΙ; whence the Israelitic ἌΦΕΣΙς is made by accommodation to answer to the ἌΦΕΣΙς, effected through the Messiah. The minister, of his own accord, handed to our Lord, in the synagogue, the book of Isaiah: it was therefore a portion from Isaiah which was the one usually read on that Sabbath. Isaiah 61:1-2, was not the Haphtara (or publicly read portion) at all: but there was a Haphtara, consisting of Isaiah 57:13 to Isaiah 58:14, and that too on the day of expiation, which in the Ord. Temp., page 254; Ed. ii., page 220, 221, and Harm. Ev., page 186, etc., we have shown, corresponded on that year (which was the twenty-eighth of the Dion. era.—Not. Crit.) with the Sabbath mentioned in Luke. From which it is evident, that an ordinary and an extraordinary lesson were joined together by the Lord in His reading, and by the Evangelist in writing the account of it. VII. As to the words ΚΑῚ ἩΜΈΡΑΝ ἈΝΤΑΠΟΔΌΣΕΩς. See App. Crit., Ed. ii. on this passage.[49] In this clause, THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD upon ME, contains a remarkable testimony to the Holy Trinity [the Spirit, the Father, and Jesus]. Jesus was full of the Spirit, Luke 4:1; Luke 4:14.—οὗ εἵνεκεν) The [50] in ἝΝΕΚΑ passes into ΕἸ, not only poetically, but also Ionically and Attically.—ΠΤΩΧΟῖς, to the poor) In Israel, and subsequently among the Gentiles. Regard is had to them also in ch. Luke 6:20.—ἄφεσιν, remission [but Engl. Vers., deliverance]) The word is here employed with great propriety.[51]

[46] renæus (of Lyons, in Gaul: born about 130 A.D., and died about the end of the second century). The Editio Renati Massueti, Parisinæ, a. 1710.

[47] renæus (of Lyons, in Gaul: born about 130 A.D., and died about the end of the second century). The Editio Renati Massueti, Parisinæ, a. 1710.

[48] A, Iren. 260, Hil. 577, retain the clause. BDLabc, Orig. 2,636; 4,13, Hilar. 92, omit it. Some MSS. of Vulg. omit, others retain it.—ED. and TRANSL.

[49] Vulg. etc., add “et diem retributionis.” b has “et diem redditionis;” a, “et diem redemptions.” But ABD Hil. 92, and Rec. Text reject the addition, which manifestly is interpolated from Isaiah, and is appropriate, not to the Gospel message of peace delivered at Christ’s first Advent, but to His second Advent to judgment.—ED. and TRANSL.

[50] Laudianus: Bodl. libr., Oxford: seventh or eighth cent.: publ. 1715: Acts def.

[51] Literally, referring to the setting free a captive; spiritually, to the remission of sins and the deliverance of the captive sinner.—ED. and TRANSL.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 18. - The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. St. Luke here quotes, with a few important variations, from the LXX. of Isaiah 61:1, 2. The clause, "to set at liberty them that are bruised," does not occur the present text of Isaiah. The bright, comforting words of the great prophet the Lord chose as giving a general summary of what he designed to carry out in his ministry. It could be no undesigned coincidence that the opening words of the passage contain a singularly clear mention of the three Persons of the blessed Trinity - the Spirit, the Father, and the Anointed (Messiah). Because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, etc. The common interpretation referred this passage to the state of the people on the return from the Captivity. Nothing, however, that the people had yet experienced in any way satisfied the brilliant picture painted in the great prophecy. A remnant certainly had returned several centuries back from their distant exile, but the large majority of the chosen people were scattered abroad; their own land was crushed under what seemed a hopeless servitude; poverty, ignorance, universal discontent, reigned alike in Jerusalem, garrisoned with Roman legionaries, and in the most distant of the poor upland villages of Galilee. Only could deliverance come and a golden age of prosperity return with the promised Messiah. This was the interpretation which the choicest spirits in Israel applied to the great Isaiah prophecy read that sabbath day in the little synagogue of Nazareth. This was the meaning which Jesus at once gave to it, only he startled his hearers by telling them that in him they saw the promised long-looked-for Deliverer. We only possess, it is evident, the very barest abstract of the words of the Teacher Jesus on this occasion. They must have been singularly eloquent, winning, and powerful to have extorted the wonder and admiration alluded to in the twenty-second verse. Luke 4:18

Vincent's Word Studies

Anointed

See on Christ, Matthew 1:1.

To preach good tidings

See on Gospel, Superscription of Matthew.

To the poor (πτωχοῖς)

See on Matthew 5:3.

To heal the broken-hearted

The best texts omit. So Rev.

To preach (κηρύξαι)

Better as Rev., proclaim, as a herald. See on 2 Peter 2:5.

To the captives (αἰχμαλώτοις)

From αἰχμή, a spear-point, and ἁλίσκομαι, to be taken or conquered. Hence, properly, of prisoners of war. Compare Isaiah 42:7 : "To bring out captives from the prison, and those who sit in darkness from the house of restraint." The allusion is to Israel, both as captive exiles and as prisoners of Satan in spiritual bondage. Wyc. has caytifs, which formerly signified captives.

To set at liberty (ἀποστεῖλαι)

Lit., to send away in discharge. Inserted from the Sept. of Isaiah 58:6. See on Luke 3:3, and James 5:15.

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