Isaiah61chapter 61

What is done

The site's own table in src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts sets this chapter in one prophetic reading of the annual cycle. It is read as the Haftarah of Nitzavim, Isaiah 61:10 to 63:9, in both rites, on the Sabbath of the portion Deuteronomy 29:9 to 30:20. A congregation keeping that cycle hears the verses of each reference read aloud after the Torah portion of its Sabbath.

The corpus joins the chapter to the weeks of the Torah portions through the works arranged by portion. Under the second verse it carries Midrash Tanchuma, Beshalach 16:4. Under the fifth verse it carries Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Bereshit 17. Under the ninth verse it carries Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Appendix to Sh'lach 3:2, Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Bereshit 18:1 and Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Vayera 29:2. Under the tenth verse it carries Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Devarim 1:1.

How it is read

Two commentators on this chapter carry English in the corpus. Rashi is quoted from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY, and every quotation of it is held to fifty words or fewer because the translation is modern. Ibn Ezra is quoted from the version Sefaria titles Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873, which it reports as Public Domain.

The anointing of the first verse Rashi reads as a title, the same way he read the anointing of Cyrus: "This anointing is nothing but an expression of nobility and greatness". The liberty proclaimed to the captives is "to bring them the tidings of the redemption" (Rashi on Isaiah 61:1:1 and 61:1:2). Ibn Ezra reads the acceptable year of the next verse as "The year of redemption". Rashi reads it as a year of appeasement and good will (Ibn Ezra on Isaiah 61:2:1; Rashi on Isaiah 61:2:1). The classical readings here take the speaker as the prophet and the year as Israel's redemption, and a Christian reader who reads the passage of Christ should hear them as the tradition's own.

The oil of joy for mourning in the third verse Ibn Ezra explains from custom: "The mourner does not anoint with oil, as may be gathered from the story of the woman of Tekoa". The priests of the Lord of the sixth verse Rashi reads as princes (Ibn Ezra on Isaiah 61:3:1; Rashi on Isaiah 61:6:1). The robbery in a burnt offering of the eighth verse he reads as the reason God does not accept the offerings of the nations, since they come from robbery (Rashi on Isaiah 61:8:1).

Ibn Ezra reads the seed known among the nations in the ninth verse as the nations coming up to keep the feast of Tabernacles, after Zechariah 14:16 (Ibn Ezra on Isaiah 61:9:1). The bridegroom of the tenth verse Rashi dresses "like a high priest" (Rashi on Isaiah 61:10:1).

The corpus carries two further notes on this chapter without an English text, each marked linked because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref. They stand cited and unquoted at Radak on Isaiah 61:9:1 and a further note of Rashi on Isaiah 61:11:1.

What the rabbis say

The corpus carries forty rabbinic locators on this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. On the first verse it holds Avodah Zarah 20b:11, Eikhah Rabbah 3:17, Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Bachodesh 9:16 and Midrash Lekach Tov, Deuteronomy 23:10:1. It holds Midrash Lekach Tov, Exodus 20:18:2 there as well. On the second verse it holds Midrash Tanchuma, Beshalach 16:4. On the third verse it holds Bava Batra 60b:17, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Bava Batra 3:7, Ein Yaakov, Bava Batra 3:9 and Ein Yaakov, Taanit 2:3. On the fourth verse it holds Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 51:7.

On the fifth verse it holds Berakhot 35b:7, Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Bereshit 17, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Berakhot 6:3 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 11:12. On the sixth verse it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 8:2, Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Nezikin 18:5, Midrash Aggadah, Exodus 38:21:2 and Midrash Lekach Tov, Exodus 22:20:3. On the seventh verse it holds Bereshit Rabbah 9:5, Chagigah 15a:10, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Khagigah 2:21 and Ein Yaakov, Khagigah 2:12. On the eighth verse it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 19:30, Devarim Rabbah 5:7, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sukkah 3:1 and Ein Yaakov, Sukkah 3:1.

On the ninth verse it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 16:24, Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Appendix to Sh'lach 3:2, Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Bereshit 18:1 and Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Vayera 29:2. On the tenth verse it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 13:2, Devarim Rabbah 2:37, Ein Yaakov, Moed Katan 3:35 and Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Devarim 1:1. On the eleventh verse it holds Jerusalem Talmud Kilayim 3:1:2, Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat 9:2:1, Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat 9:2:3 and Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 28:14:1. One more, Pesikta Rabbati 34:1, carries the anchor Isaiah 61:340, which this lane could not match to a verse. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.

Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Isaiah 61:1:1 to 61:10:2, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Isaiah 61:2:1 to 61:11:1, Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873, reported Public Domain; Radak, Radak on Isaiah 61:9:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Rashi, Rashi on Isaiah 61:11:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/isaiah/61.json, the 40 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, the Haftarah entries for Nitzavim (Isaiah 61:10 to 63:9).