2. Post-Exile: The Blessing & Judgment Cycles ( 40:1 - 66:24 ) - 701-681 B.C., Israel

(These 8 groups of prophecies alternate between blessings on Israel and judgment on God's enemies.)

G. Cycle 7 (60:1 - 63:6)

1. Blessing: On the LORD's People at an Appointed Time (60:1 - 62:12)

b. The Messiah Will Spiritually Deliver His People (61:1-11)

¹ 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 [shattered of heart],
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
² To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all that mourn;
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.
⁴ And they shall build the old wastes,
they shall raise up the former desolations,
and they shall repair the waste cities,
the desolations of many generations [generation and generation].

⁵ And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks,
and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
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.
⁷ For your shame ye shall have double;
and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion:
therefore in their land they shall possess the double:
everlasting joy shall be unto them.

⁸ For I the LORD love judgment,
I hate robbery for burnt offering;
and I will direct their work in truth,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
⁹ And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles,
and their offspring among the people:
all that see them shall acknowledge them,
that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed.

¹⁰ I will greatly rejoice [brighten I shall brighten] in the LORD,
my soul shall be joyful in my God;
for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation,
he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornamrnts,
and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
¹¹ For as the earth bringeth forth her bud,
and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth;
so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise
to spring forth before all the nations.