The Masoretic Text Vindicated in Isaiah 61:1-2

Christ's words at Nazareth match the Hebrew original; וְלַאֲסוּרִים פְּקַח-קוֹחַ is the key phrase

1) The problem briefly stated

It is often alleged that in Luke 4:18-19, when Christ read from the Old Testament Scripture in the synagogue of his hometown of Nazareth, he did so from the Greek Septuagint translation, not the Masoretic Text. This claim is used by some (but not all) of its adherents as evidence for the proposition that Hebrew now no longer had religious use amongst the Jewish people of Jesus’ day, having been replaced religiously by an inspired Greek translation in the intertestamental period.

The argument is not a bare conjecture, but on the surface, seems to have some merit. This is because the phrase recovering of sight to the blind appears in English in our translations of Luke 4:18-19, but not in Isaiah 61:1-2. As we expressly read recovering of sight to the blind in the Septuagint of Isaiah, in identical wording to the New Testament Greek of Luke - καὶ τυφλοῖς ἀνάβλεψιν - the point is proven. Case closed; let’s abandon our Hebrew Masoretic corruption (the argument goes), and embrace the Greek Septuagint.

Yet there is more to this problem than meets the eye.

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2) The Septuagint is missing a phrase found in Christ’s reading

Here is Luke 4:18-19 in the New Testament Greek, with the KJV translation:

πνεῦμα κυρίου ἐπ᾽ ἐμέ οὗ ἕνεκεν ἔχρισέν με εὐαγγελίζεσθαι πτωχοῖς ἀπέσταλκέν με ἰὰσασθαι τοὺς συντετριμμένους τὴν καρδίαν, κηρύξαι αἰχμαλώτοις ἄφεσιν καὶ τυφλοῖς ἀνάβλεψιν ἀποστεῖλαι τεθραυσμένους ἐν ἀφέσει κηρύξαι ἐνιαυτὸν κυρίου δεκτόν

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, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

Here is Isaiah 61:1-2 (stopping within verse 2 at where Jesus stopped reading) in Rahlf’s Septuagint with Brenton’s translation:

πνεῦμα κυρίου ἐπ᾽ ἐμέ οὗ εἵνεκεν ἔχρισέν με εὐαγγελίσασθαι πτωχοῖς ἀπέσταλκέν με ἰάσασθαι τοὺς συντετριμμένους τῇ καρδίᾳ κηρύξαι αἰχμαλώτοις ἄφεσιν καὶ τυφλοῖς ἀνάβλεψιν καλέσαι ἐνιαυτὸν κυρίου δεκτὸν

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me; he has sent me to preach glad tidings to the poor, to heal the broken in heart, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind; to declare the acceptable year of the Lord.

While we have already affirmed that the recovery of sight to the blind (καὶ τυφλοῖς ἀνάβλεψιν) appears in both texts, eagle-eyed readers may have spotted a phrase that is absent from the Septuagint: to set at liberty those who are bruised (ἀποστεῖλαι τεθραυσμένους ἐν ἀφέσει). Indeed, the Greek phrase ἀποστεῖλαι τεθραυσμένους ἐν ἀφέσει is found in Luke, but not in Isaiah.

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3) The claim that Christ inserted a phrase from Isaiah 58:6 to complement Isaiah 61:1 - examined

So if Christ were quoting from the Septuagint, then where does the reading the Greek phrase to set at liberty them that are bruised (ἀποστεῖλαι τεθραυσμένους ἐν ἀφέσει) come from?

Matthew Henry has this explanation:

Dr. Lightfoot thinks that, according to a liberty the Jew allowed their readers, to compare scripture with scripture, in their reading, for the explication of the text, Christ added it from Isa. 58:6, where it is made the duty of the acceptable year to let the oppressed go free, where the phrase the Septuagint uses is the same with this here.

Yet to accept this argument would prove that Luke 4:18-19 is no more of a direct quotation of the Septuagint than the Masoretic Text, as we could similarly say that Christ simply took the phrase recovery of sight to the blind from Isaiah 29:18, 35:5, 42:6-7, and Psalm 146:8:

And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. / Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. / I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. / the Lord openeth the eyes of the blind: the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down: the Lord loveth the righteous.

Back to Lightfoot’s argument, it certainly is true that “ἀποστεῖλαι τεθραυσμένους ἐν ἀφέσει” is found word-for-word in Isaiah 58:6. Yet there would be no need for this conjecture, if it should be proven that the words Christ read can be found together in the original Hebrew. Let’s turn there.

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4) The phrase missing from the LXX in Isaiah 61:1-2 found in the Masoretic

The phrase that Lightfoot claims was borrowed from Isaiah 58:6 in the Greek, is found expressly in the Hebrew. Here is the Masoretic Text of Isaiah 61:1-2 with the KJV translation:

רוּחַ אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה, עָלָי--יַעַן מָשַׁח יְהוָה אֹתִי לְבַשֵּׂר עֲנָוִים, שְׁלָחַנִי לַחֲבֹשׁ לְנִשְׁבְּרֵי-לֵב, לִקְרֹא לִשְׁבוּיִם דְּרוֹר, וְלַאֲסוּרִים פְּקַח-קוֹחַ לִקְרֹא שְׁנַת-רָצוֹן לַיהוָה

“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,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord”

Here the words וְלַאֲסוּרִים פְּקַח-קוֹחַ have reference to the opening of prison to the bound, and the text apparently missing from the Septuagint is found in the Masoretic.

In the Greek, the prisoners are said to be τεθραυσμένους: bruised (this is how the KJV translates it), which can also mean broken down or oppressed - a fair way to describe the fate of prisoners (אֲסוּרִים in Hebrew). The NKV, MEV, ESV, LSB, and NIV all have oppressed for τεθραυσμένους.

This though leaves us with an apparent conundrum.

It may seem as if Christ - and Luke in recording Christ’s words - has assembled a composite reading; a patchwork quilt of Masoretic Hebrew and Septuagint Greek phrases, brought neatly into one.

If that were the case, how then could Christ be reading from a scroll? The Holy Spirit declares in Luke that Christ read from a (that is, one) physical book, as we can see from the passage (Luke 4:16-20):

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 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, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

Thus we need a singular reading that contains both readings of recovering of sight to the blind, and also to set at liberty them that are bruised. We have shown that to set at liberty them that are bruised appears in the Masoretic Text, not the Septuagint. But what of recovering of sight to the blind and the Masoretic Hebrew?

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5) The unique construction of ‘peqach-qoach’ in the Masoretic Text of Isaiah 61:1

As we come to prove this, the words of Edward Leigh in his Treatise of Religion & Learning (1656) are worth bearing in mind. Firstly on Hebrew:

The Hebrew language in a few words comprehends much matter, is very significant, it has a gravity, sweetness, vivacity, and marvelous efficacy in its words, periods.

And on Greek:

It is a most elegant, rich and copious language, and very useful for understanding of the Scripture and other arts.

Thus we can find a few words in Hebrew that can be represented by many words in Greek.

Now in the Masoretic Text in Isaiah 61:1-2, we find the phrase: “וְלַאֲסוּרִים פְּקַח-קוֹחַ”. The word אֲסוּרִים we understand to be prisoners; what then of פְּקַח-קוֹחַ? Brown-Driver-Briggs has this as its entry for פְּקַח-קוֹחַ:

מְּקַחקֿוֺחַ, read מְּקַחְקוֺחַ noun [masculine] opening (of eyes; compare Comm., Ges§ 85n, proposes wide, or complete, opening); — לַאֲסוּרִים Isaiah 61:1, figurative of freeing from dark prison

What we have here is the Hebraism of a cognate accusative, in which a verb form and a closely related noun work together to intensify the meaning. In some instances, there are two verb forms together, such as the famous phrase in Genesis 2:17 מוֹת תָּמוּת, which is often translated Surely you shall die, but literally means In dying you shall die. The verb repeated adds power and emphasis. According to Allen Ross:

In this construction, the accusative is a word related to the verb and serves to strengthen or emphasize it.

The phrase פְּקַח-קוֹחַ can be understood to be a similar structure, with קוֹחַ intensifying פְּקַח.

Significantly, the verb פְּקַח means to open - exclusively in the context of opening one’s eyes.

Strong’s Concordance defines it thus:

A primitive root; to open (the senses, especially the eyes); figuratively, to be observant -- open.

We read in Brown-Driver-Briggs:

מָּקַח verb open eyes and (once) ears (Late Hebrew id., open (and remove) rubbish heap, followed by עַל look to, attend to; Arabic blossom, II. open eyes; Jewish-Aramaic מְּקַח open eyes, etc.; Syriac blossom; —

Qal Perfect3 masculine singular ׳פ Job 27:19; 2masculine singular מָּקַחְתָּ Job 14:3; Imperfect3 masculine singular וַיִּפְקַח Genesis 21:19 +; 1 singular אֶפְקַח Zechariah 12:4; Imperative masculine singular מְּקַח 2 Kings 6:17 +, so Daniel 9:18 Qr (Kt פקחה); Infinitive absolute מָּקוֺחַ Isaiah 42:20; construct לִפְקֹחַ Isaiah 42:7; Participle active מֹּקֵחַ Psalm 146:8; passive feminine plural מְּקֻחוֺת Jeremiah 32:19; —

1 open eyes:

a. one's own 2 Kings 4:35; Job 27:19; Proverbs 20:13; 2 Kings 19:16 = Isaiah 37:17; Daniel 9:18; + עַל Jeremiah 32:19; Zechariah 12:4; Job 14:3.

b. eyes of others Genesis 21:19; 2 Kings 6:17 (twice in verse); 2 Kings 6:20 (twice in verse); Isaiah 42:7; Psalm 146:8; — for details see עַיִן

1j. 2. open ears = hear Isaiah 42:20 (without understanding; figurative of Israel).

Niph`al Perfect3plural consecutive וְנִפְקְחוּ Genesis 3:5; Imperfect3feminine plural תִּמָּקַחְנָה Isaiah 35:5, ׳וַתּ Genesis 3:7; — be opened, of eyes; figurative, so as to know good and evil Genesis 3:5,7; opposed to blindness (figurative) Isaiah 35:5.

Crucially for our purpose, פְּקַח is used in a unique way in Isaiah 61:1, to speak not directly of the opening of the eyes, but rather, of the opening of prisoners.

Franz Delitzsch writes:

P e qach - qōăch is written like two words (see at Isaiah 2:20). The Targum translates it as if p e qach were an imperative: “Come to the light,” probably meaning undo the bands. But qōăch is not a Hebrew word; for the qı̄chōth of the Mishna (the loops through which the strings of a purse are drawn, for the purpose of lacing it up) cannot be adduced as a comparison. Parchon, AE, and A, take p e qachqōăch as one word (of the form פּתלתּל ,שׁחרחר), in the sense of throwing open, viz., the prison. But as pâqach is never used like pâthach (Isaiah 14:17; Isaiah 51:14), to signify the opening of a room, but is always applied to the opening of the eyes (Isaiah 35:5; Isaiah 42:7, etc.), except in Isaiah 42:20, where it is used for the opening of the ears, we adhere to the strict usage of the language, if we understand by p e qachqōăch the opening up of the eyes (as contrasted with the dense darkness of the prison); and this is how it has been taken even by the LXX, who have rendered it καὶ τυφλοῖς ἀνάβλεψιν , as if the reading had been ולעורי ם (Psalms 146:8).

Notice Delitzsch here affirms that the Septuagint translated recovering of sight to the blind (τυφλοῖς ἀνάβλεψιν ἀποστεῖλαι) out of the very same words we find in the Masoretic Text, and not an alternative lost version of the Hebrew!

With all this information, we can resolve the reading in Isaiah 61:1.

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5) Understanding ‘peqach-qoach’ in Isaiah 61:1 vindicates the Masoretic Text

In Isaiah 42:6-7, we read of God’s call to his servant the Messiah:

I the Lord have called thee in righteousness,
and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee,
and give thee for a covenant of the people,
for a light of the Gentiles;
to open the blind eyes,
to bring out the prisoners from the prison,
and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

In the Masoretic Text here, the lines:

to open the blind eyes,
to bring out the prisoners from the prison,

Are read in the Hebrew:

לִפְקֹחַ, עֵינַיִם עִוְרוֹת; לְהוֹצִיא מִמַּסְגֵּר אַסִּיר

Thus the infinitive of peqach (לִפְקֹחַ - lifqoach) is used in relation to opening eyes, as it is in all prior uses of it in Scripture (as proven above), the word for eyes (עֵינַיִם) is expressly mentioned; and prisoners (אַסִּיר) are mentioned as being freed from the prison (מִמַּסְגֵּר), with a different verb - לְהוֹצִיא: to bring out, rather than to open. The concept is of God bringing prisoners out of the prison, rather than opening the prison.

Thus in Isaiah 61:1-2, we have the Messiah’s response, in which he willingly does that which his Father desires and commands:

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,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord […]

The phrase opening of the prison to them that are bound takes the verb peqach, referring to opening eyes, yet without the express mention of eyes, along with the intensifier qoach. My contention thus would be that the eyes are implied by the use of the verb peqach - otherwise another verb could be used to mean to open, such as פָצָה (see here), or the verb to bring out (לְהוֹצִיא) could have been used again, as it was in Isaiah 42:7.

Indeed, this is why I think you’ll find in the Jewish Publication Society of 1917’s translation - which has no good reason to prove the authenticity of Christ’s reading in Luke 4 - the following rendering of Isaiah 61:1-2:

The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to bring good tidings unto the humble; He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the eyes to them that are bound;

This being a recognition that the verb peqach has reference to the opening of the eyes.

To bring out the full meaning, but keeping a literal structure to the sentence, we might translate the phrase וְלַאֲסוּרִים פְּקַח-קוֹחַ like this:

In opening [the way out] to the prisoners, [the eyes of the blind] are opened.

Thus we have the eyes implied by the verb used for opening eyes, implying that those without open eyes are blind. Similarly, in the double-use of the verb to open, is implied not only the opening of eyes, but also the setting free - as prisoners are mentioned expressly.

This is why therefore Christ’s words are rendered in Luke’s Greek:

κηρύξαι αἰχμαλώτοις ἄφεσιν καὶ τυφλοῖς ἀνάβλεψιν ἀποστεῖλαι

to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind

The precision of the longer Greek expands upon the power of the more compact Hebrew, as is common in the New Testament.

Thus the problem is resolved, and the Masoretic Text in Isaiah 61:1-2 is vindicated.

The sentence in the Septuagint is thus proven to be a translation of what we read in the Masoretic Text itself, rather than a translation out of a lost Hebrew original.

Thus the book Christ read from in the synagogue in Nazareth accords with our Masoretic Hebrew, and not the Greek Septuagint.