16 I will lead(A) the blind(B) by ways they have not known,
    along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;
I will turn the darkness into light(C) before them
    and make the rough places smooth.(D)
These are the things I will do;
    I will not forsake(E) them.

Read full chapter

16 Truly I am your servant, Lord;(A)
    I serve you just as my mother did;(B)
    you have freed me from my chains.(C)

Read full chapter

For you were once(A) darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light(B)

Read full chapter

11 As for you, because of the blood of my covenant(A) with you,
    I will free your prisoners(B) from the waterless pit.(C)
12 Return to your fortress,(D) you prisoners of hope;
    even now I announce that I will restore twice(E) as much to you.

Read full chapter

Jehoiachin Released(A)

31 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin(B) king of Judah, in the year Awel-Marduk became king of Babylon, on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah and freed him from prison. 32 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 33 So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table.(C) 34 Day by day the king of Babylon gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance(D) as long as he lived, till the day of his death.

Read full chapter

10 Some sat in darkness,(A) in utter darkness,
    prisoners suffering(B) in iron chains,(C)

Read full chapter

But you are a chosen people,(A) a royal priesthood,(B) a holy nation,(C) God’s special possession,(D) that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.(E)

Read full chapter

25 Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.”

Read full chapter

19 But during the night an angel(A) of the Lord opened the doors of the jail(B) and brought them out.(C)

Read full chapter

16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham,(A) whom Satan(B) has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”

Read full chapter

The Year of the Lord’s Favor

61 The Spirit(A) of the Sovereign Lord(B) is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed(C) me
    to proclaim good news(D) to the poor.(E)
He has sent me to bind up(F) the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom(G) for the captives(H)
    and release from darkness for the prisoners,[a]

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 61:1 Hebrew; Septuagint the blind

19 till what he foretold(A) came to pass,
    till the word(B) of the Lord proved him true.
20 The king sent and released him,
    the ruler of peoples set him free.(C)

Read full chapter

20 to hear the groans of the prisoners(A)
    and release those condemned to death.”

Read full chapter

God sets the lonely(A) in families,[a](B)
    he leads out the prisoners(C) with singing;
    but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.(D)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 68:6 Or the desolate in a homeland

10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes(A) and gave him twice as much as he had before.(B) 11 All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before(C) came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought on him,(D) and each one gave him a piece of silver[a] and a gold ring.

12 The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Job 42:11 Hebrew him a kesitah; a kesitah was a unit of money of unknown weight and value.

But if people are bound in chains,(A)
    held fast by cords of affliction,(B)

Read full chapter

26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken.(A) At once all the prison doors flew open,(B) and everyone’s chains came loose.(C) 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped.(D) 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.(E) 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”(F)

31 They replied, “Believe(G) in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved(H)—you and your household.”(I) 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night(J) the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized.(K) 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he(L) was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

35 When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: “Release those men.” 36 The jailer(M) told Paul, “The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace.”(N)

37 But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens,(O) and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.”

38 The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed.(P) 39 They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city.(Q) 40 After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house,(R) where they met with the brothers and sisters(S) and encouraged them. Then they left.

Read full chapter

Suddenly an angel(A) of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.(B)

Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision.(C) 10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself,(D) and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.

Read full chapter

The Glory of Zion

60 “Arise,(A) shine, for your light(B) has come,
    and the glory(C) of the Lord rises upon you.
See, darkness(D) covers the earth
    and thick darkness(E) is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you
    and his glory appears over you.
Nations(F) will come to your light,(G)
    and kings(H) to the brightness of your dawn.

Read full chapter

to say to the captives,(A) ‘Come out,’
    and to those in darkness,(B) ‘Be free!’

“They will feed beside the roads
    and find pasture on every barren hill.(C)

Read full chapter

He upholds(A) the cause of the oppressed(B)
    and gives food to the hungry.(C)
The Lord sets prisoners free,(D)

Read full chapter

30 to turn them back(A) from the pit,(B)
    that the light of life(C) may shine on them.(D)

Read full chapter

21 before I go to the place of no return,(A)
    to the land of gloom and utter darkness,(B)
22 to the land of deepest night,
    of utter darkness(C) and disorder,
    where even the light is like darkness.”(D)

Read full chapter

May gloom and utter darkness(A) claim it once more;
    may a cloud settle over it;
    may blackness overwhelm it.

Read full chapter

Bible Gateway Recommends