How does the Catholic Church explain the differences in the verses of Lk 4:18 vis-a-vis Isiah 61:1

Question

We read at Lk 4:16-18 (NRSVCE):

"When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read,

and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,

Isiah 61:1 (NRSVCE), the scriptural text read out by Jesus goes like this:

"The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners "

Now, one notices certain differences between the text of Isiah we now have, and the one which was read out by Jesus at the Synagogue, specifically towards the end. It could be that the Evangelist wrote down the event from memory, not referring to the authentic text of Isiah. My question therefore is: how does the Catholic Church explain the differences in the verses of Lk 4:18 vis-a-vis Isiah 61:1, the former having been recorded as verbatim reproduction of the latter?

Answer 1

During Christ's time and before and after, they would read from the Septuagint "version". Most likely the text quoted in the OP is from the Masoretic "version". As well, not all translations are word for word. With these things in mind, here are the two texts from Luke and the Septuagint of Isaiah.

Isaiah 61:1-2 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; 61:2 to declare the acceptable year of the Lord, [the remainder not read]

Luke 4:18-19 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.

Although "columns" don't align, here is a comparison of the two versions.

Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, Isaiah61:1 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me because he has anointed me; he has sent me

1. to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to preach glad tidings to the poor,
2. to heal the brokenhearted, to heal the broken in heart,
3. to preach deliverance to the captives, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
4. and recovering of sight to the blind, and recovery of sight to the blind;

LK 4:18 to set at liberty them that are bruised,

4:19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 61:2 to declare the acceptable year of the Lord,

Except for one clause in Luke 4:18 (to set at liberty them that are bruised), the remainder clauses line up more or less exactly.

So, what about the one clause? In my opinion, it relates to why Christ did not finish all of Isaiah.

Septuagint and the day of recompence; to comfort all that mourn; Masoretic and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

To set at liberty the bruised means "The proclaiming of perfect liberty to the bound, and the year of acceptance with Jehovah, is a manifest allusion to the proclaiming of the year of the jubilee by sound of trumpet; and our Saviour, by applying this text to himself, plainly declares the typical design of that institution. Isa 42:7; Isa 49:9,24,25; Psa 102:20; Jer 34:8; Zec 9:11,12; Jhn 8:32-36; Act 26:18; Rom 6:16-22; Rom 7:23-25; 2Ti 2:25,26" -source-

In other words, Christ was preaching in Luke something not fully explained in the Old. But the rejection was; that is, the day of vengeance. That, however, was not related to Christ's first appearance, but rather His second coming. To set at liberty the bruised was tied to His first coming. Hence it was included in Luke, but not Isaiah and the remainder of Isaiah was not quoted or included in Luke.

Answer 2

This is the full discussion from a Roman Catholic commentary. It gives specific details, which I am unable to summarize.

18-19. In quoting from Is 61:1-2, Jesus leaves out one of the lines, “to heal the brokenhearted.” Luke reserves the Gk word, “to heal” (iaomai), for physical cures; a little later (v. 23), Jesus refuses to work any such cures in Nazareth, for his concern here is with preaching and interior renewal. A line, therefore, is added instead from Is 58:6; “to send away free the oppressed.” Although the Vg and some late Gk mss. include the line “and the day of vindication” at the end of v. 19, important mss. do not contain the words, which for Luke put too much emphasis upon punishment; he deletes the same words in 7:22 when he once more cites Is. 18. the spirit of the Lord is upon me: In Lk this would refer to Jesus’ own baptism (3:22; Acts 10:38). to bring good news to the poor: In 7:22 Jesus points to this action as indicative of his Messianic mission. Used without an article in Greek, the word “poor” refers to a quality or state rather than to individual poor persons (cf. GrBib § 171). he has sent me: The pf. tense of the Gk verb means more than merely to be sent; it declares that the one sent has already arrived and is to be found in the person of Jesus. to announce the year of grace accorded by the Lord: All the hopes of the jubilee year (Lv 25:8-55), when debts were wiped out and all possessions returned to their original owner, are fulfilled in the Messianic presence of Jesus. Universalism characterizes the jubilee year, for the celebration rests on the explanation given by God that “[all] land is mine, and you are but aliens” (Lv 25:23). God graciously divides it among all his elect. -- Brown, R. E., Fitzmyer, J. A., & Murphy, R. E. (1996). The Jerome Biblical commentary (Vol. 2, p. 131). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.