To preach the acceptable year of the Lord—the pleasing year—in Hebrew, רצון ×ž× ×ª scenat raston; in the Septuagint ε̉νιαυτὸν ε̉υδοκίας, that Isaiah , as S. Jerome renders it, "the placable year," or, as others with propriety, "the year of the good pleasure," of divine benevolence and liberality, such as was the year of the jubilee to which he here alludes. For the year of the jubilee was the type and figure of this evangelical year which Christ brought. So the whole time of the preaching of Christ, and thenceforward all the time of Christianity, is a year of jubilee to those who obey Christ and accept His liberty—a year of grace, mercy, peace, remission, liberality, and salvation, in which, after God"s long anger against us, we are restored to His grace, His favour, His heirship, His glory, and all the former blessings which we had in Paradise in the state of innocence. This is what S. Paul says in , 2 Corinthians 6:2, "Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation."
The Vulgate adds, and the day of retribution, of vengeance. The year of the jubilee, that Isaiah , the time of Christianity, shall be to the enemies of Christ a time of vengeance, when God shall avenge the human race on its enemies and oppressors, the demons that oppress it; for Christ shall deliver men from the devils, and shall cast them down, according to Isaiah 35:4, "Say unto the timid, Be comforted, and fear not; behold, your God shall bring the vengeance of retribution. God Himself shall come and shall save you." Vulgate. And Christ says, in John 12:31, "Now is the judgment of the world, now shall the prince of this world be cast forth."
