He has sent me to bestow on them a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

Isaiah 61, verses 1 through 3.

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Our reading titled Dressed by the Holy Spirit was written by Patricia Rabon and read by

Joyce Dinkins. Isaiah chapter 61, verses 1 through 3 and 10 through 11.

The spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good

news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and

release from darkness for the prisoners,

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God,

to comfort all who mourn,

and provide for those who grieve in Zion to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,

the oil of joy instead of mourning,

and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,

a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

Now picking up at verse 10.

I delight greatly in the Lord.

My soul rejoices in my God, for he has clothed me with garments of salvation

and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness.

As a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels,

for as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow,

...