Albert Barnes Commentary Luke 4:19

"To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." — Luke 4:19 (ASV)

To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. The time when God is willing to accept people, or to receive sinners coming to Him. The gospel assures us that the guilty may return, and that God will graciously receive them.

Perhaps there is an allusion here to the year of jubilee—the fiftieth year, when the trumpet was blown, and proclamation was made throughout the whole land of liberty for Hebrew slaves, of the remission of debts, and of the restoration of possessions to their original families (Leviticus 25:8–13). The phrase "the acceptable year" means the time when it would be acceptable to God, or agreeable to Him, to proclaim such a message—namely, under the gospel.