Isaiah 52 KJV
The Lord's Arm Revealed
Isaiah Chapter 52: The Lord's Arm Revealed
The inversion of the Exodus motif in verses 11-12 commands the departing exiles to leave Babylon deliberately rather than hastily, reversing the urgency of Israel's flight from Egypt and signaling a new, orderly redemption under divine protection.
1wake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.
2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
3 For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.
4 For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
5 Now therefore, what have I here, saith the LORD, that my people is taken away for nought? they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the LORD; and my name continually every day is blasphemed.
6 Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I.
7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!
8 Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion.
9 Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
11 Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.
12 For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward.
13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.cf.
14 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:cf.
15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.cf.
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Did You Know?
The inversion of the Exodus motif in verses 11-12 commands the departing exiles to leave Babylon deliberately rather than hastily, reversing the urgency of Israel's flight from Egypt and signaling a new, orderly redemption under divine protection.
Verse 7's celebration of the messenger's feet on the mountains adapts ancient Near Eastern victory-announcement conventions to proclaim Yahweh's enthronement, linking the herald's arrival with the watchmen's synchronized vision of Jerusalem's restoration.
The abrupt shift at verse 13 from communal exhortation to the singular 'my servant' introduces the Suffering Servant figure without prior narrative preparation, creating a deliberate literary rupture that redefines collective redemption through an individual's unexpected exaltation.
The 'arm of the Lord' revealed in verse 10 echoes the Exodus plague narrative yet is here tied to Gentile kings shutting their mouths in verse 15, transforming a national deliverance symbol into one of universal astonishment and silent submission.
Verse 5's reference to God's name being 'continually every day blasphemed' among the exiles highlights the theological crisis of divine reputation in foreign lands, framing redemption not merely as rescue but as the restoration of Yahweh's honor before the nations.