Isaiah 52 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
Prophecy set in the Babylonian exile, roughly 550 to 539 BC, at the point of departure
Location
Babylon, and the road to Jerusalem, whose walls and temple still lay in ruins
Audience
Judean exiles preparing to go home, and the watchmen and ruined city awaiting them
Situation
Jerusalem is told to wake, shake off the dust and put on her best clothes because the uncircumcised will not enter her again. A messenger is pictured running over the hills with news that God reigns, and the exiles are told to leave Babylon carrying the temple vessels, though not in panicked haste this time.
Key Background
News in the ancient world travelled by runner, and a herald appearing on the ridge above a besieged city was the moment people learned whether they had won or lost, which is what makes the feet of the messenger beautiful here. The temple vessels had been carried off by the Babylonians when Jerusalem fell, and Persian records confirm they were later returned, so the instruction to handle them cleanly is about priestly purity for real objects. Unlike the rushed night flight from Egypt, this exit is described as unhurried, a procession rather than an escape. The final verses begin the fourth servant song, which continues through the next chapter.
up, up! Put on your Zion! Dress yourself in your most beautiful clothes, Jerusalem, the that to God, because the and the defiled will never pass through your gates again.
the yourself, rise up! Take your seat, Jerusalem. Loosen the chains from your neck, captive of Zion.
Because this is what Yahweh says: "You were for nothing, and you will be bought back without money."
Because this is what the Lord Yahweh says: "My people went down to Egypt at first to live there as immigrants, and Assyria oppressed them for no
"And now, what do I have here?" declares Yahweh. "My people have been taken away for nothing. Their rulers in declares Yahweh, "and my name is constantly the all day long."
"So my people will my name. So on that day they will know that I am the one who speaks — here I am."
How on the mountains are the feet of the one who brings news, who announces peace, who carries of things, who announces rescue, who says to Zion, "Your God
Listen! Your lift their voices — together they shout for joy! Because with their own they see Yahweh returning to Zion.
Break out together in shouts of joy, you ruins of Jerusalem! Because Yahweh has his people — he has Jerusalem.
Yahweh has an no other, in the sight of every nation, and all the ends of the earth will see the of our God.
Get out of there! Don't touch anything unclean. Come out from the middle of it, purify yourselves, you who carry the of
Because you will not leave in a panic, you will not go as fugitives running away — because Yahweh will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your
Look — my will wisely. He will be up, to the highest place.
Just as many were at the sight of him — his appearance was so beyond human recognition, his form so marred he no longer looked like a man —
so he will many nations. Kings will their because of him. Because what they were never told, they will see, and what they never heard, they will understand.