Worthy.Bible » YLT » Isaiah » Chapter 52 » Verse 5

Isaiah 52:5 Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

5 And now, what -- to Me here, An affirmation of Jehovah, That taken is My people for nought? Its rulers cause howling, -- an affirmation of Jehovah, And continually all the day My name is despised.

Cross Reference

Romans 2:24 YLT

for the name of God because of you is evil spoken of among the nations, according as it hath been written.

Isaiah 47:6 YLT

I have been wroth against My people, I have polluted Mine inheritance And I give them into thy hand, Thou hast not appointed for them mercies, On the aged thou hast made thy yoke very heavy,

Zephaniah 1:10 YLT

And there hath been in that day, An affirmation of Jehovah, The noise of a cry from the fish-gate, And of a howling from the Second, And of great destruction from the hills.

Ezekiel 36:20-23 YLT

And one goeth in unto the nations whither they have gone, And they pollute My holy name by saying to them, The people of Jehovah `are' these, And from His land they have gone forth. And I have pity on My holy name, That the house of Israel have polluted among nations whither they have gone in. Therefore, say to the house of Israel, Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Not for your sake am I working, O house of Israel, But -- for My holy name, That ye have polluted among nations whither ye have gone in. And I have sanctified My great name, That is profaned among nations, That ye have polluted in your midst, And known have the nations that I `am' Jehovah, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, In My being sanctified in you before your eyes.

Ezekiel 20:14 YLT

And I do `it' for My name's sake, Not to pollute `it' before the eyes of the nations, Before whose eyes I brought them forth.

Ezekiel 20:9 YLT

And I do `it' for My name's sake, Not to pollute `it' before the eyes of the nations, In whose midst they `are', Before whose eyes I became known to them, To bring them out from the land of Egypt.

Lamentations 5:13-15 YLT

Young men to grind they have taken, And youths with wood have stumbled. The aged from the gate have ceased, Young men from their song. Ceased hath the joy of our heart, Turned to mourning hath been our dancing.

Lamentations 2:3 YLT

He hath cut off in the heat of anger every horn of Israel, He hath turned backward His right hand From the face of the enemy, And He burneth against Jacob as a flaming fire, It hath devoured round about.

Lamentations 1:21 YLT

They have heard that I have sighed, There is no comforter for me, All my enemies have heard of my calamity, They have rejoiced that Thou hast done `it', Thou hast brought in the day Thou hast called, And they are like to me.

Jeremiah 50:17 YLT

A scattered sheep is Israel, lions have driven away, At first, devour him did the king of Asshur, And now, at last, broken his bone Hath Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon.

Isaiah 52:3 YLT

For thus said Jehovah: `For nought ye have been sold, And not by money are ye redeemed.'

Isaiah 51:23 YLT

And I have put it into the hand of those afflicting thee, Who have said to thy soul, Bow down, and we pass over, And thou makest as the earth thy body, And as the street to those passing by!'

Isaiah 51:20 YLT

Thy sons have been wrapt up, they have lain down, At the head of all out places, as a wild ox `in' a net, They are full of the fury of Jehovah, The rebuke of Thy God.

Exodus 1:13-16 YLT

and the Egyptians cause the sons of Israel to serve with rigour, and make their lives bitter in hard service, in clay, and in brick, and in every `kind' of service in the field; all their service in which they have served `is' with rigour. And the king of Egypt speaketh to the midwives, the Hebrewesses, (of whom the name of the one `is' Shiphrah, and the name of the second Puah), and saith, `When ye cause the Hebrew women to bear, and have looked on the children; if it `is' a son -- then ye have put him to death; and if it `is' a daughter -- then she hath lived.'

Isaiah 37:28 YLT

And thy sitting down, and thy going out, And thy coming in, I have known, And thy anger towards Me.

Isaiah 37:6 YLT

and Isaiah saith unto them, `Thus do ye say unto your lord, Thus said Jehovah, Be not afraid because of the words that thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Asshur have reviled Me.

Isaiah 22:16 YLT

What -- to thee here? And who -- to thee here? That thou hast hewn out to thee here -- a sepulchre? Hewing on high his sepulchre, Graving in a rock a dwelling for himself.

Psalms 137:1-2 YLT

By rivers of Babylon -- There we did sit, Yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. On willows in its midst we hung our harps.

Psalms 74:22-23 YLT

Arise, O God, plead Thy plea, Remember Thy reproach from a fool all the day. Forget not the voice of Thine adversaries, The noise of Thy withstanders is going up continually!

Psalms 74:18 YLT

Remember this -- an enemy reproached Jehovah, And a foolish people have despised Thy name.

Psalms 74:10 YLT

Till when, O God, doth an adversary reproach? Doth an enemy despise thy name for ever?

Psalms 44:16 YLT

Because of the voice of a reproacher and reviler, Because of an enemy and a self-avenger.

Psalms 44:12 YLT

Thou sellest Thy people -- without wealth, And hast not become great by their price.

Judges 18:3 YLT

They `are' with the household of Micah, and they have discerned the voice of the young man, the Levite, and turn aside there, and say to him, `Who hath brought thee hither? and what art thou doing in this `place?' and what to thee here?'

Exodus 3:7 YLT

And Jehovah saith, `I have certainly seen the affliction of My people who `are' in Egypt, and their cry I have heard, because of its exactors, for I have known its pains;

Exodus 2:23-24 YLT

And it cometh to pass during these many days, that the king of Egypt dieth, and the sons of Israel sigh because of the service, and cry, and their cry goeth up unto God, because of the service; and God heareth their groaning, and God remembereth His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob;

Commentary on Isaiah 52 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible


CHAPTER 52

Isa 52:1-15. First through Thirteen Verses Connected with Fifty-first Chapter.

Zion long in bondage (Isa 51:17-20) is called to put on beautiful garments appropriate to its future prosperity.

1. strength—as thy adornment; answering to "beautiful garments" in the parallel clause. Arouse thyself from dejection and assume confidence.

the holy city—(Ne 11:1; Re 21:2).

no more … unclean—(Isa 35:8; 60:21; Joe 3:17; Re 21:27). A prophecy never yet fulfilled.

uncircumcised—spiritually (Eze 44:9; Ac 7:51).

2. from the dust—the seat of mourners (Job 2:12, 13).

arise, and sit—namely, in a more dignified place: on a divan or a throne [Lowth], after having shaken off the dust gathered up by the flowing dress when seated on the ground; or simply, "Arise, and sit erect" [Maurer].

bands of … neck—the yoke of thy captivity.

3. As you became your foes' servants, without their paying any price for you (Jer 15:13), so they shall release you without demanding any price or reward (Isa 45:13), (where Cyrus is represented as doing so: a type of their final restoration gratuitously in like manner). So the spiritual Israel, "sold under sin," gratuitously (Ro 7:14), shall be redeemed also gratuitously (Isa 55:1).

4. My people—Jacob and his sons.

went down—Judea was an elevated country compared with Egypt.

sojourn—They went there to stay only till the famine in Canaan should have ceased.

Assyrian—Sennacherib. Remember how I delivered you from Egypt and the Assyrian; what, then, is to prevent Me from delivering you out of Babylon (and the mystical Babylon and the Antichrist in the last days)?

without cause—answering to "for naught" in Isa 52:5; it was an act of gratuitous oppression in the present case, as in that case.

5. what have I here—that is, what am I called on to do? The fact "that My people is taken away (into captivity; Isa 49:24, 25) for naught" (by gratuitous oppression, Isa 52:4; also Isa 52:3, and see on Isa 52:3) demands My interposition.

they that rule—or "tyrannize," namely, Babylon, literal and mystical.

make … to howl—or, raise a cry of exultation over them [Maurer].

blasphemed—namely, in Babylon: God's reason for delivering His people, not their goodness, but for the sake of His holy name (Eze 20:9, 14).

6. shall know in that day—when Christ shall reveal Himself to Israel sensibly; the only means whereby their obstinate unbelief shall be overcome (Ps 102:16; Zec 12:10; 14:5).

7. beautiful … feet—that is, The advent of such a herald seen on the distant "mountains" (see on Isa 40:9; Isa 41:27; Isa 25:6, 7; So 2:17) running in haste with the long-expected good tidings, is most grateful to the desolated city (Na 1:15).

good tidings—only partially applying to the return from Babylon. Fully, and antitypically, the Gospel (Lu 2:10, 11), "beginning at Jerusalem" (Lu 24:47), "the city of the great King" (Mt 5:35), where Messiah shall, at the final restoration of Israel, "reign" as peculiarly Zion's God ("Thy God reigneth"; compare Ps 2:6).

8. watchmen—set on towers separated by intervals to give the earliest notice of the approach of any messenger with tidings (compare Isa 21:6-8). The Hebrew is more forcible than English Version, "The voice of thy watchmen" (exclamatory as in So 2:8). "They lift up their voice! together they sing."

eye to eye—that is, close at hand, and so clearly [Gesenius]; Nu 14:14, "face to face"; Nu 12:8, "mouth to mouth." Compare 1Co 13:12; Re 22:4, of which Simeon's sight of the Saviour was a prefiguration (Lu 2:30). The watchmen, spiritually, are ministers and others who pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Isa 62:6, 7),

bring again—that is, restore. Or else, "return to" [Maurer].

9. (Isa 14:7, 8; 42:11).

redeemed—spiritually and nationally (Isa 48:20).

10. made bare … arm—metaphor from warriors who bare their arm for battle (Eze 4:7).

all … earth … see … salvation of … God—The deliverance wrought by God for Israel will cause all nations to acknowledge the Lord (Isa 66:18-20). The partial fulfilment (Lu 3:6) is a forerunner of the future complete fulfilment.

11. (Isa 48:20; Zec 2:6, 7). Long residence in Babylon made many loath to leave it: so as to mystical Babylon (Re 18:4).

ye … that bear … vessels of the Lord—the priests and Levites, whose office it was to carry the vessels of the temple (Jer 27:18). Nebuchadnezzar had carried them to Babylon (2Ch 36:18). Cyrus restored them (Ezr 1:7-11).

be … clean—by separating yourselves wholly from Babylonian idolaters, mystical and literal.

12. not … with haste—as when ye left Egypt (Ex 12:33, 39; De 16:3; compare Note, see on Isa 28:16). Ye shall have time to cleanse yourselves and make deliberate preparation for departure.

Lord—Jehovah, as your Leader in front (Isa 40:3; Ex 23:20; Mic 2:13).

rereward—literally, "gather up," that is, to bring up the rear of your host. The transition is frequent from the glory of Messiah in His advent to reign, to His humiliation in His advent to suffer. Indeed, so are both advents accounted one, that He is not said, in His second coming, to be about to return, but to come.

13. Here the fifty-third chapter ought to begin, and the fifty-second chapter end with Isa 52:12. This section, from here to end of the fifty-third chapter settles the controversy with the Jews, if Messiah be the person meant; and with infidels, if written by Isaiah, or at any time before Christ. The correspondence with the life and death of Jesus Christ is so minute, that it could not have resulted from conjecture or accident. An impostor could not have shaped the course of events so as to have made his character and life appear to be a fulfilment of it. The writing is, moreover, declaredly prophetic. The quotations of it in the New Testament show: (1) that it was, before the time of Jesus, a recognized part of the Old Testament; (2) that it refers to Messiah (Mt 8:17; Mr 15:28; Lu 22:37; Joh 12:38; Ac 8:28-35; Ro 10:16; 1Pe 2:21-25). The indirect allusions to it still more clearly prove the Messianic interpretation; so universal was that interpretation, that it is simply referred to in connection with the atoning virtue of His death, without being formally quoted (Mr 9:12; Ro 4:25; 1Co 15:3; 2Co 5:21; 1Pe 1:19; 2:21-25; 1Jo 3:5). The genuineness of the passage is certain; for the Jews would not have forged it, since it is opposed to their notion of Messiah, as a triumphant temporal prince. The Christians could not have forged it; for the Jews, the enemies of Christianity, are "our librarians" [Paley]. The Jews try to evade its force by the figment of two Messiahs, one a suffering Messiah (Ben Joseph), the other a triumphant Messiah (Ben David). Hillel maintained that Messiah has already come in the person of Hezekiah. Buxtorf states that many of the modern Rabbins believe that He has been come a good while, but will not manifest Himself because of the sins of the Jews. But the ancient Jews, as the Chaldee paraphrast, Jonathan, refer it to Messiah; so the Medrasch Tauchuma (a commentary on the Pentateuch); also Rabbi Moses Haddarschan (see Hengstenberg, Christology of the Old Testament). Some explain it of the Jewish people, either in the Babylonish exile, or in their present sufferings and dispersion. Others, the pious portion of the nation taken collectively, whose sufferings made a vicarious satisfaction for the ungodly. Others, Isaiah, or Jeremiah [Gesenius], the prophets collectively. But an individual is plainly described: he suffers voluntarily, innocently, patiently, and as the efficient cause of the righteousness of His people, which holds good of none other but Messiah (Isa 53:4-6, 9, 11; contrast Jer 20:7; 15:10-21; Ps 137:8, 9). Isa 53:9 can hold good of none other. The objection that the sufferings (Isa 53:1-10) referred to are represented as past, the glorification alone as future (Isa 52:13-15; 53:11, 12) arises from not seeing that the prophet takes his stand in the midst of the scenes which he describes as future. The greater nearness of the first advent, and the interval between it and the second, are implied by the use of the past tense as to the first, the future as to the second.

Behold—awakening attention to the striking picture of Messiah that follows (compare Joh 19:5, 14).

my servant—Messiah (Isa 42:1).

deal prudently—rather, "prosper" [Gesenius] as the parallel clause favors (Isa 53:10). Or, uniting both meanings, "shall reign well" [Hengstenberg]. This verse sets forth in the beginning the ultimate issue of His sufferings, the description of which follows: the conclusion (Isa 53:12) corresponds; the section (Isa 52:13; 53:12) begins as it ends with His final glory.

extolled—elevated (Mr 16:19; Eph 1:20-22; 1Pe 3:22).

14, 15. Summary of Messiah's history, which is set forth more in detail in the fifty-third chapter. "Just as many were astonished (accompanied with aversion, Jer 18:16; 19:8), &c.; his visage, &c.; so shall He sprinkle," &c.; Israel in this answers to its antitype Messiah, now "an astonishment and byword" (De 28:37), hereafter about to be a blessing and means of salvation to many nations (Isa 2:2, 3; Mic 5:7).

thee; his—Such changes of persons are common in Hebrew poetry.

marred—Hebrew, "disfigurement"; abstract for concrete; not only disfigured, but disfigurement itself.

more than man—Castalio translates, "so that it was no longer that of a man" (compare Ps 22:6). The more perfect we may suppose the "body prepared" (Heb 10:5) for Him by God, the sadder by contrast was the "marring" of His visage and form.

15. sprinkle many—Gesenius, for the antithesis to "be astonished," translates, "shall cause … to exult." But the word universally in the Old Testament means either to sprinkle with blood, as the high priest makes an expiation (Le 4:6; 16:18, 19); or with water, to purify (Eze 36:25; compare as to the Spirit, Ac 2:33), both appropriate to Messiah (Joh 13:8; Heb 9:13, 14; 10:22; 12:24; 1Pe 1:2). The antithesis is sufficient without any forced rendering. Many were astonished; so many (not merely men, but) nations shall be sprinkled. They were amazed at such an abject person claiming to be Messiah; yet it is He who shall justify and purify. Men were dumb with the amazement of scorn at one marred more than the lowest of men, yet the highest: even kings (Isa 49:7, 23) shall be dumb with awe and veneration ("shut … mouths"; Job 29:9, 10; Mic 7:16).

that … not … told them—the reason why kings shall so venerate them; the wonders of redemption, which had not been before told them, shall then be announced to them, wonders such as they had never heard or seen parallelled (Isa 55:1; Ro 15:21; 16:25, 26).