Isaiah 52:2

2 Brush off the dust and get to your feet, captive Jerusalem! Throw off your chains, captive daughter of Zion!

Isaiah 52:2 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 52:2

Shake thyself from the dust
Or "the dust from thee" F7, in which she had sat, or rolled herself as a mourner; or where she had been trampled upon by her persecutors and oppressors; but now being delivered from them, as well as from all carnal professors and false teachers, she is called upon to shake herself from the dust of debasement and distress, of false doctrine, superstition, and will worship, in every form and shape, a great deal of which adheres to those churches called reformed. Arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem;
or "sit up", as it may be rendered; arise from thy low estate, from the ground and dust where thou art cast;

``and sit upon the throne of thy glory,''
so the Targum: it denotes the exaltation of the church from a low to a high estate, signified by the ascension of the witnesses to heaven, ( Revelation 11:12 ) . Some render it, "arise, O captivity"; or "captive" F8; so the word is used in ( Isaiah 49:24 Isaiah 49:25 ) and agrees with what follows: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion;
or loose thou "the bands off thy neck from thee"; which seems to denote the people of God in mystical Babylon, a little before its destruction, who will be called out of it, as they afterwards are in this chapter; and to throw off the Romish yoke, and release themselves from that captivity and bondage they have been brought into by the man of sin, who now himself shall be led captive, ( Revelation 13:10 ) .
FOOTNOTES:

F7 (rpem yrenth) "exute pulverem a te", Sanctius, Gataker.
F8 (ybv ymwq) "surge captivas", Forerius; so Ben Melech interprets it.

Isaiah 52:2 In-Context

1 Wake up, wake up! Pull on your boots, Zion! Dress up in your Sunday best, Jerusalem, holy city! Those who want no part of God have been culled out. They won't be coming along.
2 Brush off the dust and get to your feet, captive Jerusalem! Throw off your chains, captive daughter of Zion!
3 God says, "You were sold for nothing. You're being bought back for nothing."
4 Again, the Master, God, says, "Early on, my people went to Egypt and lived, strangers in the land. At the other end, Assyria oppressed them.
5 And now, what have I here?" God's Decree. "My people are hauled off again for no reason at all. Tyrants on the warpath, whooping it up, and day after day, incessantly, my reputation blackened.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.