Isaiah 52:2

2 Get up, Jerusalem! Shake off your dust. Take your place on your throne. Captured people of Zion, remove the chains from your neck.

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! Zion, wake up! Dress yourself with strength as if it were your clothes. Holy city of Jerusalem, put on your clothes of glory. Those who haven't been circumcised will never enter you again. Neither will those who are "unclean."
2 Get up, Jerusalem! Shake off your dust. Take your place on your throne. Captured people of Zion, remove the chains from your neck.
3 The LORD says, "When you were sold as slaves, no one paid anything for you. Now no one will pay any money to set you free."
4 The LORD and King continues, "Long ago my people went down to Egypt. They lived there for a while. Later, Assyria crushed them without any reason.
5 "Now look at what has happened to them," announces the Lord. "Once again my people have been taken away. And no one paid anything for them. Those who rule over them brag about it," announces the Lord. "All day long without stopping, people speak evil things against my name.
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