Isaiah 52:2

2 Jerusalem, be thou shaken out of [the] dust; rise thou, (and) sit thou (down); thou daughter of Zion, (thou) prisoner, unbind the bonds of thy 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 ) .

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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 Rise thou, Zion, rise thou, be thou clothed in thy strength; Jerusalem, the city of the Holy (One), be thou clothed in the clothes of thy glory; for a man uncircumcised and a man unclean shall no more lay to, that he pass by thee (for the uncircumcised, and the unclean, shall never again enter thy gates).

2 Jerusalem, be thou shaken out of [the] dust; rise thou, (and) sit thou (down); thou daughter of Zion, (thou) prisoner, unbind the bonds of thy neck.

3 For the Lord saith these things, Ye be sold without cause, and ye shall be again-bought without silver. (For the Lord saith these things, Ye were sold for nothing, and ye shall be bought back without any silver.)

4 For the Lord God saith these things, My people in the beginning went down into Egypt, that it should be there an earth-tiller, either a comeling, and Assur falsely challenged it without any cause. (For the Lord God saith these things, In the beginning my people went down to Egypt, so that they could be earth-tillers, or newcomers, there, and the Assyrians oppressed them without any cause.)

5 And now what is to me here? saith the Lord; for my people is taken away without cause; the lords thereof do wickedly, saith the Lord, and my name is blasphemed continually all day (and my name is continually blasphemed all day long).