Isaiah 52 explained: Wake Up, Jerusalem, Rescue Is Coming

Jerusalem, get up (vv. 1-2)

Jerusalem is pictured as a captive woman sitting in the dust, the place of mourning, now told to put on her best clothes and take the chains off her neck. The promise that the uncircumcised and unclean, meaning those outside Israel's covenant with God, will not enter again may mean invaders will never again trample the city, or that foreign idol worship will no longer be welcomed there.

Taken for nothing (vv. 3-6)

God says he received no payment when his people were handed over, so he will take them back without paying anyone either. Like Egypt and Assyria before, their present captors (most scholars think Babylon) mock God as unable to save, and he promises to act so his people will see that he is the one who spoke.

Good news on the mountains (vv. 7-10)

A runner is seen crossing the hills toward ruined Jerusalem, and the lookouts on the walls shout for joy because the news is that God reigns and is coming back. Baring his arm is a warrior's image: God rolls up his sleeve to rescue his people in full view of every nation.

Leave Babylon (vv. 11-12)

The exiles are told to leave and keep themselves ritually clean, especially the priests carrying the temple's sacred bowls and utensils that Babylon had taken. Unlike the rushed escape from Egypt, this departure will be calm, with God leading in front and guarding from behind.

The servant lifted high (vv. 13-15)

A servant of God is introduced who is so disfigured that people are appalled, yet he will be raised to the highest honor, leaving kings speechless. The word translated "sprinkle" may mean cleansing, as priests sprinkled for purification, or it may mean "startle," and scholars are unsure; this passage begins the famous song continued in chapter 53, which Christians read as describing Jesus.

Key verse: Isaiah 52:7

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether the disfigured servant in verses 13 to 15 was first meant as Israel or a figure of the prophet's own time and later found its fullest meaning in Jesus, or was written as a direct prediction of Jesus alone.

Something to think about

When have you seen someone people looked down on turn out to matter far more than anyone expected, and what changed how they were seen?