World English Bible
- Awake, awake! Put on your strength, Zion. Put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city, for from now on the uncircumcised and the unclean will no more come into you.
- Shake yourself from the dust! Arise, sit up, Jerusalem! Release yourself from the bonds of your neck, captive daughter of Zion!
- For the LORD says, “You were sold for nothing; and you will be redeemed without money.”
- For the Lord GOD says: “My people went down at the first into Egypt to live there; and the Assyrian has oppressed them without cause.
- “Now therefore, what do I do here,” says the LORD, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Those who rule over them mock,” says the LORD, “and my name is blasphemed continually all day long.
- Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore they shall know in that day that I am he who speaks. Behold, it is I.”
- How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
- Your watchmen lift up their voice. Together they sing; for they shall see eye to eye when the LORD returns to Zion.
- Break out into joy! Sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem; for the LORD has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem.
- The LORD has made his holy arm bare in the eyes of all the nations. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
- Depart! Depart! Go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Go out from among her! Cleanse yourselves, you who carry the LORD’s vessels.
- For you shall not go out in haste, neither shall you go by flight; for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
- Behold, my servant will deal wisely. He will be exalted and lifted up, and will be very high.
- Just as many were astonished at you— his appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men—
- so he will cleanse many nations. Kings will shut their mouths at him; for they will see that which had not been told them, and they will understand that which they had not heard.
Isaiah 52 gives us a strange picture of salvation: a runner’s beautiful feet, the Lord’s bared arm, and a servant’s face so marred that people turn away. We might expect God’s arm to look like an army. Isaiah asks us to keep reading.
Jerusalem is told to rise from the dust and put on beautiful garments. Yet the city has not dressed itself in victory. Its people have been carried away by empires. God says they were sold for nothing and will be redeemed without money (verse 3). Babylon may hold captives, but it has no rightful claim on their lives. God will not bargain as though their oppressors own them.
The command to leave Babylon recalls the exodus, but with a striking change. Israel once ate in haste, ready to flee Egypt (Exodus 12:11). Now God says they will not go out in haste: he will lead them and guard their rear. Those carrying the Lord’s vessels must be clean (Isaiah 52:11–12). Such vessels had been taken from the temple; Ezra records their return from Babylon (Ezra 1:7–11). God is bringing home more than displaced people. He is restoring worship. Freedom is not merely escape from a place; it is a return to the presence of God.
Then the poem turns. The Lord bares his holy arm before all nations, and immediately we meet the servant, exalted yet terribly disfigured. Isaiah 53:1 will ask who has seen that arm. Christians have long heard the answer in Christ: God’s saving strength is disclosed through suffering love. Luther called attention to this mystery in his theology of the cross: God’s power is often found where we least expect glory.
The last verse deepens the surprise. The Hebrew verb translated “cleanse” in the World English Bible can mean sprinkle, as a priest sprinkles for purification. Some read it as “startle,” fitting the silence of astonished kings. Either way, the nations are changed by the servant they did not understand. The holy city is closed to uncleanness in verse 1, but the chapter ends with cleansing reaching the nations. God’s holiness is not a wall behind which he hides; through his servant, it becomes a gift he gives.
Where are you still trying to purchase what God gives freely—or flee so quickly that you cannot trust him to guard your rear? Rise when he calls you. Leave what defiles. And do not turn your face from the wounded servant through whom God welcomes you home.
Further reading: Isaiah 56:3–7; John 12:32–38. Hymn: “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.”
Prayer: Lord Jesus, free us from false owners and frantic striving. Cleanse us, lead us, and teach us to recognize your strength in your self-giving love. Amen.