Lectionary Calendar
Thursday, October 3rd, 2024
the Week of Proper 21 / Ordinary 26
Attention!
Tired of seeing ads while studying? Now you can enjoy an "Ads Free" version of the site for as little as 10¢ a day and support a great cause!
Click here to learn more!

Read the Bible

King James Version

Isaiah 52:4

For thus saith the Lord God , My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Church;   Israel, Prophecies Concerning;   Oppression;   Scofield Reference Index - Sacrifice;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Assyria;  

Dictionaries:

- Easton Bible Dictionary - Pharaoh;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Micah, Book of;   Righteousness;   Servant of the Lord;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Isaiah, Book of;   Zion, Sion, Mount Zion;  

Encyclopedias:

- The Jewish Encyclopedia - Right and Righteousness;   Triennial Cycle;  

Parallel Translations

Legacy Standard Bible
For thus says Lord Yahweh, "My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there; then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
For thus says the Lord GOD, "My people went down at the first into Egypt to reside there; then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
Bible in Basic English
For the Lord God says, My people went down at first into Egypt, to get a place for themselves there: and the Assyrian put a cruel yoke on them without cause.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
For thus saith the Lorde God: My people went downe afore tyme into Egypt, there to be straungers, and the kyng of the Assyrians oppressed them without any cause.
Darby Translation
For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and Assyria oppressed them without cause;
New King James Version
For thus says the Lord GOD: "My people went down at first Into Egypt to dwell there; Then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
Literal Translation
For so says the Lord Jehovah: My people went down to Egypt at the first, to reside there, and without cause Assyria oppressed him.
Easy-to-Read Version
The Lord God says, "First, my people went down to Egypt and became slaves. Then Assyria made them slaves.
World English Bible
For thus says the Lord Yahweh, My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there: and the Assyrian has oppressed them without cause.
King James Version (1611)
For thus saith the Lord God, My people went downe aforetime into Egypt to soiourne there, and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For thus hath the LORDE sayde: My people wete downe afore tyme in to Egipte, there to be straungers. Afterwarde dyd the kinge of the Assirians oppresse the, for naught.
THE MESSAGE
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. 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. Now it's time that my people know who I am, what I'm made of—yes, that I have something to say. Here I am!"
Amplified Bible
For the Lord GOD says this, "My people went down at the first into Egypt to live there; and [many years later Sennacherib] the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
American Standard Version
For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there: and the Assyrian hath oppressed them without cause.
Update Bible Version
For thus says the Lord Yahweh, My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there: and the Assyrian has oppressed them without cause.
Webster's Bible Translation
For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people went down formerly into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
New Century Version
This is what the Lord God says: "First my people went down to Egypt to live. Later Assyria made them slaves.
New English Translation
For this is what the sovereign Lord says: "In the beginning my people went to live temporarily in Egypt; Assyria oppressed them for no good reason.
Contemporary English Version
Long ago you went to Egypt where you lived as foreigners. Then Assyria was cruel to you,
Complete Jewish Bible
For thus says Adonai Elohim : "Long ago my people went down to Egypt to live there as aliens, and Ashur oppressed them for no reason.
Geneva Bible (1587)
For thus saith the Lorde God, My people went downe afore time into Egypt to soiourne there, and Asshur oppressed them without cause.
George Lamsa Translation
For thus says the LORD God: My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian carried them away with violence.
Hebrew Names Version
For thus says the Lord GOD, My people went down at the first into Mitzrayim to sojourn there: and the Ashshur has oppressed them without cause.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
For thus saith the Lord GOD: My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
New Living Translation
This is what the Sovereign Lord says: "Long ago my people chose to live in Egypt. Now they are oppressed by Assyria.
New Life Bible
For the Lord God says, "My people went down at first to Egypt to live there. Then the Assyrian made it hard for them without a reason.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Thus saith the Lord, My people went down before to Egypt to sojourn there; and were carried away forcibly to the Assyrians.
English Revised Version
For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there: and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
Berean Standard Bible
For this is what the Lord GOD says: "At first My people went down to Egypt to live, then Assyria oppressed them without cause.
New Revised Standard
For thus says the Lord God : Long ago, my people went down into Egypt to reside there as aliens; the Assyrian, too, has oppressed them without cause.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For, thus, saith My Lord, Yahweh, To Egypt, went down my people at first to sojourn there, - But, Assyria, without cause, hath oppressed him.
Douay-Rheims Bible
For thus saith the Lord God: My people went down into Egypt at the beginning to sojourn there: and the Assyrian hath oppressed them without any cause at all.
Lexham English Bible
For thus says the Lord Yahweh: "My people went down to Egypt in the beginning, to dwell as aliens there, and Assyria oppressed him without cause.
English Standard Version
For thus says the Lord God : "My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing.
New American Standard Bible
For this is what the Lord GOD says: "My people went down to Egypt first to reside there; then the Assyrian oppressed them without reason.
Good News Translation
When you went to live in Egypt as foreigners, you did so of your own free will; Assyria, however, took you away by force and paid nothing for you.
Christian Standard Bible®
For this is what the Lord God says: "At first My people went down to Egypt to live there, then Assyria oppressed them without cause.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For the Lord God seith these thingis, Mi puple in the bigynnyng yede doun in to Egipt, that it schulde be there `an erthe tiliere, and Assur falsli calengide it with out ony cause.
Revised Standard Version
For thus says the Lord GOD: My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing.
Young's Literal Translation
For thus said the Lord Jehovah: `To Egypt My people went down at first to sojourn there, And Asshur -- for nought he hath oppressed it.

Contextual Overview

1 Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. 2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. 3 For thus saith the Lord , Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money. 4 For thus saith the Lord God , My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. 5 Now therefore, what have I here, saith the Lord , that my people is taken away for nought? they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the Lord ; and my name continually every day is blasphemed. 6 Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

My people: Genesis 46:6, Acts 7:14, Acts 7:15

the Assyrian: Isaiah 14:25, Isaiah 36:1 - Isaiah 37:38, Jeremiah 50:17

without: Job 2:3, Psalms 25:3, Psalms 69:4, John 15:25

Reciprocal: Genesis 47:4 - For to Psalms 44:12 - sellest Isaiah 42:22 - a people Jeremiah 50:33 - and all Ezekiel 36:11 - and ye

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For thus saith the Lord God,.... The Lord confirms what he had before said of redeeming his people without money, who had been sold for nothing, by past instances of his deliverance of them:

my people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; Jacob and his family went down there of their own accord, where they were supplied with food in a time of famine, and settled in a very fruitful part of it; but when they were oppressed, and cried to the Lord, he appeared for them, and delivered them:

and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause; which some understand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who they say was an Assyrian, or so called, because of his power and cruelty; or it being usual to call any enemy of the Jews an Assyrian: or rather the words may be rendered, "but the Assyrian", c. Pharaoh had some pretence for what he did the Israelites came into his country, he did not carry them captive; they received many benefits and favours there, and were settled in a part of his dominions, so that he might claim them as his subjects, and refuse to dismiss them; but the Assyrians had nothing to do with them; could not make any pretence why they should invade them, and oppress them; and therefore if the Lord had delivered them from the one, he would also deliver them from the other. This may be understood of the several invasions and captivities by Pul, Tiglathpileser, Shalmaneser, Sennacherib, and even Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; Babylon having been the metropolis of Assyria, and a branch of the Assyrian empire, though now translated to the Chaldeans: or the sense is, and the Assyrians also oppressed Israel, as well as the Egyptians, without any just reason, and I delivered them out of their hands; and so I will redeem my church and people out of antichristian bondage and slavery.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For thus saith the Lord God - In order to show them that he could redeem them without money, God reminds them of what had been done in former times. The numerous captives in Egypt, whose services were so valuable to the Egyptians, and whom the Egyptians were so unwilling to suffer to depart, he had rescued by his own power, and had delivered for ever from that bondage. The idea here is, that with the same ease he could rescue the captives in Babylon, and restore them to their own land without a price.

My people went down - That is, Jacob and his sons. The phrase ‘went down,’ is applied to a journey to Egypt, because Judea was a mountainous and elevated country compared with Egypt, and a journey there was in fact a descent to a more level and lower country.

To sojourn there - Not to dwell there permanently, but to remain there only for a time. They went in fact only to remain until the severity of the famine should have passed by, and until they could return with safety to the land of Canaan.

And the Assyrians oppressed them without cause - A considerable variety has existed in the interpretation of this passage. The Septuagint renders it, ‘And to the Assyrians they were carried by force.’ Some have supposed that this refers to the oppressions that they experienced in Egypt, and that the name ‘Assyrian’ is here given to Pharaoh. So Forerius and Cajetan understand it. They suppose that the name, ‘the Assyrian,’ became, in the apprehension of the Jews, the common name of that which was proud, oppressive, and haughty, and might therefore be used to designate Pharaoh. But there are insuperable objections to this. For the name ‘the Assyrian’ is not elsewhere given to Pharaoh in the Scriptures, nor can it be supposed to be given to him but with great impropriety. It is not true that Pharaoh was an Assyrian; nor is it true that the Israelites were oppressed by the Assyrians while they remained in Egypt. Others have supposed that this refers to Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans in general, and that the name ‘the Assyrian’ is given them in a large and general sense, as ruling over that which constituted the empire of Assyria, and that the prophet here refers to the calamities which they were suffering in Babylon. But the objection to this is not the less decisive.

It is true that Babylon was formerly a part or province of Assyria, and true also that in the time of the Jewish captivity it was the capital of the kingdom of which the former empire of Assyria became a subject province. But the name Babylonian, in the Scriptures, is kept distinct from that of Assyrian, and they are not used interchangeably. Nor does the connection of the passage require us to understand it in this sense. The whole passage is in a high degree elliptical, and something must be supplied to make out the sense. The general design of it is, to show that God would certainly deliver the Jews from the captivity at Babylon without money. For this purpose, the prophet appeals to the former instances of his interposition when deliverance had been effected in that way. A paraphrase of the passage, and a filling up of the parts which are omitted in the brief and abrupt manner of the prophet, will show the sense. ‘Ye have been sold for nought, and ye shall be ransomed without price.

As a proof that I can do it, and will do it, remember that my people went down formerly to Egypt, and designed to sojourn there for a little time, and that they were there reduced to slavery, and oppressed by Pharaoh, but that I ransomed them without money, and brought them forth by my own power. Remember, further, how often the Assyrian has oppressed them also, without cause. Remember the history of Sennacherib, Tiglath-pileser, and Salmaneser, and how they have laid the land waste, and remember also how I have delivered it from these oppressions. With the same certainty, and the same ease, I can deliver the people from the captivity at Babylon.’ The prophet, therefore, refers to different periods and events; and the idea is, that God had delivered them when they had been oppressed alike by the Egyptian, and by the Assyrians, and that he who had so often interposed would also rescue them from their oppression in Babylon.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 52:4. Thus saith the Lord God — אדני יהוה Adonai Jehovah; but Adonai is wanting in twelve of Kennicott's, five of De Rossi's, and two of my own MSS.; and by the Septuagint and Arabic. Some MSS. have יהוה צבאות Jehovah tsebaoth, "Lord of hosts;" and others have יהוה אלהים Yehovah Elohim, "Lord God."


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile