Isaiah

About this book

Chapter 52

1 Wake up! Wake up! Clothe yourself with strength, O Zion! Put on your beautiful clothes, O Jerusalem, holy city.⁠ For uncircumcised and unclean pagans will no longer invade you. 2 Shake off the dirt! Get up, captive Jerusalem.⁠ Take off the iron chains around your neck, O captive daughter Zion.⁠ 3 For this is what the Lord says: “You were sold for nothing, and you will not be redeemed for money.” 4 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. 5 And now, what do we have here?” says the Lord. “Indeed my people have been carried away for nothing, those who rule over them taunt,” says the Lord, “and my name is constantly slandered all day long. 6 For this reason my people will know my name; for this reason they will know at that time that I am the one who says, ‘Here I am.’” 7 How delightful it is to see approaching over the mountains the feet of a messenger who announces peace,⁠ a messenger who brings good news,⁠ who announces deliverance, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”⁠ 8 Listen, your watchmen shout; in unison they shout for joy, for they see with their very own eyes the Lord’s return to Zion. 9 In unison give a joyful shout, O ruins of Jerusalem! For the Lord consoles his people; he protects Jerusalem. 10 The Lord reveals his royal power in the sight of all the nations; the entire earth sees our God deliver. 11 Leave! Leave! Get out of there! Don’t touch anything unclean! Get out of it! Stay pure, you who carry the Lord’s holy items.⁠ 12 Yet do not depart quickly or leave in a panic.⁠ For the Lord goes before you; the God of Israel is your rear guard. 13 Look, my servant will act wisely!²⁰ He will be elevated, lifted high, and greatly exalted—⁠ 14 (just as many were horrified by the sight of you) he was so disfigured he no longer looked like a man; his form was so marred he no longer looked human— 15 so now he will startle many nations. Kings will be shocked by his exaltation, for they will witness something unannounced to them, and they will understand something they had not heard about.

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 52:1 and Baruch 5:1

Hebrew Bible · Deuterocanon

Summary

Baruch urges Jerusalem to trade mourning clothes for glory, echoing Isaiah’s call for Zion to dress in strength and beauty. In Isaiah, this marks the end of foreign rule. Baruch reshapes the image into a chain of commands linking exile to future renewal.

Passages

Isaiah 52:1

Hebrew Bible

1 Wake up! Wake up! Clothe yourself with strength, O Zion! Put on your beautiful clothes, O Jerusalem, holy city. For uncircumcised and unclean pagans will no longer invade you. 2 Shake off the dirt! Get up, captive Jerusalem. Take off the iron chains around your neck, O captive daughter Zion. 3 For this is what the Lord says: “You were sold for nothing, and you will not be redeemed for money.” 4 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.

740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

Baruch 5:1

Deuterocanon

1 Take off the garment of your mourning and affliction, O Jerusalem, and put on forever the beauty of the glory from God. 2 Put on the robe of the righteousness from God. Set on your head a diadem of the glory of the Everlasting. 3 For God will show your splendor everywhere under heaven. 4 For your name will be called by God forever “Righteous Peace, Godly Glory”. 5 Arise, O Jerusalem, and stand upon the height. Look around you toward the east and see your children gathered from the going down of the sun to its rising at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that God has remembered them.

200–50 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Baruch

References

"... Baruch 4:30–5:6 can be divided into four passages, each introduced by an imperative addressing Jerusalem. The initial call to take courage (θάρσει, 4:30) recalls the call to take courage (θαρσήσατε) addressed to Zion’s children in the preceding passage (verses 21, 27). It is followed by an announcement of disaster for the three groups of Jerusalem’s enemies and those profiting from Jerusalem’s fall, each of which is introduced by δείλαιοι. The call to look toward the east (4:36) is followed by a description of the return of Jerusalem’s sons, which recalls Isaiah 49:18; 40:4. The relative clause οὓς ἐξαπέστειλας in verse 37, designating Jerusalem as the one having sent her children to exile, creates a link to 4:11. The call to change clothes and put on clothes signifying Jerusalem’s glory (5:1) recalls texts such as Isaiah 52:1; 61:10. Within the context of the poem it takes up and is a reversal of Zion putting on clothes of mourning in verse 20. The motif of God naming Jerusalem in the past (4:30) and in the future (5:4) frames 4:30–5:4. Another call to rise and stand and to look toward the east (5:5) recalls and summarizes 4:36–37. In what follows, the return of Jerusalem’s children is confronted with them going into exile. Verses 7–8 depict the transformation of nature, facilitating the return and recalling Isaiah 40:4–5. Baruch 5:1–9 has a close parallel in Psalm of Solomon 11, though the direction of the relationship is under debate ..."

Johanna Erzberger, “One Author’s Polyphony: Zion and God Parallelized (Bar 4:5–5:9),” in Studies on Baruch: Composition, Literary Relations, and Reception, ed. Sean A. Adams (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2016), 79–95.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Isaiah66 chapters

Compare Isaiah 52:1 and Baruch 5:1

Summary

Passages

Isaiah 52:1

Baruch 5:1

References

Your feedback

Leave a comment

Glossary

Search the Library