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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 Exodus 12:11 and Isaiah 52:12

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Isaiah 52 refers to a quick departure, echoing Exodus 12 where the Passover meal is eaten quickly in preparation for the sudden escape. The use of a rare verb for “haste” links the two passages and Isaiah’s theme of a second exodus to end the exile.

Passages

Exodus 12:11

Hebrew Bible
10 You must leave nothing until morning, but you must burn with fire whatever remains of it until morning. 11 This is how you are to eat it—dressed to travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. 12 “‘I will pass through the land of Egypt in the same night, and I will attack all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of humans and of animals, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

Isaiah 52:12

Hebrew Bible
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—
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

References

"... Allusion to this Exodus typology is not always as overt as in these passages. The description of Yahveh as is milhama, 'a warrior,' in Isaiah 42:13 is paralleled only in the Song at the Papyrus Sea (Exodus 15:3), which also ends with the acclamation of Yahveh as king (Exodus 15:18 compare Isaiah 52:7). The prediction that the descendants of the deportees will not leave their exile in haste (52:12), following an explicit reference to the Exodus (verses 3-4), echoes Exodus 12:11 and Deuteronomy 16:3, the command to eat the Passover in haste (behippazon, only in these three texts) ..."
Joseph Blenkinsopp, Isaiah 40–55: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (New York: Doubleday, 2002), 112.

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

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Exodus 12:11 and Isaiah 52:12

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