to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Lord
אֲדֹנָ֣י'a.do.Nai
H136
the Lord (used as a proper name of God only) · proper noun, a title
GOD
יְהוִ֔הYah.weh
H3069
YHWH · proper noun, a title
people
עַמִּ֥י'a.Mi
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
down
יָֽרַדya.rad-
H3381
to descend (literally · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
aforetime
בָרִֽאשֹׁנָ֖הva.ri.sho.Nah
H7223
first · preposition with the article + ordinal number, feminine singular absolute
Egypt
מִצְרַ֛יִםmitz.Ra.yim
H4714
Mitsrajim · proper noun, a place name
sojourn
לָג֣וּרla.Gur
H1481
properly · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
Assyrian
וְאַשּׁ֖וּרve.'a.Shur
H804
Ashshur · conjunction + proper noun, a place name
oppressed
עֲשָׁקֽוֹa.sha.Ko
H6231
to press upon · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
cause
בְּאֶ֥פֶסbe.'E.fes
H657
cessation · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Genesis 46:6 And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with…
Psalms 69:4 They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are might…
Job 2:3 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, o…
Acts 7:14-15 Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.
Psalms 25:3 Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.
Isaiah 14:25 That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his bur…
Isaiah 36:1-22 Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Jud…
Jeremiah 50:17 Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 52:1-6
Here, I. God's people are stirred up to appear vigorous for their own deliverance, Isa 52:1, Isa 52:2. They had desired that God would awake and put on his strength, Isa 51:9. Here he calls upon them to awake and put on their strength, to bestir themselves; let them awake from their despondency, and pluck up their spirits, encourage themselves and one another with the hope that all will be well yet, and no longer succumb and sink under their burden. Let them awake from their distrust, look above them, look about them, look into the promises, look into the providences of God that were working for them, and let them raise their expectations of great things from God. Let them awake from their d…
My people--Jacob and his sons.
went down--Judea was an elevated country compared with Egypt.
sojourn--They went there to stay only till the famine in Canaan should have ceased.
Assyrian--Sennacherib. Remember how I delivered you from Egypt and the Assyrian; what, then, is to prevent Me from delivering you out of Babylon (and the mystical Babylon and the Antichrist in the last days)?
without cause--answering to "for naught" in Isa 52:5; it was an act of gratuitous oppression in the present case, as in that case.
John Gill on Isaiah 52:4
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 c…
His question is a matter of style meant to show the strangeness of the happening: did you not go to Egypt? he says. Why then have you come back from there? "Thus says the Lord, because my people was taken for nothing, you wonder and howl." You are struck with amazement, he says, in deploring the captivity, because, despite the title of "my people" that you carry, you have suffered these misfortunes. Well, do not wonder, but consider how "on account of you my name is continually blasphemed among the Gentiles." The fact that you are justifiably undergoing these misfortunes is not so insupportable as the fact that I am blasphemed because of you and that the Gentiles think my weakness is the cause of the bad fortune that you have endured.
(Verse 4 and following) Because thus says the Lord God: My people went down into Egypt at the beginning, to dwell there as strangers: and Assur without any cause has oppressed them. And now what have I here, says the Lord? For my people have been taken away for nothing: their rulers have acted unjustly, says the Lord, and my name is constantly blasphemed all day long. Therefore, on that day my people shall know my name, because I myself am the one who spoke, behold, I am here. LXX: For thus says the Lord: My people went down into Egypt to sojourn there, and they became slaves in Assyria. And now, what will happen here, says the Lord? For my people have been taken away for no reason; you marvel and wail. Thus says the Lord: Because of you, my name is constantly blasphemed among the nations. Therefore, on that day, my people will know my name, for I myself am present. He reproaches the people of Judah and predicts what is to come. Those who descended to Egypt by their own will and travelled in the land of Goshen during a time of necessity and famine (Genesis XLVII): later suffered slander by the Assyrians, whom they had not harmed, and were taken into captivity in Babylon (2 Kings XVII, 25). From this, it is inferred: 'And now, what do I have here, says the Lord?' And the meaning is: I have nothing left that would cause me to remain in this region, from which my people was taken away for nothing, and sold into captivity because of their sins, and like a wild bull caught in a net, either by the strength of the Romans or by the snares of the devil, by which it is held captive until now. But in order to allow these things, their rulers and masters acted unfairly; those who, according to Symmachus and Theodotion, will howl; those who, according to Aquila, will weep, when they have been handed over to torments. For they are the ones who incited the people against the Savior, so that they might shout with one voice: Crucify, crucify such a one (John 19:15). Concerning whom he had already said: The Lord himself will come with the elders of the people and with its princes. But why have you set my vineyard on fire and plundered the poor in your houses? (Is. III, 14) Therefore, according to the Septuagint, it speaks to them: Because of you, my name is always blasphemed among the nations. And it should be known that, among the nations, my name is not blasphemed in…
Dictionary and topics
Pharaoh — The official title borne by the Egyptian kings down to the time when that country was conquered by the Greeks. (See EGYPT.) The name is a compound, as some think, of the words Ra, the “sun” or…
Assyria · Condemned for oppressing God’s people — Condemned for oppressing God’s people
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on Isaiah 52:4
Into Egypt my people went down aforetime. Here also the commentators touch neither heaven nor earth; for the Jews dream of three captivities, and Christians differ from them by thinking that this denotes a third captivity, which shall be under Antichrist, and from which Christ will deliver them. But the Prophet's meaning, in my opinion, is quite different; for he argues from the less to the greater, by quoting the instance of the Egyptian captivity, from which the people were formerly recalled by the wonderful power of God. (Exodus 14:28.) The argument therefore stands thus: "If the Lord punished the Egyptians because their treatment of his people was harsh and unjust, (Genesis 15:14,) much…
The reason for the address is now given in a well-sustained promise. "For thus saith Jehovah, Ye have been sold for nothing, and ye shall not be redeemed with silver. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, My people went down to Egypt in the beginning to dwell there as guests; and Asshur has oppressed it for nothing. And now, what have I to do here? saith Jehovah: for my people are taken away for nothing; their oppressors shriek, saith Jehovah, and my name is continually blasphemed all the day. Therefore my people shall learn my name; therefore, in that day, that I am He who saith, There am I." Ye have been sold (this is the meaning of Isa 52:3); but this selling is merely a giving over to a forei…
in Egypt . . . oppressed by Assyria: The exodus from exile would be like Israel’s past exodus from Egypt.
Rashi on Isaiah 52:4
My people first went down to Egypt The Egyptians had somewhat of a debt upon them, for they served for them as their hosts and sustained them, but Assyria oppressed them for nothing and without cause.
