Chapter 52

^52:1^ Arise, arise, put on your strength, O Zion, put on the garments of your glory, O Jerusalem, the city of the Holy One: for henceforth the uncircumcised, and unclean shall no more pass through you.

^52:2^ Shake yourself from the dust, arise, sit up, O Jerusalem: loose the bonds from off your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.

^52:3^ For thus says the Lord: you were sold gratis, and you shall be redeemed, without money.

^52:4^ For thus says the Lord God: my people went down into Egypt in (In. DR: “at.”) the beginning to be a colonist (Ut colonus esset. DR: “to sojourn.”) there: and the Assyrian has oppressed them without any cause at all.

^52:5^ And now what is this to me, (Quid mihi est hic. DR: “have I here.”) says the Lord: for my people is taken away gratis. They that rule over them treat them unjustly, says the Lord, and my name is continually blasphemed all the day long.

^52:6^ Therefore my people shall know my name in that day: for I myself that spoke, behold I am here.

^52:7^ How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings, and that preaches peace: of him that shows forth good, that preaches salvation, that says to Zion: your God shall reign!

^52:8^ The voice of your watchmen: they have lifted up their voice, they shall praise together: for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall convert Zion.

^52:9^ Rejoice, and give praise together, O you deserts of Jerusalem: for the Lord has comforted his people: he has redeemed Jerusalem.

^52:10^ The Lord has prepared his holy arm in the sight of all the Gentiles: and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

^52:11^ Depart, depart, go out from thence, touch no unclean thing: go out of the midst of her, be clean, you that carry the vessels of the Lord.

^52:12^ For you shall not go out in a tumult, neither shall you make haste by flight: for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will gather you together.

^52:13^ Behold my servant shall understand, he shall be exalted, and lifted up, (Elevabitur. DR: “extolled.”) and shall be exceeding high.

^52:14^ As many have been astonished at you, so shall his visage be inglorious among men, and his form among the sons of men.

^52:15^ He shall sprinkle many nations, kings shall shut their mouth at him: for they to whom it was not told of him, have seen: and they that heard not, have beheld.

940. Arise, arise. Here he excludes the third impediment to their liberation, which could be doubted from their poverty of goods, promising them gratuitous liberation. And this is divided into two parts:

for first, he foretells the liberation of the Jews from the Babylonians;

second, the liberation of the gentiles from their sins: behold my servant shall understand (Isa 52:13).

Concerning the first, he does two things:

first, he foretells the liberation;

second, the order of liberation: the Lord has prepared (Isa 52:10).

Concerning the first, he does three things:

first, he promises gratuitous liberation;

second, he assigns the cause of liberation: for thus says the Lord God (Isa 52:4);

third, he proclaims joy to the liberated: how beautiful (Isa 52:7).

941. Liberation is promised to them in three ways.

First, from the oppression of their enemies as to the goods which they regained: arise, from the weakness through which you were not able to resist your enemies, and therefore, he says: put on your strength, like arms of war, O Zion, on which was the stronghold for the defense of the city; arise, from the misery which you incurred, when your enemies despoiled you, and therefore he says: put on the garments of your glory. The glory of a city is the crowds of its citizens, the beauty of its streets, the riches of its goods: put off, O Jerusalem, the garment of your mourning, and affliction: and put on the beauty, and honor of that everlasting glory which you have from God (Bar 5:1). And as to the enemies which they escaped: for henceforth shall no more pass through you, as ravagers and rulers, the uncircumcised, as to gentile enemies, and unclean, as to traitors from their own people, above: it shall be called the holy way (Isa 35:8); there shall not enter into it any thing defiled (Rev 21:27).

942. Second, he promises liberation from the baseness of her inhabitants, for some of the poor of the land were left behind, as it says in 2 Kings 25:12 and Jeremiah 52:16; shake yourself from the dust, of baseness, arise, resisting your adversaries, and then next, sit, at rest: he raises up the needy from the dust (1 Sam 2:8).

943. Third, he promises liberation from detention by her captors, foretelling the benefit of liberation: loose the bonds, that is, come forth from captivity: I have broken the chains of your necks (Lev 26:13). And he shows the manner of liberation: for thus says the Lord: you were sold gratis, as if to say: those who took you captive furnished no benefits to you; and you shall be redeemed, from captivity to Babylon by Cyrus, above: he shall let go my captives (Isa 45:13); you have sold your people for no price (Ps 43:13[44:12]).

944. For thus says the Lord. Here he assigns two causes of their liberation, namely, the calumny of the people and the blasphemy of God.

And first, he alleges calumny: my people went down into Egypt in the beginning, in their fathers (Gen 46–47); to be a colonist there, and therefore the Egyptians had some right to oppress them from the benefits bestowed on them; and the Assyrian, under which the Chaldeans are also included, has oppressed them without any cause at all, not furnishing them any benefits. If, therefore, the Assyrian drives away their liberation, what is this to me, that is, what hinders me that I should not now free Jerusalem?

945. Second, he pronounces the sentence: for my people is taken away, from their own land; they that rule over them, who have usurped dominion to themselves, namely, the Chaldeans; and, because, my name is continually blasphemed, as though I could not free my people: I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the Gentiles (Ezek 36:23). Therefore my people shall know my name in that day, of liberation, for I myself that spoke, promising, I am here, to fulfill my promise: afterwards he was seen upon earth, and conversed with men (Bar 3:38); God, who, at sundry times and in diverse manners, spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all, in these days, has spoken to us by his Son (Heb 1:1–2) if this is explained mystically of the coming of Christ.

946. How beautiful. Here he proclaims joy to the liberated.

And first, he describes their joy as to the reception of messengers, who, coming from Chaldea, announced it to them: beautiful, for it was beautiful and pleasant to the people to hear them announcing such things; upon the mountains, so that many would hear them; that preaches, publicly, peace, restored by Cyrus, good, of promised assistance, salvation, from captivity; your God shall reign, as though from then on, God alone will reign in you because you will worship him in the restored temple: behold upon the mountains the feet of him that brings good tidings (Nah 1:15).

947. Second, he describes their joy as to the inspection of their watchmen who saw them returning from there, setting out the voice of exultation, the voice, of joy will resound: with one accord lifted up their voice to God (Acts 4:24); and the reason for their joy: for they shall see eye to eye, as if to say, they shall see the captives coming with their own eyes, above: your eyes shall see Jerusalem (Isa 30:20).

Third, as to the arrival of the captives: rejoice, above: the land that was desolate shall be glad, and the wilderness shall rejoice (Isa 35:1).

948. Note on the words, put on the garments (Isa 52:1), that the saints have garments of virtues in which they glory: and these are,

first, for protection, below: the Lord has clothed me with the garments of salvation: and with the robe of justice he has covered me (Isa 61:10);

second, for keeping warm: she shall not fear for her house in the cold of snow: for all her domestics are clothed with double garments (Prov 31:21);

third, for ornament: that you may be clothed in white garments (Rev 3:18).

949. These garments ought to be,

first, white in honesty of work: at all times let your garments be white (Eccl 9:8);

second, clean in rectitude of intention, above: every garment mingled with blood, shall be burnt (Isa 9:5);

third, fragrant through the spreading of reputation: the smell of your garments, as the smell of frankincense (Song 4:11).

950. Also on the words, loose the bonds (Isa 52:2), note that there are bonds from which God loosens:

first, of worldly solicitude: who has sent out the wild ass free, and who has loosed his bonds? (Job 39:5);

second, of carnal love: I have found a woman more bitter than death, and her bonds (Et vincula eius. Vg.: quae laquaeus venatorum est. DR: “who is the hunter’s snare.”) (Eccl 7:27);

third, of perverse action: he brought them out of darkness, and the shadow of death; and broke their bonds in sunder (Ps 106[107]:14);

fourth, of vicious custom, above: woe to you that draw iniquity to iniquity, (Ad iniquitatem. Vg.: in funiculis vanitatis. DR: “with cords of vanity.”) and sin as the rope of a cart (Isa 5:18).

951. There are also bonds from which God does not loosen:

first, of love: I drew them with the cords of love (In funiculis caritatis traxi eos. Vg.: in funiculis Adam traham eos, in vinculis caritatis. DR: “I will draw them with the cords of Adam, with the bands of love.”) (Hos 11:4);

second, of divine law: of old time you have broken my yoke (Jer 2:20);

third, of divine instruction: bow down your shoulder, and bear her, and be not grieved with her bands (Sir 6:26[25]).

952. The Lord has prepared. Here he describes the order of liberation.

And first, he sets out the manifest help of God: his holy arm, namely, his power, which all were able to perceive in this deed: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God (Ps 97[98]:3).

Second, he enjoins the captives to flee: depart, namely, from Babylonia; touch no unclean thing, do not live among these unclean people: go out from her, my people (Rev 18:4).

Third, he shows the manner of their flight, as to purity: be clean, you priests; as to security: for you shall not go out in a tumult, namely, of war, as you did from Egypt: he brought forth his people (Ps 104[105]:43); as to their leader: for the Lord will go before you, as a leader, and the God of Israel will gather you together, as a shepherd: for I will take you from among the Gentiles, and will gather you together out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land (Ezek 36:24).

953. Behold my servant shall understand. Here he foretells the liberation of the gentiles from slavery to sin, carried out by the Son of God.

And first, he describes the liberator as to eminence of grace: my servant shall understand, as to the fullness of wisdom; servant, Christ, according to the human nature he assumed: taking the form of a servant (Phil 2:7); a wise servant is acceptable to the king (Prov 14:35); and: he that understands shall possess governments (Prov 1:5). He shall be exalted, as to the operation of his powers: be you exalted, O Lord, in your own strength (Ps 20:14[21:13]); and lifted up, as to his ascension: for your magnificence is elevated above the heavens (Ps 8:2[1]); he that descended is the same also that ascended (Eph 4:10); and shall be exceeding high, sitting at the right hand of the Father, above: the bud of the Lord shall be in magnificence and glory, and the fruit of the earth shall be high (Isa 4:2). And as to the ignominy of his passion: for as many have been astonished at you, by your example, miracles and teachings: and all the multitudes were amazed (Matt 12:23) at his teaching and the miracles which he did, so shall his visage be inglorious, in suffering, and his form, his appearance or beauty: I am a worm, and no man: the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people (Ps 21:7[22:6]).

954. Second, he foretells liberation as to the remission of sins: he shall sprinkle, with the sprinkling of his blood (1 Pet 1:2), and the water of baptism: having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with clean water (Heb 10:22); as to the veneration of him: kings shall shut their mouth at him, silent, to listen, not presuming to discuss his secrets: the princes ceased to speak (Job 29:9); and as to the knowledge of truth: for they to whom, namely, the gentiles, it was not told of him, by the prophets, have seen, in their hearts, and they that heard not, him preaching in person, below: behold me, to nations that did not know me and that did not call upon my name (Isa 65:1). (Ad gentes quae nesciebant me et quae non invocabant nomen meum. Vg.: ad gentem quae non invocabat nomen meum. DR: “to a nation that did not call upon my name.”)