Isa 52:1
52:1 Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy
     beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for
     henceforth there shall no {a} more come into thee the
     uncircumcised and the unclean.

     (a) No wicked tyrant, who will subvert God's true religion
         and oppress the conscience.

Isa 52:2
52:2 Shake thyself from the {b} dust; arise, [and] sit down, O
     Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O
     captive daughter of Zion.

     (b) Put off the garments of sorrow and heaviness and put on
         the apparel of joy and gladness.

Isa 52:3
52:3 For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for {c}
     nothing; and ye shall be redeemed without money.

     (c) The Babylonians paid nothing to me for you: therefore I
         will take you again without ransom.

Isa 52:4
52:4 For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people went {d} down in
     times past into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian
     {e} oppressed them without cause.

     (d) When Jacob went there in times of famine.
     (e) The Egyptians might pretend some reason to oppress my
         people because they went there and remained among them,
         but the Assyrians have no title to excuse their tyranny
         by, and therefore I will punish them more than I did
         the Egyptians.

Isa 52:5
52:5 Now therefore, what have I here, saith the LORD, that my
     people is taken away for nothing? they that rule over them
     make them to wail, saith the LORD; and my name continually
     every day [is] {f} blasphemed.

     (f) That is, by the wicked, who think that I have no power
         to deliver them.

Isa 52:7
52:7 How {g} beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him
     that bringeth good tidings, that proclaimeth peace; that
     bringeth good tidings of good, that proclaimeth salvation;
     that saith to Zion, Thy God reigneth!

     (g) Signifying that the joy and good tidings of their
         deliverance would make their affliction in the mean
         time more easy: but this is chiefly meant of the
         spiritual joy, as in Na 1:15, Ro 10:15.

Isa 52:8
52:8 {h} Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice
     together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye,
     when the LORD shall bring again Zion.

     (h) The prophets who are your watchmen will publish your
         deliverance: this was begun under Zerubbabel, Ezra and
         Nehemiah, but was accomplished under Christ.

Isa 52:10
52:10 The LORD hath made {i} bare his holy arm in the eyes of
      all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see
      the salvation of our God.

      (i) As ready to smite his enemies and to deliver his
          people.

Isa 52:11
52:11 {k} Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from there, touch no
      unclean [thing]; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye
      clean, that {l} bear the vessels of the LORD.

      (k) He warns the faithful not to pollute themselves with
          the superstitions of the Babylonians, as
          Isa 48:20, 2Co 6:17.
      (l) For the time is at hand that the priests and Levites
          chiefly (and so by them all the people, who will be as
          the Levites in this office) will carry home vessels of
          the temple which Nebuchadnezzar had taken away.

Isa 52:12
52:12 For ye shall not go out {m} with haste, nor go by flight:
      for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel
      [will be] your rear guard.

      (m) As your fathers did out of Egypt.

Isa 52:13
52:13 Behold, my {n} servant shall deal prudently, he shall be
      exalted and extolled, and be very high.

      (n) Meaning Christ, by whom our spiritual deliverance
          would be wrought of which this was a sign.

Isa 52:14
52:14 As many were astonished at thee; his visage was so {o}
      marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons
      of men:

      (o) In the corrupt judgment of man, Christ in his person
          was not valued.

Isa 52:15
52:15 So {p} shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall
      shut their {q} mouths at him: for [that] which had not
      been told them shall they see; and [that] which they had
      not heard shall they {r} consider.

      (p) He will spread his word through many nations.
      (q) In sign of reverence, and as being astonished at his
          excellency.
      (r) By the preaching of the gospel.