For this is what the Lord GOD says: “At first My people went down to Egypt to live, then Assyria oppressed them without cause.
Parallel translations
- WEB For thus says the Lord Yahweh: “My people went down at the first into Egypt to live there: and the Assyrian has oppressed them without cause.
- KJV For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
- NKJV For thus says the Lord God: “My people went down at first Into Egypt to dwell there; Then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
- NASB For this is what the Lord God says: “My people went down to Egypt first to reside there; then the Assyrian oppressed them without reason.
- NLT This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “Long ago my people chose to live in Egypt. Now they are oppressed by Assyria.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God recalls how His people first went to Egypt and were later oppressed without cause by Assyria.
Overview
God reviews His people's history of sojourn and oppression, from Egypt to Assyria, to show the pattern of their suffering at the hands of nations. This history of unjust affliction sets up His resolve to act for His name's sake (v.5-6). It frames redemption as God's repeated faithfulness to deliver His people, climaxing in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Gen 46:6They also took the livestock and possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt.
- Ps 69:4Those who hate me without cause outnumber the hairs of my head; many are those who would destroy me—my enemies for no reason. Though I did not steal, I must repay.
- Job 2:3Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.”
- Acts 7:14–15Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five in all.
- Ps 25:3Surely none who wait for You will be put to shame; but those who are faithless without cause will be disgraced.
- John 15:25But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated Me without reason.’
- Isa 36:1–22In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked and captured all the fortified cities of Judah.
- Isa 14:25I will break Assyria in My land; I will trample him on My mountain. His yoke will be taken off My people, and his burden removed from their shoulders.”
- Jer 50:17Israel is a scattered flock, chased away by lions. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria; the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 52:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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