For thus says the Lord God: “My people went down at first Into Egypt to dwell there; Then the Assyrian 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.
- BSB For this is what the Lord GOD says: “At first My people went down to Egypt to live, then Assyria 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 took their livestock, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt — Jacob, and all his offspring with him,
- Ps 69:4Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. I have to restore what I didn’t take away.
- Job 2:3Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil. He still maintains his integrity, although you incited me against him, to ruin him without cause.”
- Acts 7:14–15Joseph sent, and summoned Jacob, his father, and all his relatives, seventy-five souls.
- Ps 25:3Yes, no one who waits for you shall be shamed. They shall be shamed who deal treacherously without cause.
- John 15:25But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’
- Isa 36:1–22Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all of the fortified cities of Judah, and captured them.
- Isa 14:25that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and tread him under foot on my mountains. Then his yoke will leave them, and his burden leave their shoulders.
- Jer 50:17“Israel is a hunted sheep. The lions have driven him away. First, the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.