Isaiah 52:1–6, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Isaiah 52:1–6
Zion Rises from Dust and Learns the Divine Name
Put on strength, unshackled city
Zion is told to dress in beauty and to keep the uncircumcised and unclean from the holy city in the sense of ending occupying defilement. Bonds on Jerusalem's neck come off. You were sold for nothing, and you will be redeemed without money. Egypt, Assyria, and now 'my people are taken away for nothing' while rulers wail and the name is despised all day. Therefore my people shall know my name; they shall know that it is I who speak.
Uncompensated oppression is the through-line. God stakes the divine reputation on a people who have been treated as free loot. This is not a modern deed, not nationalist immunity, not a cue to police bodies in God's name, and not supersession. Knowing the name is recognizing the speaker after a long season of other voices owning the street.
Sold-for-nothing matters because it strips the market mystique from empire. A warranted life is to stand up from the dust without claiming sinless immunity, and to learn God's name as the one who speaks against unpaid theft of a people's life.
How this should shape us
Stand up from the dust without claiming sinless immunity. Learn God's name as the one who speaks against unpaid theft of a people's life, not as a warrant to police bodies.
Teach it back
Explain Isaiah 52:1–6 in your own words. Name its place in Isaiah, one source-controlled observation, one uncertainty, one enduring truth, and one harmful use the passage does not authorize.
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Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Isaiah 52:1–6, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology at the exact unit, without treating morphology as apparatus, lexicon, composition history, or interpretation.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Isa.xml, OSIS 52:1–6 with Hebrew/KJV versification difference checked
Supports: Verse-level controls for Hebrew, syntax, poetry, older KJV language, chronology, names, textual issues, and material translation alternatives.
Official NET Isaiah PDF, translator, study, and textual notes attached to Isaiah 52:1–6 in the complete 205-page book PDF
Supports: Babylonian-exile and Persian horizons, new exodus, Cyrus, servant figures, Daughter Zion, nations, suffering, and transition to plural servants.
Yale Bible Study, Second Isaiah course, Servant and Bride guide on Isaiah 49:1-52:12; applied to Isaiah 52:1–6
Supports: Whole-book historical, literary, theological, ethical, and reception synthesis across Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and postexilic horizons.
Enter the Bible Isaiah course, Outline Book 2C, Themes, and Bible in the World; applied to Isaiah 52:1–6
Sources for This Section
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Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Isaiah 52:1–6, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Isaiah
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology at the exact unit, without treating morphology as apparatus, lexicon, composition history, or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Isa.xml, OSIS 52:1–6 with Hebrew/KJV versification difference checked
Open the fixed Hebrew Isaiah file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Isaiah
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2016; current official PDF
Supports: Verse-level controls for Hebrew, syntax, poetry, older KJV language, chronology, names, textual issues, and material translation alternatives.
Exact location: Official NET Isaiah PDF, translator, study, and textual notes attached to Isaiah 52:1–6 in the complete 205-page book PDF
Open the official NET Isaiah PDF ↗open university study guide series
Second Isaiah study-guide course
Robert R. Wilson and Stephen L. Cook
Yale Bible Study, 2019; current public course
Supports: Babylonian-exile and Persian horizons, new exodus, Cyrus, servant figures, Daughter Zion, nations, suffering, and transition to plural servants.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, Second Isaiah course, Servant and Bride guide on Isaiah 49:1-52:12; applied to Isaiah 52:1–6
Open the Yale Second Isaiah course ↗modern scholarly book course
Isaiah course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, themes, and reception
Fred Gaiser; revised by Michael Chan
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised August 2024
Supports: Whole-book historical, literary, theological, ethical, and reception synthesis across Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and postexilic horizons.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Isaiah course, Outline Book 2C, Themes, and Bible in the World; applied to Isaiah 52:1–6
Open the Enter the Bible Isaiah course ↗