Bible Strands
Isaiah 52:4
For this is what the Lord GOD says: “At first My people went down to Egypt to live, then Assyria oppressed them without cause.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Isaiah delivers Yahweh’s declaration to the exiled Israelite community, contrasting their initial migration to Egypt with their later subjugation under Assyrian rule. The message addresses the people directly while framing their historical movements within divine speech.
The words — The passage opens with כִּי (ki, “for”) and כֹּה (khoh, “thus”), structurally marking the following statement as a direct oracle. It employs יָרַד (yarad, “went down”) for the patriarchs’ descent to Egypt and עַמִּי (ammi, “My people”) to identify those who experienced both the migration and the subsequent oppression.
The thread — The descent to Egypt recurs in Genesis 46:6, which records Jacob’s family taking their livestock and possessions to settle there. The pattern of unjust affliction resurfaces in Psalms 69:4 and Job 2:3, where enemies or circumstances attack the righteous without legitimate cause.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to acknowledge that Israel’s present captivity follows a documented history of divine permission and human exploitation rather than sudden abandonment. It demands recognition that rulers who oppress God’s people without justification actively profane His name.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For thus saith the Lord God, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
Cross-references
- Genesis 46:6 They also took the livestock and possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt.
- Psalms 69:4 Those 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 2:3 Then 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 Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five in all.
- Psalms 25:3 Surely none who wait for You will be put to shame; but those who engage in treachery without cause will be disgraced.
- Isaiah 14:25 I 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.”
- Isaiah 36:1 In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked and captured all the fortified cities of Judah.
- Jeremiah 50:17 Israel 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.”
- John 15:25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated Me without reason.’