Isaiah 52:2

52:2 Shake off the dirt! ¹ 

Get up, captive ²  Jerusalem!

Take off the iron chains around your neck,

O captive daughter Zion!

Micah 4:10

4:10 Twist and strain, ³  Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor!

For you will leave the city

and live in the open field.

You will go to Babylon,

but there you will be rescued.

There the Lord will deliver ⁴  you

from the power ⁵  of your enemies.

[52:2]  ¹ tn Heb “Shake yourself free from the dirt.”

[52:2]  ² tc The Hebrew text has שְּׂבִי (shÿvi), which some understand as a feminine singular imperative from יָשַׁב (yashav, “sit”). The LXX, Vulgate, Syriac, and the Targum support the MT reading (the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a does indirectly). Some interpret this to mean “take your throne”: The Lord exhorts Jerusalem to get up from the dirt and sit, probably with the idea of sitting in a place of honor (J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 2:361). However, the form is likely a corruption of שְׁבִיָּה (shÿviyyah, “captive”), which appears in the parallel line.

[4:10]  ³ tn Or perhaps “scream”; NRSV, TEV, NLT “groan.”

[4:10]  ⁴ tn Or “redeem” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[4:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “hand.” The Hebrew idiom is a metonymy for power or control.