Isaiah 52:7
Your God reigns
- The gospel’s word בָּשַׂר basar · to bear tidings
Original
Translations
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!
How lovely on the mountains, Have been the feet of one proclaiming tidings, Sounding peace, proclaiming good tidings, Sounding salvation, Saying to Zion, “Your God has reigned.”
좋은 소식을 가져오며 평화를 공포하며 복된 좋은 소식을 가져오며 구원을 공포하며 시온을 향하여 이르기를 네 하나님이 통치하신다 하는 자의 산을 넘는 발이 어찌 그리 아름다운고
좋은 소식을 가져오고 화평을 선포하며 복된 좋은 소식을 가져오고 구원을 선포하며 시온에게 이르기를, 네 하나님께서 통치하신다, 하는 자의 산을 넘는 발이 어찌 그리 아름다운가!
Commentaries
Matthew Henry on Isa 52:1-12 as a whole
The gospel proclaims liberty to those bound with fears. Let those weary and heavy laden under the burden of sin, find relief in Christ, shake themselves from the dust of their doubts and fears, and loose themselves from those bands. …
Read the whole commentary →Wesley Isa 52:7
The mountains - Of Judea, to which these glad tidings were brought, and from which they were spread abroad into other countries. Of him - Or, of them; the singular number being put for the plural. …
Read the whole commentary →
Note
Over the mountains toward captive Zion a herald comes running. He brings peace, good and salvation, and all of it gathers into one sentence: "Your God reigns!"
Chapter 52 opens with a call to wake up: "Awake, awake, clothe yourself with strength, O Zion!" (Isaiah 52:1). Captive Zion is told to shake off the dust and loose the chains from her neck (Isaiah 52:2), and the LORD says, "You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed" (Isaiah 52:3). Her rulers taunt, and His name is blasphemed all day long, but now "My people will know My name" (Isaiah 52:6). Our verse is the moment that promise is kept. The herald appears on the mountains; the watchmen shout for joy together, "For every eye will see when the LORD returns to Zion" (Isaiah 52:8); "The LORD has bared His holy arm in the sight of all the nations" (Isaiah 52:10). And at once, from 52:13, the song of the suffering Servant begins.
The verse is built from five participles. Mevaser, the piel participle of , comes twice; mashmia, the hiphil participle of shama, ‘to hear,’ and so ‘one who makes heard,’ comes twice; and omer, ‘one who says,’ closes the line. One bringing news; one making peace (shalom) heard; one bringing news of good (tov); one making salvation (yeshuah) heard; one saying to Zion. What he says is two words, malakh elohayikh. Malakh is a perfect: ‘He has become King,’ and so ‘He reigns.’ What the herald carries is not a wish for some later day but something that has happened.
The KJV keeps the Hebrew's singular and its doubled verb: "the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation." The LSV is close to the same: "the feet of one proclaiming tidings, Sounding peace, proclaiming good tidings, Sounding salvation." The BSB turns the herald into many, "the feet of those who bring good news," which is how Paul reads the verse when he quotes it: "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" (Romans 10:15). In Korean, the 흠정역 and the 개역한글 are nearly identical and both keep the singular.
Wesley allows for the plural too: "Or, of them; the singular number being put for the plural" Wesley. The mountains, he says, are those "Of Judea, to which these glad tidings were brought, and from which they were spread abroad into other countries" Wesley. Matthew Henry sums up the message: "The good news is, that the Lord Jesus reigns. Christ himself brought these tidings first. His ministers proclaim these good tidings" Matthew Henry.
When Jesus first preached in Galilee, "The time is fulfilled," He said, "and the kingdom of God is near" (Mark 1:15): the herald's "Your God reigns," now announced as arriving. Paul, after quoting this verse, goes straight to the next chapter of Isaiah: "But not all of them welcomed the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”" (Romans 10:16). In Isaiah too the Servant who suffers follows hard on the heels of the herald. God's reign comes by way of the Servant's suffering and exaltation. And Peter, in the house of Cornelius, called God's message to Israel "the gospel of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all" (Acts 10:36), in words that echo this herald.
The herald does not begin by telling Zion what to do. He tells her what God has done. The call to shake off the dust and rise stands on that news.