John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 52:2

"Shake thyself from the dust; arise, sit [on thy throne], O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bonds of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion." — Isaiah 52:2 (ASV)

Shake yourself from the dust; arise. He explains more fully the deliverance of the Church and exhibits it prominently by hypotyposis, “a lively description.” When he commands her to “shake off the dust and arise,” we should not therefore think that our liberty is in our own power, so that we can obtain it whenever we choose.

For it belongs to God alone to raise us from the dust, to lift us up when we are prostrate, and, by breaking or loosening our chains, to set us at liberty. Why then does the Prophet use the imperative mood? For it is unreasonable to demand what we cannot perform. I answer that the imperative form of address has a much more powerful tendency to arouse than if he had used plain narrative. Therefore, he declares that when God has restored her to her former freedom, she will come out of the mire.

Sit, O Jerusalem. The word “sit” denotes a flourishing condition and is contrasted with the word “to lie,” which denotes the lowest calamity. Indeed, it sometimes means “to be prostrate,” as when he previously said to Babylon, sit in the dust. (Isaiah 47:1). But here the meaning is different. For, after ordering her to arise, he also adds, “that she may sit;” that is, that she may no longer lie down, but may regain her former condition, and not be laid prostrate by enemies in the future.