Isaiah 52:4 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; where they had protection and sustenance, and therefore owed subjection to the king of Egypt. And yet when he oppressed them I punished him severely, and delivered them out of his hands. Which is easily understood from the following words. And; or, but; for here is an opposition made between these two cases. The Assyrian; the king of Babylon, who is called the king of Assyria, 2 Kings 23:29, compared with Isaiah 24:7, as also the Persian emperor is called, Ezra 6:22, because it was one and the same empire, which was possessed, first by the Assyrians, then by the Babylonians, and afterwards by the Persians. Oppressed them without cause; without any such ground or valour, by mere force invading their land, and carrying them away into captivity. For although it be said that God gave this land and people into his hand, 2 Chronicles 36:11, by his counsel and providence; yet that was neither known to nor regarded by the king of Babylon, nor was it a good and lawful title, God's word, and not his providence, being the rule by which men's rights are determined; otherwise a robber hath a right to my purse, which he cannot take from me upon the highway without God's providence.