Isaiah 1:22 kjv

Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:

Isaiah 1:22 nkjv

Your silver has become dross, Your wine mixed with water.

Isaiah 1:22 niv

Your silver has become dross, your choice wine is diluted with water.

Isaiah 1:22 esv

Your silver has become dross, your best wine mixed with water.

Isaiah 1:22 nlt

Once like pure silver,
you have become like worthless slag.
Once so pure,
you are now like watered-down wine.

Isaiah 1 verses

Isaiah 1 22 Meaning

Isaiah 1:22 paints a stark picture of spiritual and moral degradation within God's people, Judah and Jerusalem. It uses two powerful metaphors: precious silver turning into worthless dross, and pure, valuable wine diluted with water. This signifies that what was once valuable, pure, and spiritually potent—representing the covenant relationship, righteous living, true worship, or just leadership—has become corrupted, diluted, and devoid of its original worth and efficacy. It implies an internal decay where external forms of faith are present, but their essence is lost due to widespread unfaithfulness, injustice, and hypocrisy.

Isaiah 1 22 Context

Isaiah 1 sets the stage for the entire book. It's a prophetic "summons to court" where the LORD brings charges against His unfaithful covenant people, Judah and Jerusalem. The chapter contrasts God's righteous character and faithfulness with the nation's spiritual rebellion, hypocrisy, and social injustice. Despite elaborate religious rituals and offerings (Isa 1:11-15), their hearts and actions were far from God (Isa 1:10). The nation, once precious in God's eyes, is depicted as morally diseased from head to toe (Isa 1:5-6) and deserving of judgment. Verse 22 specifically targets the internal corruption of their core essence and integrity, building upon the initial accusations of apostasy and perversion of justice found earlier in the chapter (Isa 1:2-4, 17-21). It suggests that the very things that should have defined their blessed covenant status have been utterly debased. This warning highlights the severe consequences of mixing God's pure truth and righteous standards with human impurities and deceit.

Isaiah 1 22 Word analysis

• Your silver:
  • Hebrew: כַּסְפֵּךְ (kaspekh)
  • Refers to the most precious metal of its time, valued for purity, stability, and use in commerce and religious articles (e.g., temple treasures).
  • Significance: Symbolizes Israel's initial purity, preciousness in God's eyes, God's gifts, or perhaps righteous leadership and teachings. It represents something of great intrinsic worth bestowed by God. It reflects the nation's spiritual character, faith, and adherence to the covenant, which should have been like refined silver.
• has become dross:
  • Hebrew: הָיָה סִיג (hayah sig). Sig refers to the impure waste or slag separated from metal during smelting or refining.
  • Significance: Indicates a severe transformation from purity to utter impurity and worthlessness. It’s not just tarnished, but fundamentally changed to an unusable byproduct. This implies an irreversible spiritual degradation from its original state, becoming an obstacle to purification rather than something precious. It underscores the severity of their corruption; what should have been pure is now identified with its worthless impurities.
• your choicest wine:
  • Hebrew: יֵינֵךְ סָבָא (yeinek sāvā). Sāvā (often rendered "choice" or "best wine") implies a potent, rich, unadulterated drink, signifying the best quality.
  • Significance: Wine, especially good wine, symbolizes joy, truth, blessings, spiritual teaching, and divine vitality within the covenant relationship. It points to the refreshing and intoxicating nature of God's unadulterated truth and the purity of genuine worship or leadership that should bring spiritual refreshment and strength. It represents the high-quality spiritual nourishment and clear teaching that should have flowed from God's people.
• mixed with water:
  • Hebrew: מָהוּל בַּמַּיִם (mahul bammayim). Mahul means diluted, weakened, or adulterated.
  • Significance: Water added to wine, particularly 'choicest wine,' for dishonest gain (e.g., selling watered-down wine at full price) or to weaken its potency. Spiritually, it signifies the dilution or corruption of divine truth with human ideas, false teachings, syncretism, or compromise. It highlights a perversion or adulteration that renders the truth less potent, less pure, and less effective. It indicates a subtle but significant form of betrayal—passing off an inferior product (spiritually speaking) as the genuine article.
• Words-group analysis:
  • "Your silver has become dross": This phrase highlights a qualitative change from intrinsic value to utter worthlessness. It points to a profound internal spiritual decay, where the very essence of what was pure and precious (Israel's covenant status, leadership, spiritual identity) has been corrupted beyond recognition, reduced to refuse. It's a statement of lament and severe judgment on internal moral corruption.
  • "your choicest wine mixed with water": This emphasizes dilution and compromise of truth and spiritual vitality. It points to the adulteration of the pure, potent message and spirit of God's covenant with impurities or weaknesses. This suggests a failure of leadership or a general societal compromise where the strength and clarity of divine teaching and righteousness have been compromised, weakening the spiritual state of the nation. Both metaphors point to a loss of integrity, purity, and efficacy from within.

Isaiah 1 22 Bonus section

This verse also contains a subtle polemic against the dishonesty of merchants who would dilute products for profit, applying this mundane deceit to the spiritual realm. It suggests that just as merchants defraud their customers, so too have the spiritual leaders or the people as a whole "defrauded" God and themselves by diluting the purity of the covenant. Furthermore, the metaphors here imply that what God originally established was perfect ("silver," "choicest wine"). The degradation is entirely the result of human failing, unfaithfulness, and deliberate corruption. This foreshadows God’s promise to truly refine His people in future prophecies, like in Isaiah 1:25, where He will purify them by removing the dross, turning this descriptive indictment into a hopeful promise of restoration through judgment. The verse thus sets up the crucial biblical theme of divine purification through suffering and judgment, ultimately for restoration and renewed covenant fidelity.

Isaiah 1 22 Commentary

Isaiah 1:22 acts as a profound metaphor for Judah’s spiritual degeneration. The "silver" represents their once-precious relationship with God, their designated status as His people, and perhaps their leadership or true worship. This silver, rather than remaining pure, has become "dross," the useless residue left after refinement. This indicates that their inherent spiritual value has not only diminished but has been actively corrupted into something impure and valueless. Similarly, "choicest wine," a symbol of the vitality, joy, and truth of God's covenant and righteous living, has been "mixed with water." This signifies a dilution of truth, a weakening of genuine spiritual devotion, and a compromise with ungodliness. It’s no longer the potent, life-giving truth but a watered-down, ineffective imitation. The verse thus charges God’s people with perverting their covenant relationship, embracing hypocrisy, and corrupting divine standards with worldly impurity. This imagery is directed at the very heart of their religious and social life, demonstrating that outward observance was not sufficient; the essence of their faith had been fatally compromised.