Isaiah 50 1

Isaiah 50:1 kjv

Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.

Isaiah 50:1 nkjv

Thus says the LORD: "Where is the certificate of your mother's divorce, Whom I have put away? Or which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you? For your iniquities you have sold yourselves, And for your transgressions your mother has been put away.

Isaiah 50:1 niv

This is what the LORD says: "Where is your mother's certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? Because of your sins you were sold; because of your transgressions your mother was sent away.

Isaiah 50:1 esv

Thus says the LORD: "Where is your mother's certificate of divorce, with which I sent her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

Isaiah 50:1 nlt

This is what the LORD says: "Was your mother sent away because I divorced her?
Did I sell you as slaves to my creditors?
No, you were sold because of your sins.
And your mother, too, was taken because of your sins.

Isaiah 50 verses

Isaiah 50 1 meaning

Isaiah 50:1 directly refutes the people of Judah's erroneous assumptions that God had either divorced them or sold them into captivity due to His inability or lack of means. God challenges them to produce a legal document of divorce (like one given to a wife) or to identify a creditor to whom He might have sold them. The verse emphatically clarifies that their suffering, exile, and separation are not a result of His unfaithfulness, weakness, or inability, but are the direct, self-inflicted consequences of their own accumulated iniquities and transgressions. Their bondage is a punishment for sin, not a dissolution of the covenant relationship on God's part.

Isaiah 50 1 Context

Isaiah 50:1 opens the third of the four "Servant Songs" within Isaiah (49:1–50:11), bridging God's discourse on His deliverance of Israel with the direct address of the Suffering Servant. The preceding chapters (40-49) focus on God's omnipotence and faithfulness as the only true God, contrasting Him with the idols worshipped by nations, promising restoration and comfort to His exiled people. However, despite these promises, the Judean exiles in Babylon continued to doubt God's commitment and power. They grappled with deep despair, fearing that God had abandoned them either through a formal divorce or by selling them into servitude due to His own financial inability to sustain them or them being worthless. This verse directly confronts those misconceptions, setting the stage for the Servant's response and demonstration of faithful obedience in the face of suffering in the subsequent verses.

Isaiah 50 1 Word analysis

• "Thus says the LORD" (כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה, koh amar YHWH): A standard prophetic formula indicating a direct divine utterance and absolute authority. It grounds the message in the unwavering word of God.

• "Where is the bill of your mother's divorce?" (אַיֵּה סֵפֶר כְּרִיתוּת אִמְּכֶם, 'ayyeh sepher keritut imekem):

  • "Where is..." (אַיֵּה, 'ayyeh): A challenging question, implying non-existence or impossibility.
  • "bill of divorce" (סֵפֶר כְּרִיתוּת, sepher keritut): This is a crucial legal term from Deut 24:1-4. It was a written certificate of dissolution of marriage, given by a husband to a wife he wished to divorce. Its absence signifies that God has not legally divorced the nation of Judah. Unlike Northern Israel (Jer 3:8), Judah had not been given such a certificate, meaning God’s covenant with them still held.
  • "your mother's" (אִמְּכֶם, imekhem): Refers to the nation of Judah or Jerusalem as the collective 'mother' or spiritual wife, with the individual people being her 'children'. This metaphor highlights the deep, covenantal relationship.

• "Or which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you?" (אוֹ מִי מִנּוֹשַׁי אֲשֶׁר מָכַרְתִּי אֶתְכֶם, 'o mi minoshai 'asher makarti 'etkhem):

  • "creditors" (נּוֹשַׁי, noshai): Literally 'my debt-collectors' or 'those to whom I am in debt.' This concept is utterly antithetical to God's nature. It reflects the people's limited human understanding or desperate projection of their own struggles onto God. It challenges any notion of divine limitation or poverty.
  • "sold you" (מָכַרְתִּי אֶתְכֶם, makarti 'etkhem): Refers to selling people into debt-slavery, a practice common in ancient times for parents who were unable to pay their debts. The implied accusation is that God, due to His own weakness or financial strain, sold His people. God rejects this by reminding them of His sovereignty (Ps 50:10-12) and that they belong to Him.

• "Behold, for your iniquities you have sold yourselves" (הֵן בַּעֲוֹנֹתֵיכֶם נִמְכַּרְתֶּם, hen ba'avonoteikhem nimkartem):

  • "Behold" (הֵן, hen): An interjection signaling emphasis or a significant declaration; a call to attention.
  • "for your iniquities" (בַּעֲוֹנֹתֵיכֶם, ba'avonoteikhem): Emphatically attributes their predicament directly to their own sins. 'Avonot implies crookedness, moral guilt, or perversity, not merely mistakes. This is the root cause.
  • "you have sold yourselves" (נִמְכַּרְתֶּם, nimkartem): In the reflexive/passive sense. This is a crucial reversal. They were not sold by God but effectively sold themselves into bondage through their actions (Rom 6:16-17). Their suffering is self-inflicted and deserved under the covenant (Lev 26, Deut 28).

• "and for your transgressions your mother was put away." (וּבְפִשְׁעֵיכֶם שֻׁלְּחָה אִמְּכֶם, uvfishe'ikhem shullekhah imekem):

  • "for your transgressions" (וּבְפִשְׁעֵיכֶם, uvfishe'ikhem): Reinforces the theme of human culpability. Pesha' (פֶּשַׁע) implies rebellion, breaking trust, or intentional revolt against a known law or relationship.
  • "your mother was put away" (שֻׁלְּחָה אִמְּכֶם, shullekhah imekem): Literally "your mother was sent away" or "sent off." While associated with divorce terminology (a wife 'sent away' implies divorce), here it describes the consequence of their transgressions leading to exile and separation, not a legal divorce issued by God from His side. It reiterates that the 'separation' they experienced was directly tied to their own actions, not God’s rejection or inability.

Isaiah 50 1 Bonus section

The denial of the "bill of divorce" (סֵפֶר כְּרִיתוּת) is a pivotal statement on the enduring nature of God's covenant with Judah, distinct from how God addressed Northern Israel's harlotry in Jeremiah 3. Despite severe judgment and exile, a pathway for reconciliation and return remains open with Judah because the legal dissolution from God's side has not occurred. The concept of "selling yourselves" is a powerful metaphor illustrating how deliberate sinful actions create a state of bondage and estrangement, a spiritual transaction where personal liberty and blessing are traded for the immediate gratification of sin, leading to eventual enslavement to its consequences. This prefigures the New Testament concept of being a "slave to sin" (Rom 6:16). Furthermore, by debunking the idea of God having "creditors," the passage proactively counters any theological notions of a finite or dependent deity, reinforcing His unique identity as the uncreated, sovereign Creator and sustainer of all, incapable of lacking resources or power.

Isaiah 50 1 Commentary

Isaiah 50:1 serves as a divine cross-examination, addressing the profound spiritual despondency and misattribution of blame prevalent among the exiles. They perceived their national calamity – the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian captivity – as either God abandoning them through a formal divorce or as Him being too weak or bankrupt to protect or provide for them. God vigorously refutes both notions. He confirms that He neither issued a "bill of divorce" to Judah, thus upholding the covenant relationship, nor did He "sell" them into slavery, thereby affirming His absolute sovereignty and limitless resources. The ultimate, piercing truth delivered is that their predicament is a direct result of their "iniquities" and "transgressions" – their continuous, rebellious sinfulness. They effectively "sold themselves" into bondage by their choices, experiencing the predetermined curses of the covenant for disobedience. This verse reasserts God’s faithfulness and power while firmly placing responsibility for suffering on human sin, preparing the audience to receive the message of redemption through the obedient Servant.