Isaiah 50:1
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 in other translations
| BSB | 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? Look, you were sold for your iniquities, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away. |
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| WEB | The LORD says, “Where is the bill of your mother’s divorce, with which I have put her away? Or to which of my creditors have I sold you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, and your mother was put away for your transgressions. |
| ASV | Thus saith Jehovah, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, wherewith I have put her away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities were ye sold, and for your transgressions was your mother put away. |
| YLT | Thus said Jehovah: ‘Where is this--the bill of your mother's divorce, Whom I sent away? Or to which of My creditors have I sold you? Lo, for your iniquities ye have been sold, And for your transgressions Hath your mother been sent away. |
| DARBY | Thus saith Jehovah: Where is the bill of your mother's divorce, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, through your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away. |
| BBE | This is the word of the Lord: Where is the statement which I gave your mother when I put her away? or to which of my creditors have I given you for money? It was for your sins that you were given into the hands of others, and for your evil-doing was your mother put away. |
| Webster | 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. |
What does Isaiah 50:1 mean?
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
Is 50:1-11. The Judgments on Israel Were Provoked by Their Crimes, yet They Are Not Finally Cast Off by God.
1. Where ... mothers divorcement--Zion is "the mother"; the Jews are the children; and God the Husband and Father (Is 54:5; 62:5; Jr 3:14). Gesenius thinks that God means by the question to deny that He had given "a bill of divorcement" to her, as was often done on slight pretexts by a husband (De 24:1), or that He had "sold" His and her "children," as a poor parent sometimes did (Ex 21:7; 2Ki 4:1; Ne 5:5) under pressure of his "creditors"; that it was they who sold themselves through their own sins. Maurer explains, "Show the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom ... ; produce the creditors to whom ye have been sold; so it will be seen that it was not from any caprice of Mine, but through your own fault, your mother has been put away, and you sold" (Is 52:3). Horsley best explains (as the antithesis between "I" and "yourselves" shows, though Lowth translates, "Ye are sold") I have never given your mother a regular bill of divorcement; I have merely "put her away" for a time, and can, therefore, by right as her husband still take her back on her submission; I have not made you, the children, over to any "creditor" to satisfy a debt; I therefore still have the right of a father over you, and can take you back on repentance, though as rebellious children you have sold yourselves to sin and its penalty (1Ki 21:25). bill ... whom--rather, "the bill with which I have put her away" [Maurer].Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain
Adam Clarke's Commentary
Introduction
In this chapter God vindicates his dealings unth his people, whose alienation is owing to themselves, Isa 50:1. And, by allusion to the temporal deliverances connected with the drying up of the Red Sea and the Euphrates, asserts his power to save, Isa 50:2, Isa 50:3; namely, by the obedience and sufferings of the Messiah, Isa 50:4-6; who was at length to prove victorious over all his enemies, Isa 50:7-9. The two last verses exhort to faith and trust in God in the most disconsolate circumstances; with a denunciation of vengeance on those who should trust to their own devices, Isa 50:10, Isa 50:11. Verse 1 Thus saith the Lord - This chapter has been understood of the prophet himself; but it certainly speaks more clearly about Jesus of Nazareth than of Isaiah, the son of Amos. Where is the bill "Where is this bill" - Husbands, through moroseness or levity of temper, often sent bills of divorcement to their wives on slight occasions, as they were permitted to do by the law of Moses, Deu 24:1. And fathers, being oppressed with debt, often sold their children, which they might do for a time, till the year of release, Exo 21:7. That this was frequently practiced, appears from many passages of Scripture, and that the persons and the liberty of the children were answerable for the debts of the father. The widow, 2Kgs 4:1, complains "that the creditor is come to take unto him her two sons to be bondmen." And in the parable, Mat 18:25 : "The lord, forasmuch as his servant had not to pay, commands him to be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made." Sir John Chardin's MS. note on this place of Isaiah is as follows: En Orient on paye ses dettes avec ses esclaves, car ils sont des principaux meubles; et en plusieurs lieux on les paye aussi de ses enfans. "In the east they pay their debts by giving up their slaves, for these are their chief property of a disposable kind; and in many places they give their children to their creditors." But this, saith God, cannot be my case, I am not governed by any such motives, neither am I urged by any such necessity. Your captivity therefore and your afflictions are to be imputed to yourselves, and to your own folly and wickedness.Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Isaiah 50:1-3
Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain
Isaiah 50:1 in the original Hebrew
Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.
Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).
Cross references for Isaiah 50:1
- Deuteronomy 32:30
How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up?
- Jeremiah 3:8
And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
- Matthew 18:25
But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
- 2 Kings 4:1
Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen.
- Nehemiah 5:5
Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards.
- Isaiah 52:3
For thus saith the Lord, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.
- Deuteronomy 24:1-4
When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife. And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife; Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the Lord: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
- Hosea 2:2-4
Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts; Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms.
- Isaiah 59:1-2
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
- Mark 10:4-12
And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; …
- 2 Kings 17:17
And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.
- Psalms 44:12
Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price.
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Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
5 by his obedience in that work;
7 and by his confidence in that assistance.
10 An exhortation to trust in God, and not in ourselves.
the bill.
De 24:1-4; Jer 3:1,8; Ho 2:2-4; Mr 10:4-12
or which.
Ex 21:7; Le 25:39; De 32:30; 2Ki 4:1; Ne 5:5; Es 7:4; Ps 44:12
Mt 18:25
Behold.Husbands often sent bills of divorcement to their wives on slight occasions; and fathers, oppressed with debt, sold their children till the year of release. But this, saith God, cannot be my case: I am not governed by any such motives, nor am I urged by any such necessity. Your captivity and afflictions are the fruits of your own folly and wickedness.
for your iniquities.
52:3; 59:1,2; 1Ki 21:25; 2Ki 17:17; Jer 3:8; 4:18
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain
Context
- Isaiah 50:1
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 50:2
Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst.
Isaiah 50:1 in other languages
| Spanish Reina-Valera 1909 | ASÍ dijo Jehová: ¿Qué es de la carta de repudio de vuestra madre, con la cual yo la repudié? ¿ó quiénes son mis acreedores, á quienes os he yo vendido? He aquí que por vuestras maldades sois vendidos, y por vuestras rebeliones fué repudiada vuestra madre: |
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| French Bible J.N. Darby 1885 | Ainsi dit l’ Éternel: Où est la lettre de divorce de votre mère que j’ai renvoyée? Ou, qui est celui de mes créanciers auquel je vous ai vendus? Voici, vous vous êtes vendus par vos iniquités, et à cause de vos transgressions votre mère a été renvoyée. |
| German Elberfelder 1871 | So spricht Jehova: Wo ist der Scheidebrief eurer Mutter, mit dem ich sie entließ? oder welchem von meinen Gläubigern habe ich euch verkauft? Siehe, um eurer Missetaten willen seid ihr verkauft, und um eurer Übertretungen willen ist eure Mutter entlassen. |
| Latin Clementine Vulgate | Hæc dicit Dominus: Quis est hic liber repudii matris vestræ, quo dimisi eam? aut quis est creditor meus, cui vendidi vos? Ecce in iniquitatibus vestris venditi estis, et in sceleribus vestris dimisi matrem vestram. |