Your silver has become dross; your fine wine is diluted with water.
Parallel translations
- WEB Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water.
- KJV Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:
- NKJV Your silver has become dross, Your wine mixed with water.
- NASB Your silver has become waste matter, Your drink diluted with water.
- NLT Once like pure silver, you have become like worthless slag. Once so pure, you are now like watered-down wine.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The nation's former value is corrupted, like silver turned to dross and wine diluted with water. It is a picture of degraded purity and integrity.
Overview
The metaphors describe how what was once precious has been adulterated by sin. Leadership and society have lost their genuine worth. The image anticipates God's refining work to purge away the dross and restore true value (v. 25).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Jer 6:28–30All are hardened rebels, walking around as slanderers. They are bronze and iron; all of them are corrupt.
- Hos 4:18When their liquor is gone, they turn to prostitution; their rulers dearly love disgrace.
- Lam 4:1–2How the gold has become tarnished, the pure gold has become dull! The gems of the temple lie scattered on every street corner.
- Ezek 22:18–22“Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me. All of them are copper, tin, iron, and lead inside the furnace; they are but the dross of silver.
- Hos 6:4What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes.
- 2 Cor 2:17For we are not like so many others, who peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as men sent from God.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 1:22 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.