Limitless Word
I will turn My hand against you, And thoroughly purge away your dross, And take away all your alloy.
Isaiah 1:25 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB and I will turn my hand on you, thoroughly purge away your dross, and will take away all your tin.
  • KJV And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:
  • BSB I will turn My hand against you; I will thoroughly purge your dross; I will remove all your impurities.
  • NASB “I will also turn My hand against you, And smelt away your impurities as with lye; And I will remove all your slag.
  • NLT I will raise my fist against you. I will melt you down and skim off your slag. I will remove all your impurities.

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

God will turn His hand to purge away their dross and impurities like a refiner. His judgment aims at cleansing, not just punishment.

Overview

Picking up the dross imagery of verse 22, God promises a refining process that removes corruption. This shows that divine discipline is restorative for His people. Such purifying grace ultimately reaches its goal in the cleansed people God forms through Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 13

  • Mal 3:3and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to Yahweh offerings in righteousness.
  • Isa 4:4when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from within it, by the spirit of justice, and by the spirit of burning.
  • Jer 9:7Therefore Yahweh of Armies says, “Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how should I deal with the daughter of my people?
  • Isa 1:22Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water.
  • Jer 6:29The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed of the fire: in vain do they go on refining; for the wicked are not plucked away.
  • Ezek 22:22As silver is melted in the middle of the furnace, so you will be melted in the middle of it; and you will know that I, Yahweh, have poured out my wrath on you.’”
  • Isa 6:11–13Then I said, “Lord, how long?” He answered, “Until cities are waste without inhabitant, and houses without man, and the land becomes utterly waste,
  • Zeph 3:11In that day you will not be disappointed for all your doings, in which you have transgressed against me; for then I will take away out from among you your proudly exulting ones, and you will no more be haughty in my holy mountain.
  • Ezek 20:38I will purge out from among you the rebels, and those who disobey against me. I will bring them out of the land where they live, but they shall not enter into the land of Israel; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.”
  • Zech 13:7–9“Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is close to me,” says Yahweh of Armies. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
  • Rev 3:19As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.
  • Matt 3:12His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”
  • Ezek 22:20As they gather silver, brass, iron, lead, and tin into the middle of the furnace, to blow the fire on it, to melt it; so will I gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will lay you there, and melt you.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (5)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Isaiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Isaiah 1:25YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on IsaiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 1:25 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.