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.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- NASB This is what the Lord says: “Where is the certificate of divorce By which I have sent your mother away? Or to whom of My creditors did I sell you? Behold, you were sold for your wrongdoings, And for your wrongful acts your mother was sent away.
- 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.
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 denies He permanently divorced or sold His people; they were given over only because of their own sins.
Overview
Using the imagery of divorce and debt-slavery, God insists there is no certificate of divorce and no creditor, meaning the exile is not a final rejection. Israel suffered for her own iniquities, yet the relationship is not dissolved. This sets the stage for redemption, fulfilled in Christ who pays the debt of sin and restores the estranged to God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Deut 32:30How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?
- Jer 3:8She saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet that unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and prostituted herself as well.
- Matt 18:25Since the man was unable to pay, the master ordered that he be sold to pay his debt, along with his wife and children and everything he owned.
- 2 Kgs 4:1Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And now his creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves!”
- Neh 5:5We and our children are just like our countrymen and their children, yet we are subjecting our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters are already enslaved, but we are powerless to redeem them because our fields and vineyards belong to others.”
- Isa 52:3For this is what the LORD says: “You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed.”
- Hos 2:2–4Rebuke your mother, rebuke her, for she is not My wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adultery from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
- Deut 24:1–4If a man marries a woman, but she becomes displeasing to him because he finds some indecency in her, he may write her a certificate of divorce, hand it to her, and send her away from his house.
- Jer 4:18“Your ways and deeds have brought this upon you. This is your punishment; how bitter it is, because it pierces to the heart!”
- Mark 10:4–12They answered, “Moses permitted a man to write his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away.”
- Ps 44:12You sell Your people for nothing; no profit do You gain from their sale.
- Jer 3:1“If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Would not such a land be completely defiled? But you have played the harlot with many lovers—and you would return to Me?” declares the LORD.
- Isa 59:1–2Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear.
- 2 Kgs 17:17They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire and practiced divination and soothsaying. They devoted themselves to doing evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.
- 1 Kgs 21:25(Surely there was never one like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the LORD, incited by his wife Jezebel.
- Exod 21:7And if a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as the menservants do.
- Esth 7:4For my people and I have been sold out to destruction, death, and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as menservants and maidservants, I would have remained silent, because no such distress would justify burdening the king.”
- Lev 25:39If a countryman among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, then you must not force him into slave labor.
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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 50:1 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.