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 50:1KJV
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Isaiah 50:1 (KJV)

What does Isaiah 50:1 mean?

Isaiah 50:1 describes God questioning the people of Israel about why they feel abandoned, making it clear that their separation from Him is not because He has divorced them or sold them off, but because of their own wrongdoing. The verse emphasizes that their sins and transgressions are the real reason for their suffering and distance from God.

In this verse, God is speaking through the prophet Isaiah to the people of Israel, who feel forsaken during a time of hardship, likely exile. God uses the image of a "bill of divorcement" and being "sold to creditors" to challenge the idea that He has permanently rejected them. Instead, God points out that their own actions—specifically their iniquities and transgressions—are what have caused their current situation.

The Hebrew behind Isaiah 50:1

  • "bill" (סֵפֶר, sefer): This word means a written document or scroll. Here, it refers to a formal certificate of divorce, which would have been required if God had truly cast Israel away, but God says no such document exists.
  • "divorcement" (כְּרִיתוּת, keritut): This word means a cutting off or divorce. Its use highlights the seriousness of the separation, but God denies issuing such a final separation.
  • "sold" (מָכַר, makar): This verb means to sell, often used for selling into slavery. God asks which creditor He supposedly sold them to, making the point that He owes no one and has not sold them away.
  • "iniquities" (עָוֹן, avon) and "transgressions" (פֶּשַׁע, pesha): These words refer to moral wrongdoing and rebellion. God stresses that these are the true cause of the people's troubles, not any action on His part.

Why Isaiah 50:1 matters

  • Isaiah 50:1 corrects the misunderstanding that God has abandoned His people permanently or unjustly; instead, it places responsibility on the people’s own choices.
  • The verse uses legal and economic imagery familiar to ancient Israel—divorce and debt slavery—to make God's relationship with His people clear and relatable.
  • This verse sets up the following verses, where God will further explain His faithfulness and power, despite Israel’s sense of abandonment.

Where else these words appear

“divorcement” Hebrew H3748 · used in 4 verses

  • Deuteronomy 24:1 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.
  • Deuteronomy 24:3 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;
  • 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.

“creditors” Hebrew H5383 · used in 12 verses

  • Exodus 22:25 If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury.
  • Deuteronomy 24:11 Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee.
  • Nehemiah 5:11 Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them.

“sold” Hebrew H4376 · used in 74 verses

  • Genesis 25:31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.
  • Leviticus 25:39 And if thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant:
  • 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.

“transgressions” Hebrew H6588 · used in 90 verses

  • Genesis 31:36 And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban: and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? what is my sin, that thou hast so hotly pursued after me?
  • Psalms 51:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
  • Lamentations 1:14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to fall, the Lord hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up.