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 50:2KJV
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Isaiah 50:2 (KJV)

What does Isaiah 50:2 mean?

Isaiah 50:2 presents God asking why no one responded when he came and called. God challenges the idea that he lacked the strength to rescue his people, pointing to his power over the sea and rivers as evidence that he can deliver them.

The questions follow God’s reply to the people’s complaint in the preceding verse. A “shortened” hand pictures an arm unable to reach far enough to help. The drying waters leave fish stranded and dying, a vivid picture of the reach of God’s command.

The Hebrew behind Isaiah 50:2

  • “shortened” — קָצַר (qatsar): This word can mean “be short” or “be too short.” Applied to a hand, it creates the picture of someone unable to reach what needs to be rescued.
  • “redeem” — פָּדָה (padah): This word can mean to free or rescue someone. Here the question asks whether God is unable to bring his people out of their trouble.

Why Isaiah 50:2 matters

  • The verse places the unanswered call alongside the question of God’s power. The words “when I called, was there none to answer?” direct attention to the people’s lack of response.
  • The sea and rivers show the scale of the power being claimed. God says that “at my rebuke” the waters dry up, leaving fish without water.
  • The question about a shortened hand belongs to a larger exchange about the people’s condition. In verse 1, God points to their own wrongs; verse 2 asks whether his ability to rescue is in doubt.

Where else these words appear

“redeem” Hebrew H6304 · used in 4 verses

  • Exodus 8:23 And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to morrow shall this sign be.
  • Psalms 111:9 He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name.
  • Psalms 130:7 Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.

“fish” Hebrew H1710 · used in 13 verses

  • Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
  • Numbers 11:5 We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:
  • Ezekiel 29:5 And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven.

“rebuke” Hebrew H1606 · used in 14 verses

  • 2 Samuel 22:16 And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.
  • Psalms 80:16 It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.
  • Proverbs 17:10 A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool.

“stinketh” Hebrew H887 · used in 16 verses

  • Genesis 34:30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.
  • Exodus 16:20 Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them.
  • 2 Samuel 16:21 And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Go in unto thy father's concubines, which he hath left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father: then shall the hands of all that are with thee be strong.