Isaiah 50:1
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.
Study Note
Study Note
God's rhetorical questions — 'Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement? whom have I put away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you?' — respond to Israel's complaint that God has abandoned them by reversing the accusation: no divorce document was issued, no sale to creditors was made; Israel's exile is self-caused. The marriage metaphor for the divine-Israel covenant, developed extensively in Hosea 1-3, Jeremiah 2-3, and Ezekiel 16, makes divorce the category for covenant dissolution — and God insists he has not issued the bill (Deuteronomy 24:1 required written documentation). The verse begins the Third Servant Song (50:4-11), which opens with God's faithfulness contrasted to Israel's rebellion — the Servant's response to rejection (v. 6: 'I gave my back to the smiters') presupposing this unbroken divine commitment. The text shaped Christian reflection on divorce, on Israel's exile, and on the nature of covenant fidelity.
Other Translations
Thus saith Jehovah, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, wherewith I have put her away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities were ye sold, and for your transgressions was your mother put away.
Thus said Jehovah: `Where <FI>is<Fi> this--the bill of your mother's divorce, Whom I sent away? Or to which of My creditors have I sold you? Lo, for your iniquities ye have been sold, And for your transgressions Hath your mother been sent away.
This is the word of the Lord: Where is the statement which I gave your mother when I put her away? or to which of my creditors have I given you for money? It was for your sins that you were given into the hands of others, and for your evil-doing was your mother put away.
Cross References
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that …
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
For thus saith the Lord, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.
Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because …
And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given …
They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he …
And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.
And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away.
But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, …
And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms.