Isaiah 52 · a question people ask
"You were sold for nothing" (52:3), yet two chapters earlier, "you were sold for your iniquities" (50:1). Which is it?
The two sayings stand two chapters apart, and in Hebrew you were sold is the same word in both; the Hebrew Bible has that form of the verb only in these two verses. In chapter 50 the LORD asks, "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" (50:1), and the chapter on Isaiah 50 looks at that verse. Here he says, "You were sold for nothing; and you will be redeemed without money" (52:3) (tap for nothing, redeemed). For nothing is chinnam, which Brown-Driver-Briggs gives as "gratis, gratuitously, for nothing". The chapter has it again: "seeing that my people are taken away for nothing" (52:5). The verses don't say how the two sayings fit together, and these notes don't choose a way.
The verses
“For the LORD says, “You were sold for nothing; and you will be redeemed without money.””
“The LORD 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.”
““Now therefore, what do I do here,” says the LORD, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Those who rule over them mock,” says the LORD, “and my name is blasphemed continually all day long.”