Isaiah 52:3 For thus said the LORD, You have sold yourselves for nothing; and you shall be redeemed without money. It appears to have been no unusual thing amongst the ancient Jews for a man who was sunk in debt and difficulties, and reduced to the extreme of poverty, to sell himself, or to be sold by his creditors, as a bondsman for a certain term of years. There seems to be an allusion to this circumstance in the text before us. In its strict and primary sense it relates peculiarly to the nation of the Jews, who by a long course of wicked and rebellious conduct had sold themselves, as it were, into the hands of their enemies; that is to say, their wickedness had been the immediate cause of their being delivered up by God into the hands of the Babylonians, who had reduced them into abject slavery. And they are said to have sold themselves "for nought," inasmuch as there was nothing in the fruits and consequences of their sin to compensate for the miserable state into which it had reduced them. (A. Roberts, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.WEB: For thus says Yahweh, "You were sold for nothing; and you shall be redeemed without money." |
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