Isaiah 52:3
in Isaiah 52For this is what the LORD says: “You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For thus saith Jehovah, Ye were sold for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.
KJV
For thus saith the Lord, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.
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This verse in Isaiah 52
Commentary
13 notes on this verse(Verse 2, 3.) Shake off the dust; arise, Jerusalem! Loose the bonds of your neck, captive daughter Zion. For thus says the Lord: You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money. LXX: Shake off the dust; arise, Jerusalem! Loose the bonds of your neck, captive daughter Zion. For thus says the Lord: You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.
This site's exposition
clothe yourself with strength
on Isaiah 52:1-3
The double summons “Awake, awake” answers the cup of chapter 51, and Zion is told to put on her “garments of splendor” again. Verse 3 states the terms: “You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed”, the free grace that 55:1 opens to all.
This site's exposition
without money you will be redeemed
Barnes reads the verse as plain equity. The captors paid no money when Israel was sold, so none would be paid when the LORD redeemed her. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown point to Cyrus in Isaiah 45:13, who let the captives go without price or reward.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
No one is sufficient to redeem himself, unless he comes who turns away the captivity of the people, not with ransoms or with gifts, as it is written in Isaiah, but in his own blood.
For without a doubt he will not deserve to be adorned with the garment of incorruption (concerning which the apostle commanded, "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ"; and again: "Clothed in the breastplate of righteousness and love";11 and about which the Lord himself said to Jerusalem through the prophet: "Rise up, rise up, Jerusalem, put on the garments of your glory") who has been overcome by slumbering idleness and boredom and who has chosen to be clothed not by the effort of his own toil but in the rags of laziness, which he has cut off from the complete fullness of the Scriptures and from their body and which he refits into a disgraceful covering to hide his slothfulness rather than into a garment of glory and beauty.
But those who want to believe will be redeemed, not with silver and money, but with the precious blood of Christ, so that they may hear through the apostles: Grace to you and peace (Romans 1:7). For we are reconciled to God, not by merits, but by grace and faith in Christ. It is also said of the soul, which, defiled by the filth of vices, had lost the brightness of its former conduct, that it shakes off the dust with the Apostles, who clung to His feet (Matthew 10).
Let us all flee to Christ. Against sin let us appeal to God, the giver of freedom. Let us request to have ourselves put up for sale that we may be redeemed by his blood. For the Lord says, "You were sold for nothing, and without money you shall be redeemed." That is, without payment, without your payment, because by mine. The Lord says this, for he gave the payment himself, not silver but his own blood. For we had remained both slaves and in need.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Third, he promises liberation from detention by her captors, foretelling the benefit of liberation: loose the bonds, that is, come forth from captivity: I have broken the chains of your necks (Lev 26:13). And he shows the manner of liberation: for thus says the Lord: …
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
They did not so much as pay their debts to him with it; the Babylonians gave him no thanks for them, but rather reproached and blasphemed his name upon that account.) "And therefore they, having so long had you for nothing, shall at last restore you for nothing: You shall be redeemed without price, " as was promised, ch. xlv.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Sold yourselves - By your sins, without any valuable consideration paid by them either to you, or to your Lord and owner. Without money - Without paying any ransom.
For thus saith the Lord, ye have sold yourselves for nought,.... As Ahab did to work wickedness; as men do freely, and get nothing by it; for there is nothing got in the service of sin, Satan, and antichrist, or by being slaves and vassals to them; not profit, but loss; not pleasure, but pain; not honour, but shame; not liberty, but bondage; not riches and wealth, but poverty and want, which Popery always brings into those countries and people where it obtains.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Ye have sold yourselves for nought - You became captives and prisoners without any price being paid for you. You cost nothing to those who made you prisoners. The idea is, that as they who had made them prisoners had done so without paying any price for them, it was equitable that they should be released in the same manner. When their captors had paid nothing for them, God would suffer nothing to be paid for them in turn; and they should be released, as they had been sold, without a price paid for them.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
As you became your foes' servants, without their paying any price for you (Jer 15:13), so they shall release you without demanding any price or reward (Isa 45:13), (where Cyrus is represented as doing so: a type of their final restoration gratuitously in like manner).
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| כֹה֙ | khoh | thus | H3541 → | 577 times |
| אָמַ֣ר | ʾamar | he says | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יְהוָ֔ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| חִנָּ֖ם | chinam | for nothing | H2600 → | |
| נִמְכַּרְתֶּ֑ם | nimkartem | you were sold | H4376 → | 80 times |
| וְלֹ֥א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| בְכֶ֖סֶף | vekhesef | with money | H3701 → | 403 times |
| תִּגָּאֵֽלוּ׃ | tigaelu | you will be redeemed | H1350 → | 104 times |
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
כֹה֙thus
khohH3541 →577 times
אָמַ֣רhe says
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
יְהוָ֔הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
חִנָּ֖םfor nothing
chinamH2600 →
נִמְכַּרְתֶּ֑םyou were sold
nimkartemH4376 →80 times
וְלֹ֥אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
בְכֶ֖סֶףwith money
vekhesefH3701 →403 times
תִּגָּאֵֽלוּ׃you will be redeemed
tigaeluH1350 →104 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Peter 1:18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers,
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 6:20
you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.
- Titus 2:14
He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
- 1 Corinthians 7:23
You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.
- Psalms 49:7–8
No man can possibly redeem his brother or pay his ransom to God.
- Galatians 1:4
who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
- 1 Corinthians 6:20
Through
Isaiah 50:1This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of My creditors did I sell you? Look, you were sold for…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 32:30
How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 3:8
She saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet that unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and prostituted herself as well.
- Deuteronomy 32:30
Through
Jeremiah 15:13Your wealth and your treasures I will give up as plunder, without charge for all your sins within all your borders.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 17:3
O My mountain in the countryside, I will give over your wealth and all your treasures as plunder, because of the sin of your high places, within all your borders.
- Jeremiah 17:3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Isaiah
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 41:4.3; Basil of Caesarea, HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 19:4 (PSALM 48); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Cassian, INSTITUTES 10:21.2; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.