1. Isaiah 50:1 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What does the term “behold” denote?

Isaiah 50:1 (ESV)

1 Thus says the LORD: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce, with which I sent her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

The term behold (הֵן) appears fourteen times in Isaiah 40:14–50:11, five of which are in Isaiah 50:1–11 alone. The term draws special attention to God’s actions in relation to his covenant people.1