For this is what the Lord says:

‘You were sold for nothing,
    and without money you will be redeemed.’

4 For this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

‘At first my people went down to Egypt to live;
    lately, Assyria has oppressed them.

Those who oppressed God’s people never owned them. They did not pay for them. They could not say they had bought them. Although Israel had been knocked about in the world, this people were always ‘my people’. Perhaps they felt valueless: ‘’sold for nothing‘ – but this was very far from the truth.

My mind turns to 1Peter 1:18,19:

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

Our redemption was not achieved by money.

In 1 Cor 6:19,20, Paul spells out some practical applications for those who are bought by Christ and owned by God:

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies.