Yeshayah 1:6

6 From the sole of the regel even unto the rosh there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores; they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither soothed with shemen.

Yeshayah 1:6 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 1:6

From the sole of the foot even unto the head [there is] no
soundness in it
Every member of the body politic was afflicted in one way or another, or sadly infected with the disease of sin; see ( Psalms 28:3 ) . So the Targum,

``from the rest of the people, even unto the princes, there is none among them who is perfect in my fear;''
see ( Daniel 9:8 ) ( Jeremiah 8:10 ) [but] wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores;
to which either public calamities on a city or nation may be compared, ( Hosea 5:13 ) or the sins and transgressions both of single persons, and of whole bodies of men, ( Psalms 38:5 Psalms 38:7 ) . The Targum is,
``they are all stubborn and rebellious, they are defiled with sins as an ulcerous plaster.''
They have not been closed;
that is, the wounds and sores have not been healed; or "they have not been pressed" or "squeezed" F3, in order to get the purulent matter out of them: neither bound up;
with bands, after the matter is squeezed out, and a plaster laid on: neither mollified with ointment;
which is used for the supplying and healing of wounds; see ( Luke 10:34 ) . The sense either is, that they were not reformed by their afflictions; or that they did not repent of their sins, nor seek to God for healing and pardon, nor make use of any means for their more healthful state and condition. The Targum paraphrases the words thus,
``they do not leave their haughtinesses, nor are they desirous of repentance, nor have they any righteousness to protect them.''

FOOTNOTES:

F3 (wrz al) "non expessa fuere a" (rwz) "exprimere humorem, hoc significari clarum est ex" Jud. vi. 38. Gusset. Comment. Ling. Ebr. p. 227. So Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius.

Yeshayah 1:6 In-Context

4 Ah, goy choteh (sinful nation), a people weighed down with avon (guilt, iniquity), zera of evildoers, banim of corruption; they forsook Hashem, they have spurned the Kadosh Yisroel (the Holy One of Yisroel), they have turned their back on Him. [T.N. Here we see it is 'My people’ (Ex 6:6-7) who are stricken, whereas in Yeshayah 53:8 it is Moshiach Ben Dovid who is stricken for My people.]
5 Why, seeing that ye will be stricken again, will ye rebel stubbornly again? The kol rosh is sick, and the kol levav faint.
6 From the sole of the regel even unto the rosh there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores; they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither soothed with shemen.
7 Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with eish; your land, zarim devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by zarim.
8 And the Bat Tziyon (i.e., Yerushalayim) is left as a sukkah in a kerem (vineyard), as a shack in a cucumber field, as an ir (city) under siege.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.