Isaiah 1:6

6 From the sole of the foot till to the noll, health is not therein; wound, and wanness, and beating swelling (that) is not bound about (and swelling from a beating that is not bound up), neither cured by medicine, neither nursed with oil.

Isaiah 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.''

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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.

Isaiah 1:6 In-Context

4 Woe to the sinful folk, to the people heavy in wickedness, to the wayward seed, to the cursed sons; they have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the Holy of Israel, they be aliened [away] backward. (Woe to this sinful nation, to the people heavy in wickedness, to this depraved generation, to these cursed sons and daughters; they have deserted the Lord, they have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, they have turned their backs on him.)

5 On what thing shall I smite you more, that increase trespassing? (Over what thing shall I strike you, ye who continue to trespass, or to sin?) Each head is sick, and each heart is mourning.

6 From the sole of the foot till to the noll, health is not therein; wound, and wanness, and beating swelling (that) is not bound about (and swelling from a beating that is not bound up), neither cured by medicine, neither nursed with oil.

7 Your land is forsaken, your cities be burnt by fire; aliens devour your country before you, and it shall be desolate as in the destroying of enemies. (Your land is deserted, your cities be burned down; foreigners devour your country before you, and it shall be made desolate in its destruction by your enemies.)

8 And the daughter of Zion, that is, Jerusalem, shall be forsaken as a shadowing place in a vineyard, and as an hulk in a place where gourds waxed, and as a city which is wasted. (And the daughter of Zion, that is, Jerusalem, shall be deserted like a place of shadow in a vineyard, and like a hut in a place where cucumbers grew, and like a city that is destroyed.)