6.12
The Book of Isaiah 6.12 · The LORD sends people far away6.12The LORD sends people far away
The desolation widens. The people are removed, and the land is left with many empty places.
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And
יְהוָה1
YHWH
the LORD
וְרִחַק2
wə-riḥaq
removesand he makes far
אֶת־3
ʾeṯ-
mark of the accusative
הָאָדָם4
hā-ʾāḏām
the peoplethe man
far away
,and
הָעֲזוּבָה5
hā-ʿăzûḇâ
the forsaken places
וְרַבָּה6
wə-raḇbâ
will be manyand it is many
בְּקֶרֶב7
bə-qereḇ
in the midst ofin the middle of
הָאָרֶץ׃8
hā-ʾāreṣ
the landthe earth
. And the LORD removes the people far away, and the forsaken places will be many in the midst of the land.
And the LORD removes the people far away, and the forsaken places will be many in the midst of the land.
6.13
The Book of Isaiah 6.13 · The holy seed is its stump6.13The holy seed is its stump
A tenth part remains in the land, but it too is burned like a felled tree. The last words offer a hope: the stump is a holy seed.
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And though a tenth remains in it still, it will be burned again, like a terebinth and like an oak which at the felling a stump remains in them. The holy seed is its stump.
Rīḥaq YHWH ʾet-hā-ʾāḏām, “the LORD sends humankind far away”: the word for people here is ʾāḏām, the first man’s name, and the verb is distance. Readers after 587 BC could not hear it without hearing the exile to Babylon. The deserted places are ʿăzûḇâ, “forsaken”, a word Isaiah later turns around: “you shall no more be called Forsaken” (62:4).