Isaiah 6:12
in Isaiah 6until the LORD has driven men far away and the land is utterly forsaken.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and Jehovah have removed men far away, and the forsaken places be many in the midst of the land.
KJV
And the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
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This verse in Isaiah 6
Commentary
7 notes on this verse229 [cont.]. As to the exile of men: and the Lord shall remove men far away: and I will send you, and your mother that bore you, into a strange country, in which you were not born, and there you shall die (Jer 22:26). And …
This site's exposition
How long, O Lord?
on Isaiah 6:11-12
Isaiah asks how long the hardening will last. Verse 12 carries the ruin into exile, language that reaches past the near Assyrian crisis to the Babylonian captivity a century off. The answer gives no date, only a condition, the land emptied and its people driven away.
This site's exposition
the land is utterly forsaken
The LORD's answer to the question of 6:11 is exile. Barnes says the men driven far away are the strength of the nation, carried to a distant land and leaving the land forsaken. Assyria took Israel, and Babylon later took Judah.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 11-13.) And I said, how long, Lord? And he answered, until the cities are desolate and without inhabitant, and the houses are without people, and the land is left empty. And the Lord will remove men far away, and what was abandoned in the midst of the land will be multiplied. And even in it there will be a tenth, and it will be turned again to destruction, like a terebinth tree, and like an oak tree that sheds its leaves, the holy seed will be the stump that remains in it.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And the Lord have removed men far away,....
What will be in the end hereof?" In answer to this he is told that it should issue in the final destruction of the Jewish church and nation. "When the word of God, especially the word of the gospel, had been thus abused by them, they shall be unchurched, and consequently undone.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
And the Lord have removed ... - The land shall be given up to desolation. The men - the strength of the nation - shall be taken to a distant land. And there be a great forsaking - A great desolation; the cities and dwellings shall be abandoned by the inhabitants; compare Isa 17:2; Jer 4:29; Zep 2:4.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
and the deserted places be many For the land will be abandoned by them, and this is the explanation of the language: Deserted places will increase in the midst of the land.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
And when there is yet a tenth [And when they are diminished to one out of ten (Rashi ms.)] even upon this remnant will I return My hand as a purge after a purge, and it will be purged until only completely righteous men will remain, who will repent wholeheartedly.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְרִחַ֥ק | verichak | and he will send far away | H7368 → | 57 times |
| יְהוָ֖ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הָאָדָ֑ם | haadam | <the> humankind | H120 → | 551 times |
| וְרַבָּ֥ה | verabah | and it will become great | H7231 → | 21 times |
| הָעֲזוּבָ֖ה | haazuvah | the abandoned [land] | H5805 → | |
| בְּקֶ֥רֶב | bekerev | in [the] midst of | H7130 → | 227 times |
| הָאָֽרֶץ׃ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
וְרִחַ֥קand he will send far away
verichakH7368 →57 times
יְהוָ֖הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הָאָדָ֑ם<the> humankind
haadamH120 →551 times
וְרַבָּ֥הand it will become great
verabahH7231 →21 times
הָעֲזוּבָ֖הthe abandoned [land]
haazuvahH5805 →
בְּקֶ֥רֶבin [the] midst of
bekerevH7130 →227 times
הָאָֽרֶץ׃the land
haaretzH776 →2504 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Deuteronomy 28:64Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 4:27–28
Then the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you.
- Leviticus 26:33
But I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out a sword after you as your land becomes desolate and your cities are laid waste.
- Jeremiah 16:13
So I will cast you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known. There you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you…
- Deuteronomy 28:36
The LORD will bring you and the king you appoint to a nation neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone.
- Nehemiah 1:8
Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses when You said, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations,
- Deuteronomy 4:27–28
Through
Isaiah 26:15You have enlarged the nation, O LORD; You have enlarged the nation. You have gained glory for Yourself; You have extended all the borders of the land.
it leads to
- Isaiah 9:3
You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. The people rejoice before You as they rejoice at harvest time, as men rejoice in dividing the plunder.
- Jeremiah 32:37
I will surely gather My people from all the lands to which I have banished them in My furious anger and great wrath, and I will return them to this place and make them…
- Nehemiah 9:23
You multiplied their descendants like the stars of heaven and brought them to the land You had told their fathers to enter and possess.
- Isaiah 9:3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies16
On this verse
On this chapter
About Isaiah
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.