Isaiah 1:6 (KJV)

What does Isaiah 1:6 mean?

Isaiah 1:6 pictures the people of Judah as a body injured from head to foot and left without care. The image conveys the seriousness of their condition as Isaiah speaks to a people who have turned away from God.

After the question about further blows in verse 5, Isaiah describes wounds that have received no treatment. Closing, bandaging, and softening with oil were ways of caring for an injured person. Their absence makes the picture especially stark.

The Hebrew behind Isaiah 1:6

• “soundness” — מְתֹם (metom): This means wholeness or health. The word describes the condition of the body as a whole, rather than naming one particular injury.
• “closed” — זוּר (zur): Here the word carries the sense of being pressed out or squeezed. The KJV’s “closed” describes part of the care the wounds had not received; the Hebrew wording is often understood as referring to pressing out the wounds.
• “mollified” — רָכַךְ (rakhakh): This means softened. It helps explain the KJV phrase “mollified with ointment”: the oil would be used to soften the injured area.

Why Isaiah 1:6 matters

• The injured body represents a people, not just one sick person. Isaiah addresses the “sinful nation” in verse 4 before describing the body in verse 6.
• The picture brings together wrongdoing and suffering. Verse 4 speaks of people who have forsaken God, while the verses that follow describe a land laid waste.
• The verse stresses the absence of care as well as the extent of injury. The wounds are not only severe; they have not been bandaged or softened with oil.