They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.

ISAIAH 18:6KJV
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Isaiah 18:6 (KJV)

What does Isaiah 18:6 mean?

Isaiah 18:6 describes the aftermath of a devastating defeat. The dead are left exposed as food for birds and wild animals, rather than being gathered and buried. The birds remain in summer, and the animals in winter.

After the cutting image in verse 5, Isaiah turns to the scene left behind. The verse pictures the bodies lying together in the open, where birds and animals can reach them. For Isaiah’s first hearers, the lack of burial would have made the defeat especially disturbing.

The Hebrew behind Isaiah 18:6

  • “summer” — קוּץ (quts): This word can mean to spend the summer. Isaiah uses a seasonal word to picture the birds staying at the scene, not merely passing over it.
  • “winter” — חָרַף (charaph): This word can mean to spend the winter. Paired with “summer,” it gives the picture a span of seasons.

Why Isaiah 18:6 matters

  • Isaiah’s picture moves from plants to living creatures. The pruning in verse 5 leads into a scene of birds and beasts feeding on those left behind, giving the earlier cutting image a grim force.
  • The verse presents the defeat as extensive, not as the loss of one person. “They shall be left together” pictures a group exposed in the same place.
  • The passage later turns toward a gift brought to the Lord. Isaiah 18:7 mentions a present brought from the people described in the chapter, so verse 6 is not the passage’s final scene.

Where else these words appear

“fowls” Hebrew H5861 · used in 6 verses

  • Genesis 15:11 And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.
  • Job 28:7 There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen:
  • Jeremiah 12:9 Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour.

“winter” Hebrew H2778 · used in 40 verses

  • Leviticus 19:20 And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that is a bondmaid, betrothed to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free.
  • 2 Kings 19:23 By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel.
  • Psalms 89:51 Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O LORD; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed.

“together” Hebrew H3162 · used in 139 verses

  • Genesis 13:6 And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.
  • Job 24:4 They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
  • Isaiah 41:1 Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.