Isaiah 1:6

From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there is no soundness—only wounds and welts and festering sores neither cleansed nor bandaged nor soothed with oil.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Yahweh speaks through the prophet Isaiah to the rebellious house of Judah during a time of national collapse and spiritual rebellion. The address targets the entire community, framing their condition as a direct consequence of continued defiance.

The words — The phrase מִכַּף־רֶגֶל עַד־רֹאשׁ (mi-kafregel ad-rosh) literally means "from the sole of the foot to the head," marking a complete physical span. The word מְתוֹם (metom) translates to "soundness" or "wholeness," which the text explicitly negates.

The thread — The depiction of unmanaged wounds echoes Jeremiah 6:14, where leaders superficially treat the people's condition while claiming peace. It also sets up the contrast found in Jeremiah 33:6 regarding God's future healing and the diagnostic principle Jesus cites in Matthew 9:12 about the sick needing a physician.

Why it lands — The passage requires the reader to acknowledge that the affliction is total and entirely unaddressed, ruling out partial or cosmetic solutions. It demands a clear-eyed assessment of the condition before any corrective action or divine intervention can be logically pursued.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

מִכַּף־mi./kaf-from/ [the] sole of רֶ֤גֶלRe.gel[the] foot וְעַד־ve./'ad-and/ to רֹאשׁ֙roSh[the] head אֵֽין־'ein-there notבּ֣וֹb/oin/ itמְתֹ֔םme.Tom[is] soundness פֶּ֥צַעPe.tza'bruise[s]וְחַבּוּרָ֖הve./cha.bu.Rahand/ welt[s]וּמַכָּ֣הu./ma.Kahand/ wound[s]טְרִיָּ֑הte.ri.Yahfresh לֹא־lo'-not זֹ֙רוּ֙zo.ruthey have been pressed out וְלֹ֣אve./Lo'and/ not חֻבָּ֔שׁוּchu.Ba.shuthey have been bound up וְלֹ֥אve./Lo'and/ not רֻכְּכָ֖הru.ke.Khahit has been softened בַּשָּֽׁמֶן׃ba./Sha.menwith <the>/ oil

King James Version

From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

Cross-references

Jeremiah 6:14 They dress the wound of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.
Jeremiah 33:6 Nevertheless, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal its people and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth.
Matthew 9:12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
Job 5:18 For He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal.
Psalms 38:3 There is no soundness in my body because of Your anger; there is no rest in my bones because of my sin.
Psalms 77:2 In the day of trouble I sought the Lord; through the night my outstretched hands did not grow weary; my soul refused to be comforted.
Malachi 4:2 “But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and leap like calves from the stall.
Luke 10:34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
2 Chronicles 6:28 When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemies besiege them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come,
Job 2:7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.