What Does Isaiah 18:6 Mean in the King James?

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 18:6 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

What is cut away is left exposed: abandonment here stretches through summer and winter.

THE MEANING

What has been cut away lies exposed to the birds of the mountains and the beasts of the earth. The birds settle over it in summer, and the beasts remain through winter; no season brings it back into human care.

THE ROOT

וְנֶעֱזָבוּ

weneezavu

GROWS FROM

עזב

azav

To leave, forsake, or abandon.

The verb comes from a root of forsaking, so what is left is not merely a remainder but something abandoned. The birds and beasts show what that abandonment means: what is cut away stays exposed as the seasons pass.

ALSO GROWS

azav: To leave or forsake.

עָזַב

This verb names the act behind the verse’s image of being left exposed.

azuvah: Forsaken, abandoned; a feminine form.

עֲזוּבָה

This form makes abandonment a condition, echoing how what is left remains beyond human care.

THE PATTERN

When people or what has been cut down are left exposed, the scavengers of the land become the image of complete abandonment.

And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.

Deuteronomy 28:26 · KJVLike Isaiah, this verse depicts the dead as food for birds and beasts, with no one driving them away.

For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

Matthew 24:28 · KJVThe gathered eagles make the exposed body a visible sign that scavengers find what has been left unprotected.

THE THREAD

And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.

Deuteronomy 28:26 · KJV

Deuteronomy names the exposure directly: the carcass becomes food, and no one drives the animals away. Isaiah extends the image across summer and winter, showing abandonment continuing through the turning year.

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