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.
Parallel translations
- WEB From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it: wounds, welts, and open sores. They haven’t been closed, neither bandaged, neither soothed with oil.
- KJV 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.
- NKJV From the sole of the foot even to the head, There is no soundness in it, But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; They have not been closed or bound up, Or soothed with ointment.
- NASB From the sole of the foot even to the head There is nothing healthy in it, Only bruises, slashes, and raw wounds; Not pressed out nor bandaged, Nor softened with oil.
- NLT You are battered from head to foot— covered with bruises, welts, and infected wounds— without any soothing ointments or bandages.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The nation is portrayed as a body covered with untreated wounds from head to foot. It dramatizes how comprehensive and unhealed their corruption is.
Overview
The vivid medical imagery extends verse 5: there is no soundness anywhere, and the wounds have received no care. This pictures a people whose condition is desperate and beyond self-repair. The image of unbound wounds foreshadows the Servant by whose stripes God's people are healed (Isaiah 53:5).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Jer 6:14They dress the wound of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.
- Matt 9:12On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
- Jer 33:6Nevertheless, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal its people and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth.
- Ps 38:3–5There is no soundness in my body because of Your anger; there is no rest in my bones because of my sin.
- Jer 8:21–22For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am crushed. I mourn; horror has gripped me.
- Luke 10:34He 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.
- Job 5:18For He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal.
- Mal 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.
- Ps 77:2In the day of trouble I sought the Lord; through the night my outstretched hands did not grow weary; my soul refused to be comforted.
- Nah 3:19There is no healing for your injury; your wound is severe. All who hear the news of you applaud your downfall, for who has not experienced your constant cruelty?
- 2 Chr 6:28–29When 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 2:7–8So 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.
- Luke 16:20–21And a beggar named Lazarus lay at his gate, covered with sores
- Hos 5:12–13So I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like decay to the house of Judah.
- Jer 30:12For this is what the LORD says: “Your injury is incurable; your wound is grievous.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 1:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.