Isaiah 6:13

The verse reads:

And should there still be in it a tenth,

It must again pass through the fire,

Like the terebinth and like the oak,

To which a stump (remains) when they are felled;

A holy seed is the stump thereof.

The last clause is wanting in the LXX., and with its omission it undoubtedly becomes possible to understand the figure of the verse as a sentence of final rejection; not only will the tree be cut down, but its stump will be destroyed by fire. The usual interpretation (which there is no reason to abandon) is: As the terebinth and oak when cut down retain the principle of vitality in their roots, which will again spring up into a great tree (cf. Job 14:7 ff.), so the ruined Israel contains the indestructible germ of the future kingdom of God, the "holy seed" is wrapped up in it. The difference is not material, since in any view Isaiah speaks of an extermination of the actually existing people: but the first explanation excludes Isaiah's characteristic doctrine of the Remnant, which we should certainly expect to find in his inaugural vision. It must have been shortly after this time that he gave a significant expression to that doctrine in the name of his son Shear-jashub(see on next chapter).

a tenth Perhaps an allusion to Amos 5:3.

A symbolical representation of the idea of this verse is given in Ezekiel 5:1-4. Cf. also Zechariah 13:8.