בָּתָה (ba.tah)
ba.tah
waste
H:N-FQuick Reference
- Language
- Biblical Hebrew
- Testament
- Old Testament
- Occurrences
- 1 verses
- Root
- —
- Part of speech
- H:N-F
Word Overview
The Hebrew noun bathah signifies a final ending or total ruin. It appears only once in the Hebrew Bible, in Isaiah 5:6, where it describes the fate of God’s vineyard. The context is one of judgment against unfaithfulness, portraying a place that has been stripped of protection and left to decay.
Lexical sources define it simply as "end" or "destruction." In this specific verse, the word emphasizes the completeness of the loss. The vineyard is not merely damaged; its purpose is terminated. Translators often render it as "waste" or "desolation," capturing the sense of a once-cultivated space now abandoned to wildness.
This rare usage highlights the seriousness of covenant failure in Isaiah’s prophecy. The word serves as a stark conclusion to the song of the vineyard, marking the transition from divine care to abandonment. Its solitary occurrence underscores the finality of the judgment described in this passage.
Based on public-domain lexicons (Strong's, Thayer, Gesenius, Brown-Driver-Briggs and others).
What This Word Means for Your Faith
The word bathah describes a state of utter ruin, where something once tended and fruitful is left to decay without care. In Isaiah’s prophecy, this term marks the end of divine protection for a vineyard that failed to produce good fruit. It reminds us that neglect, whether in our relationship with God or in how we treat others, can lead to a quiet but complete loss of purpose.
Yet this warning is not meant to frighten us into despair, but to invite us back to the Gardener who desires fruitfulness. When we feel spiritually dry or disconnected, it is an opportunity to return to Him. His grace offers restoration, turning what was wasted into a place of new growth and hope.
How it's translated
How this word is rendered word-by-word in the 1 verses where it appears, by frequency.
- a desolation1×
Forms in the text
The inflected forms of this word as they appear in Scripture, by frequency.
- בָתָ֗ה1×
Key Verses
-
Isaiah 5:6
I will lay it a wasteland. It won’t be pruned or hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.”
This verse uses bathah to describe the final state of the vineyard after God withdraws His protection, leaving it to become a wasteland of thorns.