Lexical Summary quts: To loathe, to be disgusted, to be weary of Original Word: קוּץ Strong's Exhaustive Concordance summer A primitive root; to clip off; used only as denominative from qayits; to spend the harvest season -- summer. see HEBREW qayits NAS Exhaustive Concordance Word Originsee qits. Brown-Driver-Briggs קַ֫יִץ noun masculineJeremiah 8:20 summer, summer-fruit (compare Greek Θέρος in both meanings); — absolute ׳ק Genesis 8:22 +; קָ֑יִץ Amos 3:15 +; suffix קֵיצֵךְ Isaiah 16:9; Jeremiah 48:32; — 1 summer-season, opposed to חֹרֶף Genesis 8:22 (J), Amos 3:15; Zechariah 14:8; Psalm 74:17; "" קָצִיר Jeremiah 8:20; Proverbs 6:8; Proverbs 10:5; Proverbs 26:1, also (without קָצִיר) Proverbs 30:25; as fruit harvest Isaiah 28:4; time of drought Psalm 32:4 (figurative). 2 summer-fruit 2 Samuel 16:1,2; Amos 8:1,2; Jeremiah 40:10,12 also, "" בָּצִיר, Jeremiah 48:32; Micah 7:1 (in simile), but "" קציר Isaiah 16:9 (assimilated to ק of קַיִץ; read probably בציר). קִיצוֺן see קצץ Topical Lexicon Overview of Meaning and Occurrence קוּץ (quwts, Strong’s 6972) is employed once in the Hebrew Scriptures, Isaiah 18:6, where it pictures birds “summering” on the corpses of a defeated army. The verb therefore conveys the idea of spending the summertime, remaining through the warm months, or abiding during harvest heat. Biblical Context: Isaiah 18 Isaiah 18 addresses the land “beyond the rivers of Cush” that sent envoys to Jerusalem. The prophet announces that the LORD Himself will cut down the boastful harvest and leave the slain: “Then they will all be left to the mountain birds of prey and to the beasts of the land. The birds of prey will feed on them in the summer, and the beasts of the land will feed on them in the winter.” (Isaiah 18:6) The single verb quwts frames the first half of this bi-seasonal scene: summer brings the birds; winter brings the beasts. The image intensifies judgment by stretching the exposure of the dead across the entire calendar—there will be no swift burial, no honorable end, and no relief from disgrace. Seasons as Vehicles of Divine Action Scripture often ties agricultural seasons to divine activity. Genesis 8:22 anchors covenant faithfulness in the unbroken cycle of “seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter.” Isaiah’s use of quwts builds on that pattern: the same God who guarantees the seasons now marshals them as instruments of retribution. Summer heat hastens decay, preventing preservation of the fallen. The coming winter continues the humiliation. Thus quwts becomes a metonym for an extended, inescapable judgment. Judgment Imagery: Birds and Beasts Over Corpses Leaving bodies unburied was a covenant curse (Deuteronomy 28:26). Isaiah 18:6 echoes that sanction and anticipates later prophetic warnings (Jeremiah 7:33; Ezekiel 39:17-20; Revelation 19:17-18). The shared motif underlines Yahweh’s sovereignty: the same Lord who feeds His people (Psalm 23:5) can feed carrion birds with His enemies. By pairing quwts (summer) with choreph (winter), Isaiah underscores divine thoroughness—nothing of the hostile force escapes the wrath of God. Prophetic and Eschatological Parallels 1. Ezekiel 39:4 calls the birds and beasts to feast on Gog’s armies, prefiguring the final battle theme echoed in Revelation 19:17-18. Theological Reflections • Sovereignty: Quwts underlines that even seemingly trivial details—seasonal rhythms, migratory patterns—are at God’s command. Practical and Ministry Application 1. Preaching on quwts can clarify that divine patience does not imply divine neglect; the harvest of judgment arrives in God’s season (Galatians 6:7-9). Christological Dimensions Isaiah 18’s gruesome summer stands in stark relief to the Gospel’s promise that Christ “endured the cross, scorning its shame” (Hebrews 12:2). The Son absorbed the covenant curse, including abandonment and exposure (Hebrews 13:11-13), so that those who trust Him might be gathered, not scattered (Matthew 24:31). Quwts, then, accentuates the horror from which believers are delivered and the certainty that, outside Christ, judgment remains. Summary קוּץ appears only once, yet its single stroke paints a vivid, seasonal portrait of divine judgment. In Isaiah 18:6 the verb anchors a prophecy that uses the relentless cycle of summer and winter to dramatize how complete and public God’s retribution can be. At the same time, it magnifies His sovereignty over creation, underscores warnings to the unrepentant, and frames the backdrop against which the Gospel’s mercy shines. Forms and Transliterations וְקָ֤ץ וקץ veKatz wə·qāṣ wəqāṣLinks Interlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel TextsEnglishman's Concordance Isaiah 18:6 HEB: וּֽלְבֶהֱמַ֖ת הָאָ֑רֶץ וְקָ֤ץ עָלָיו֙ הָעַ֔יִט KJV: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts INT: the beasts of the earth shall summer of prey |
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