7591. sheiyyah

Lexical Summary

sheiyyah: Desolation, waste

Original Word: שְׁאִיָּה
Part of Speech: Noun Feminine
Transliteration: sh'iyah
Pronunciation: shay-YAH
Phonetic Spelling: (sheh-ee-yaw')
KJV: destruction
NASB: ruins
Word Origin: [from H7582 (שָׁאָה - devastated)]

1. desolation

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance

destruction

From sha'ah; desolation -- destruction.

see HEBREW sha'ah

NAS Exhaustive Concordance

Word Origin
from shaah
Definition
a ruin
NASB Translation
ruins (1).

Brown-Driver-Briggs

שְׁאִיָּה noun feminine ruin; — Isaiah 24:12 (late).

Topical Lexicon

Literary Setting

The term שְׁאִיָּה appears once, in Isaiah 24:12, within the prophet’s so-called “Little Apocalypse” (Isaiah 24–27). The section widens Isaiah’s earlier oracles of judgment to a global scale: “The city is left in ruins, its gate is battered to pieces” (Isaiah 24:12). The single use of שְׁאִיָּה sharpens the imagery of that “city” reduced to a husk—no commerce, no worship, no security, only emptiness.

Historical and Prophetic Horizon

Isaiah spoke to eighth-century Judah, but the scope of Isaiah 24 transcends any one invasion. The prophet gathers familiar covenant curses (Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28), amplifies them, and projects them onto “the earth” (Isaiah 24:1). The desolation of a once throbbing city becomes a prophetic snapshot of the ultimate covenant lawsuit: God will not merely discipline Jerusalem; He will dismantle every proud culture that refuses His reign.

Theological Emphasis

1. Divine Holiness: שְׁאִיָּה underscores God’s intolerance of unholiness. What human pride builds, divine holiness can strip bare.
2. Universality of Judgment: Though anchored in Judah’s experience, the devastation radiates outward. Isaiah 24:4–5 names “the earth” and “its inhabitants,” making the single ruined city emblematic of worldwide collapse.
3. Moral Order: Isaiah attributes the catastrophe not to fate but to covenant breach—“They have violated statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant” (Isaiah 24:5). Desolation is moral consequence, not cosmic accident.

Intertextual Connections

• Isaiah 6:11—“until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant.”
• Jeremiah 4:27—“The whole land will be desolate…”
• Revelation 18—“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!” John adopts Isaiah’s ruined-city motif to announce the final toppling of the world’s proud systems.

Christological Trajectory

The shatter of the city anticipates the cross, where judgment falls on One for the many. Yet the same section of Isaiah pivots from ruin to resurrection: “Your dead will live” (Isaiah 26:19). Christ absorbs the curse, secures the resurrection, and guarantees a “new Jerusalem” where desolation is forever banished (Revelation 21:4).

Pastoral and Missional Implications

• Warning: Ministries must not soften Scripture’s portrayal of divine wrath. Shunning sin is not optional; it is survival.
• Hope: Isaiah’s collapse scenes lead to a redeemed city (Isaiah 25:6–8). Preaching should move from the reality of judgment to the certainty of restoration for those in covenant with God through Christ.
• Urgency: The lone use of שְׁאִיָּה, though brief, calls the church to global mission. If the entire earth can become a wasteland, the entire earth also needs the gospel.

Conclusion

שְׁאִיָּה is not a mere lexical curiosity; it is a theological spotlight on God’s verdict against every city that crowns itself in place of Him. Its rarity heightens its impact: in one devastating stroke Isaiah pictures the end of proud civilization and, by implication, the necessity of the kingdom that cannot be shaken (Hebrews 12:28).

Forms and Transliterations

וּשְׁאִיָּ֖ה ושאיה ū·šə·’î·yāh ūšə’îyāh usheiYah

Englishman's Concordance

Isaiah 24:12
HEB: בָּעִ֖יר שַׁמָּ֑ה וּשְׁאִיָּ֖ה יֻכַּת־ שָֽׁעַר׃
NAS: And the gate is battered to ruins.
KJV: is smitten with destruction.
INT: the city Desolation to ruins is battered and the gate

1 Occurrence

Strong's Hebrew 7591
1 Occurrence

ū·šə·’î·yāh — 1 Occ.