שָׁאַר

From the study of Exodus 14:28

Range of meaning

To remain, be left over. Its noun forms (sheʾar, sheʾērît) mean the remainder or the remnant, the survivors of a disaster.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and ESV say "remained." BSB and NIV say "survived," which gives the right sense but loses the picture of something left over or a remnant. YLT has "there hath not been left."

Used elsewhere in the period

"Not one was left" is a set phrase for total defeat in battle. Judges 4:16 has almost the identical Hebrew about Sisera's chariot army: "all the army of Sisera fell by the sword; not even one was left (לֹא נִשְׁאַר עַד־אֶחָד)." Compare Psalm 106:11: "not one of them was left." Battle reports from the wider ancient world use the same kind of total-annihilation formula.

From the study of Isaiah 24:6

Range of meaning

šāʾar, niphal: to be left over, to survive. ʾĕnôš: humanity seen as weak and mortal. mizʿār: a small amount, a trifle.

Against the English

"Few men left" (KJV, WEB) is accurate, but "men" can sound male-only. ʾĕnôš is generic, mortal humankind. BSB's "only a few survive" loses the note of mortal frailty.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah's remnant theme: 1:9 ("unless the LORD had left us a few survivors"), 10:20–22, 17:6 and 24:13 (gleanings left after olive-beating), 7:3 (Shear-jashub). mizʿār: Isa 10:25; 16:14 ("the remnant will be very small, mizʿār"); 29:17.

From the study of Isaiah 4:3

Range of meaning

To be left over or to remain. The passive participle means 'what or who is left': what is still there after the rest has been used up, taken or destroyed. The related noun she'ar (also she'erit) means 'remainder, remnant.'

Against the English

English 'remains' or 'is left' is accurate. What it can lose is the background of disaster. In Isaiah the word is never neutral. It always implies that most did not remain.

Used elsewhere in the period

Used of survivors of war and catastrophe (Gen 7:23, 'only Noah was left'; 1 Kgs 19:18; 2 Kgs 25:22). Isaiah builds a theme on it. His son is named Shear-jashub, 'a remnant will return' (Isa 7:3). 'A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob' (10:20–22). 'Had the LORD of hosts not left us a few survivors' (1:9). Treaty curses and royal inscriptions elsewhere in the ancient Near East also boast of leaving 'no remnant.' To have survivors at all was a mercy.