שְׁאֵרִית

From the study of Isaiah 37:4

Range of meaning

Remainder, what is left, survivors after disaster. In the prophets it also becomes a theological idea: a surviving group through whom God's purposes go on.

Against the English

KJV, ESV and WEB have 'the remnant that is left', BSB and NIV 'the remnant that still survives', NLT 'those of us who are left'. 'Remnant' is fine, but it can call up a later theology of a 'faithful remnant' that this verse does not state.

How it drifted

In church vocabulary 'the remnant' often means a righteous, faithful minority. In this verse the word is first of all literal: the people the Assyrians had not yet killed or deported.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah's own son was named Shear-jashub, 'a remnant will return' (7:3). Isaiah 10:20–22 speaks of 'the remnant of Israel'. Isaiah 37:31–32, God's answer, picks up Hezekiah's word: 'the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root... out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant.' Sennacherib's annals claim 46 fortified Judean cities taken and 200,150 people carried off.

From the study of Isaiah 46:3

Range of meaning

Remainder, what is left over, survivors. It can be neutral (what remains of something) or carry hope (the survivors from whom the people will be rebuilt). It comes from the verb shaʾar, 'to be left over'.

Against the English

'Remnant' is the standard English. Modern readers may hear it as 'a small faithful minority inside a larger unfaithful group', but here the stress falls on surviving rather than on being more faithful.

How it drifted

Later 'remnant' theology, both ancient (e.g. sectarian groups who saw themselves as the true remnant) and modern, focuses on the faithful few. In Isaiah 40–55 the word mostly means the people who survived the national catastrophe.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 1:9 ('unless the LORD had left us a few survivors'); 10:20–22 ('a remnant will return', echoing the name of Isaiah's son Shear-jashub, 7:3); 37:31–32 (the 'surviving remnant' after Assyria's siege). In the Dead Sea Scrolls the community calls itself the remnant (e.g. Damascus Document 1:4–5).

From the study of Micah 5:7

Range of meaning

What is left over or remains, especially the survivors of war, plague or deportation (Gen 45:7; 2 Kgs 19:31; Jer 40:11). The prophets use it for the part of Israel that comes through judgment, and God builds the people's future on that part.

Against the English

'Remnant' is the standard rendering and it is accurate. But in everyday English the word means a leftover scrap, like a fabric remnant. In some modern church language it has also come to mean 'the faithful few' or 'the true believers'.

How it drifted

In everyday English 'remnant' now suggests a scrap. In some church circles it has become a label for a spiritually pure minority. The Hebrew stresses survival through disaster and the future God gives to the survivors. It does not stress moral superiority.

Used elsewhere in the period

The word is used in Isaiah's promise that 'the remnant of the house of Judah' will take root again (2 Kgs 19:30-31 = Isa 37:31-32), written in the same Assyrian crisis Micah lived through. Micah uses it at 2:12 ('I will surely gather the remnant of Israel'), 4:7 ('I will make the lame a remnant'), 5:7-8 and 7:18. Later the Dead Sea Scrolls community thought of itself as the remnant (Damascus Document 1:4-5).