上帝呼召以赛亚

乌西雅王驾崩那年,我看见主坐在高高的宝座上,衣袍下垂,覆盖了圣殿。 在祂上方侍立着撒拉弗天使,他们各有三对翅膀:一对遮脸,一对遮脚,一对飞翔。 他们彼此呼喊:

“圣哉,圣哉,圣哉,
万军之耶和华!
祂的荣耀充满大地。”

他们的声音震动圣殿的根基,圣殿里烟云弥漫。 那时我说:“我有祸了!我要灭亡了!因为我口出不洁之言,又住在口出不洁之言的人群中,并且亲眼看见了大君王——万军之耶和华。” 有个撒拉弗天使用火钳从祭坛上取了一块燃烧的炭,飞到我面前, 用炭碰我的嘴唇,说:“看啊,这炭碰了你的嘴唇,你的过犯已被除掉,你的罪恶已被赦免。” 然后,我听见主说:“我可以差遣谁呢?谁肯为我们去呢?”我说:“我在这里,请差遣我!” 祂说:“你去告诉以色列人,

“‘你们听了又听,却不明白;
看了又看,却不领悟。’
10 要让这些人心灵麻木,
耳朵发背,
眼睛昏花,
免得他们眼睛看见,
耳朵听见,
心里明白,
回心转意,就得到医治。”

11 我说:“主啊,这要到什么时候呢?”祂说:

“直到城邑荒凉,无人居住,房屋空置,
土地荒废的时候。
12 那时,我必把他们赶到远方,
他们的土地必荒芜。
13 即使境内只剩下十分之一的人,
也必被消灭。
然而,就像砍掉松树和橡树后必留下树墩,
这地方必有圣洁的苗裔存留下来。”

Isaiah Called to Be a Prophet(A)

In the year that (B)King Uzziah died, I (C)saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, (D)with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said:

(E)“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
(F)The whole earth is full of His glory!”

And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.

So I said:

“Woe is me, for I am [a]undone!
Because I am a man of (G)unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The Lord of hosts.”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from (H)the altar. And he (I)touched my mouth with it, and said:

“Behold, this has touched your lips;
Your iniquity is taken away,
And your sin [b]purged.”

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:

“Whom shall I send,
And who will go for (J)Us?”

Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

And He said, “Go, and (K)tell this people:

‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’

10 “Make (L)the heart of this people dull,
And their ears heavy,
And shut their eyes;
(M)Lest they see with their eyes,
And hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart,
And return and be healed.”

11 Then I said, “Lord, how long?”

And He answered:

(N)“Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant,
The houses are without a man,
The land is utterly desolate,
12 (O)The Lord has removed men far away,
And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
13 But yet a tenth will be in it,
And will return and be for consuming,
As a terebinth tree or as an oak,
Whose stump remains when it is cut down.
So (P)the holy seed shall be its stump.”

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 6:5 destroyed, cut off
  2. Isaiah 6:7 atoned for

B. The Book of Emmanuel

Chapter 6

The Sending of Isaiah. In the year King Uzziah died,[a] I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne,(A) with the train of his garment filling the temple. Seraphim[b] were stationed above; each of them had six wings: with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they hovered.(B) One cried out to the other:

“Holy, holy, holy[c] is the Lord of hosts!
    All the earth is filled with his glory!”

At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook and the house was filled with smoke.[d](C)

Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed![e] For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips,(D) and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember which he had taken with tongs from the altar.

He touched my mouth with it. “See,” he said, “now that this has touched your lips,[f] your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”(E)

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” “Here I am,” I said; “send me!” [g]And he replied: Go and say to this people:

Listen carefully, but do not understand!
Look intently, but do not perceive!(F)
10 Make the heart of this people sluggish,
    dull their ears and close their eyes;
Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,
    and their heart understand,
    and they turn and be healed.(G)

11 “How long, O Lord?” I asked. And he replied:

[h] Until the cities are desolate,
    without inhabitants,
Houses, without people,
    and the land is a desolate waste.
12 Until the Lord sends the people far away,
    and great is the desolation in the midst of the land.
13 If there remain a tenth part in it,
    then this in turn shall be laid waste;
As with a terebinth or an oak
    whose trunk remains when its leaves have fallen.[i](H)
    Holy offspring is the trunk.

Footnotes

  1. 6:1 In the year King Uzziah died: probably 742 B.C., although the chronology of this period is disputed. A high and lofty throne: within the holy of holies of the Jerusalem Temple stood two cherubim, or winged sphinxes, whose outstretched wings served as the divine throne (1 Kgs 6:23–28; Ez 1:4–28; 10:1, 20). The ark of the covenant was God’s footstool (Ps 132:7–8; 1 Chr 28:2), placed under the cherubim (1 Kgs 8:6–7). Temple: the holy place, just in front of the holy of holies.
  2. 6:2 Seraphim: the plural of saraph (“to burn”), a term used to designate the “fiery” serpents of the wilderness (Nm 21:8; Dt 8:15), and to refer to “winged” serpents (Is 14:29; 30:6). Here, however, it is used adjectivally of the cherubim, who are not serpent-like, as seen in the fact that they have faces and sexual parts (“feet”). See the adaptation of these figures by Ezekiel (Ez 1:10–12; 10:4–15).
  3. 6:3 Holy, holy, holy: these words have been used in Christian liturgy from the earliest times.
  4. 6:4 Smoke: reminiscent of the clouds which indicated God’s presence at Mount Sinai (Ex 19:16–19; Dt 4:11) and which filled the tabernacle (Ex 40:34–38) and the Temple (1 Kgs 8:10–11) at their dedication.
  5. 6:5 Doomed: there are two roots from which the verb here could be derived; one means “to perish, be doomed,” the other “to become silent,” and given Isaiah’s delight in puns and double entendre, he probably intended to sound both notes. “I am doomed!” is suggested by the popular belief that to see God would lead to one’s death; cf. Gn 32:31; Ex 33:20; Jgs 13:22. “I am struck silent!” is suggested by the emphasis on the lips in vv. 5–6, and such silence is attested elsewhere as the appropriate response to the vision of the Lord in the Temple (Hb 2:20).
  6. 6:7 Touched your lips: Isaiah is thus symbolically purified of sin in preparation for his mission as God’s prophet.
  7. 6:9–10 Isaiah’s words give evidence that he attempted in every way, through admonition, threat, and promise, to bring the people to conversion (cf. 1:18–20), so it is unlikely that this charge to “harden” is to be understood as Isaiah’s task; more probably it reflects the refusal of the people, more particularly the leaders, who were supposed to “see,” “hear,” and “understand,” a refusal which would then lead to a disastrous outcome (vv. 11–12).
  8. 6:11–12 The desolation described would be the result of the sort of deportation practiced by the Assyrians and later by the Babylonians. Isaiah seems to expect this as an eventual consequence of Judah’s submission as vassal to the Assyrians; cf. 3:1–3; 5:13.
  9. 6:13 When its leaves have fallen: the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain, and the text may be corrupt. Holy offspring: part of the phrase is missing from the Septuagint and may be a later addition; it provides a basis for hope for the future.