Isaiah’s Call and Mission

In the year that King Uzziah(A) died, I saw the Lord(B) seated on a high and lofty(C) throne,(D) and His robe[a] filled the temple. Seraphim[b] were standing above Him; each one had six wings:(E) with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.(F) And one called to another:

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts;
His glory(G) fills the whole earth.(H)

The foundations of the doorways shook(I) at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke.

Then I said:

Woe is me(J) for I am ruined[c]
because I am a man of unclean lips
and live among a people of unclean lips,(K)
and because my eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of Hosts.

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar(L) with tongs. He touched my mouth(M) with it and said:

Now that this has touched your lips,
your wickedness is removed
and your sin is atoned for.(N)

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying:

Who should I send?
Who will go for Us?

I said:

Here I am. Send me.

And He replied:

Go! Say to these people:
Keep listening, but do not understand;(O)
keep looking, but do not perceive.
10 Dull the minds[d] of these people;
deafen their ears and blind their eyes;
otherwise they might see with their eyes
and hear with their ears,
understand with their minds,
turn back, and be healed.(P)

11 Then I said, “Until when, Lord?”(Q) And He replied:

Until cities lie in ruins without inhabitants,(R)
houses are without people,
the land is ruined and desolate,
12 and the Lord drives the people far away,
leaving great emptiness in the land.
13 Though a tenth will remain in the land,
it will be burned again.
Like the terebinth or the oak
that leaves a stump when felled,
the holy seed(S) is the stump.(T)

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 6:1 Lit seam
  2. Isaiah 6:2 = heavenly beings
  3. Isaiah 6:5 Or I must be silent
  4. Isaiah 6:10 Lit heart

In the year that the Melech Uziyah died, I saw Adonoi sitting upon a kisse, high and lifted up, and His robe filled the Heikhal.

Above Him stood ministering the [flaming] seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly.

And one cried unto another, and said, Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, is Hashem Tzva’os; kol ha’aretz is full of His kavod.

And the doorposts shook at the voice of him that cried, and the Beis [Hamikdash] was filled with smoke.

Then said I, Oy (Woe) is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen HaMelech, Hashem Tzva’os.

Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his yad, which he had taken with the tongs from off the Mizbe’ach:

And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Hinei, this hath touched thy lips; and thine avon (iniquity) is taken away, and kapporah is made for the purging of thy chattat (sin).

Also I heard the voice of Adonoi, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us? Then said I, Hineini; send me.

And He said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see indeed, but perceive not.

10 Make the lev HaAm hazeh stubborn, and make their ears stopped up, their eyes heavy; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their lev. And have a spiritual turnaround conversion, and be healed.

11 Then cried I, Adonoi, ad mosai (how much longer [will this go on]? And He answered, Until the towns be wasted without inhabitant, and the batim (houses) are without man, and the ground be utterly desolate, a wilderness,

12 And Hashem have removed men far away, and there be many forsaken places within the land.

13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall be given up to destruction, like the terebinth and like the oak, when they are felled, leave [as a remnant] a root-stump: so the root-stump shall be the zera kodesh. [T.N. This next chapter is possibly the most important in the Bible and is dealt with in The Translator to the Reader.]