Isaiah 6

New International Version

Isaiah’s Commission

6 In the year that King Uzziah^(A) died,^(B) I saw the Lord,^(C) high and exalted,^(D) seated on a throne;^(E) and the train of his robe^(F) filled the temple. ²Above him were seraphim,^(G) each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet,^(H) and with two they were flying. ³And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy^(I), holy is the Lord Almighty;^(J)
the whole earth^(K) is full of his glory.”^(L)

⁴At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.^(M)

⁵“Woe^(N) to me!” I cried. “I am ruined!^(O) For I am a man of unclean lips,^(P) and I live among a people of unclean lips,^(Q) and my eyes have seen^(R) the King,^(S) the Lord Almighty.”^(T)

⁶Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal^(U) in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips;^(V) your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.^(W)”

⁸Then I heard the voice^(X) of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send?^(Y) And who will go for us?^(Z)”

And I said, “Here am I.^(AA) Send me!”

⁹He said, “Go^(AB) and tell this people:

“‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
    be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’^(AC)
¹⁰Make the heart of this people calloused;^(AD)
    make their ears dull
    and close their eyes.^[a]^(AE)
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,^(AF)
    understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”^(AG)

¹¹Then I said, “For how long, Lord?”^(AH)

And he answered:

“Until the cities lie ruined^(AI)
    and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted^(AJ)
    and the fields ruined and ravaged,^(AK)
¹²until the Lord has sent everyone far away^(AL)
    and the land is utterly forsaken.^(AM)
¹³And though a tenth remains^(AN) in the land,
    it will again be laid waste.^(AO)
But as the terebinth and oak
    leave stumps^(AP) when they are cut down,
    so the holy^(AQ) seed will be the stump in the land.”^(AR)

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Footnotes

Isaiah 6:10 Hebrew; Septuagint ‘You will be ever hearing, but never understanding; / you will be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ / ¹⁰This people’s heart has become calloused; / they hardly hear with their ears, / and they have closed their eyes

Mark 4:1-12

New International Version

The Parable of the Sower^(A)^(B)

4 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake.^(C) The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. ²He taught them many things by parables,^(D) and in his teaching said: ³“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.^(E) ⁴As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. ⁸Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”^(F)

⁹Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”^(G)

¹⁰When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. ¹¹He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God^(H) has been given to you. But to those on the outside^(I) everything is said in parables ¹²so that,

“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’^[a]”^(J)

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