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. ² Above 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. ³ And they were calling to one another:

⁴ At 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)

²⁴ For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one;^(A) he entered heaven itself,^(B) now to appear for us in God’s presence.^{(C) 25} Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place^(D) every year with blood that is not his own.^{(E) 26} Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world.^(F) But he has appeared^(G) once for all^(H) at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.^(I)

⁶ you^[a] will be for me a kingdom of priests^(A) and a holy nation.’^(B) These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

⁹ But you are a chosen people,^(A) a royal priesthood,^(B) a holy nation,^(C) God’s special possession,^(D) that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.^{(E) 10} Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God;^(F) once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Living Godly Lives in a Pagan Society

¹¹ Dear friends,^(G) I urge you, as foreigners and exiles,^(H) to abstain from sinful desires,^(I) which wage war against your soul.^{(J) 12} Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds^(K) and glorify God^(L) on the day he visits us.

Freedom in Christ

5 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.^(A) Stand firm,^(B) then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.^(C)

² Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised,^(D) Christ will be of no value to you at all. ³ Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.^{(E) 4} You who are trying to be justified by the law^(F) have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.^(G)