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A Vision of God in the Temple

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty, and the hem of his robe filled the temple.(A) Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.(B) And one called to another and said,

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”(C)

The pivots[a] on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”(D)

Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph[b] touched my mouth with it and said, “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.”(E) Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”(F) And he said, “Go and say to this people:

‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend;
keep looking, but do not understand.’(G)
10 Make the mind of this people dull,
    and stop their ears,
    and shut their eyes,
so that they may not look with their eyes
    and listen with their ears
and comprehend with their minds
    and turn and be healed.”(H)
11 Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said,
“Until cities lie waste
    without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
    and the land is utterly desolate;(I)
12 until the Lord sends everyone far away,
    and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land.(J)
13 Even if a tenth part remain in it,
    it will be burned again,
like a terebinth or an oak
    whose stump remains standing
    when it is felled.”[c]
(The holy seed is its stump.)(K)

Footnotes

  1. 6.4 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  2. 6.7 Heb He
  3. 6.13 Meaning of Heb uncertain

Isaiah’s Commission

In the year of the death of Uzziah the king, I saw the Lord sitting on a high and raised throne, and the hem of his robe was filling the temple. Seraphs were standing above him. Each had six wings:[a] with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

And the one called to the other and said,

“Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh of hosts!
    The whole earth is full of his glory.”[b]

And the pivots of the thresholds shook from the sound of those who called, and the house[c] was filled with smoke.

And I said, “Woe to me! For I am destroyed![d] For I am a man of unclean lips,[e] and I am living among[f] a people of unclean lips,[g] for my eyes have seen the king, Yahweh of hosts!”

Then one of the seraphs flew to me, and in his hand was a hot coal he had taken from the altar with tongs.

And he touched my mouth, and he said,

“Look! This has touched your lips
    and has removed your guilt,
    and your sin is annulled.”

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,

“Whom shall I send?
    And who will go for us?”

And I said,

“I am here!
    Send me!”

And he said, “Go and say to this people,

‘Keep on listening and do not comprehend!
    And keep on looking and do not understand!’
10 Make the heart of this people insensitive,
    and make its ears unresponsive,
    and shut its eyes
so that it may not look with its eyes
    and listen with its ears
    and comprehend with its mind
    and turn back, and it may be healed for him.”

11 Then I said, “Until when, Lord?”

And he said,

“Until the cities lie wasted without inhabitant,
    and houses without people,
    and the land is ruined and a waste,
12 and Yahweh sends the people far away,
    and the abandonment is great in the midst of the land.
13 And even if only a tenth part remain,[h] again she will be destroyed[i]
    like a terebinth or like an oak,
    which although felled, a tree stump remains in them.
The seed of holiness will be her tree stump.”

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 6:2 Literally “six wings six wings for one”
  2. Isaiah 6:3 Literally “fullness of all of the earth glory him”
  3. Isaiah 6:4 Or “temple”
  4. Isaiah 6:5 Or “silenced”
  5. Isaiah 6:5 Literally “unclean of lips”
  6. Isaiah 6:5 With an emphatic sense: “in the very heart and midst of”
  7. Isaiah 6:5 Literally “unclean of lips”
  8. Isaiah 6:13 Literally “still in her a tenth”
  9. Isaiah 6:13 Literally “and she will again and she will be to burn”