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 the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphim[a] were standing above him; they each had six wings:(E) with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.(F) And one called to another:

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies;
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[b]
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 Armies.

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 iniquity is removed
and your sin is atoned for.(N)

Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking:

Who will 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 Make the minds[c] of these people dull;
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)

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Footnotes

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

Resurrection Essential to the Gospel

15 Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand(A) and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.(B) For I passed on to you(C) as most important what I also received: that Christ died(D) for our sins according to the Scriptures,(E) that he was buried,(F) that he was raised on the third day(G) according to the Scriptures,(H) and that he appeared to Cephas,(I) then to the Twelve.(J) Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time;(K) most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James,(L) then to all the apostles.(M) Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time,[a](N) he also appeared to me.(O)

For I am the least of the apostles,(P) not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted(Q) the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.(R) 11 Whether, then, it is I or they, so we proclaim and so you have believed.

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Footnotes

  1. 15:8 Or one whose birth was unusual

The First Disciples

As the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear God’s word,(A) he was standing by Lake Gennesaret.[a](B) He saw two boats at the edge of the lake; the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats,(C) which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the land. Then he sat down and was teaching the crowds from the boat.

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”(D)

“Master,”(E) Simon replied, “we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing. But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets.”[b]

When they did this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets[c] began to tear. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them; they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’s knees and said, “Go away from me, because I’m a sinful man, Lord!” (F) For he and all those with him were amazed(G) at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s partners.

“Don’t be afraid,”(H) Jesus told Simon. “From now on you will be catching people.”(I) 11 Then they brought the boats to land, left everything, and followed him.(J)

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Footnotes

  1. 5:1 Another name for the Sea of Galilee
  2. 5:5 Other mss read net (Gk sg)
  3. 5:6 Other mss read net (Gk sg)

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