Isaiah 6
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Isaiah’s Call and Mission
6 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. 2 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) 3 And one called to another:
4 The foundations of the doorways shook(I) at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 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.
6 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. 7 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)
8 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.
9 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
- Isaiah 6:1 Lit seam
- Isaiah 6:2 = heavenly beings
- Isaiah 6:5 Or I must be silent
- Isaiah 6:10 Lit heart
Isaiah 6
New King James Version
Isaiah Called to Be a Prophet(A)
6 In the year that (B)King Uzziah died, I (C)saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, (D)with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said:
4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 So I said:
“Woe is me, for I am [a]undone!
Because I am a man of (G)unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The Lord of hosts.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from (H)the altar. 7 And he (I)touched my mouth with it, and said:
“Behold, this has touched your lips;
Your iniquity is taken away,
And your sin [b]purged.”
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:
“Whom shall I send,
And who will go for (J)Us?”
Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
9 And He said, “Go, and (K)tell this people:
‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
10 “Make (L)the heart of this people dull,
And their ears heavy,
And shut their eyes;
(M)Lest they see with their eyes,
And hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart,
And return and be healed.”
11 Then I said, “Lord, how long?”
And He answered:
(N)“Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant,
The houses are without a man,
The land is utterly desolate,
12 (O)The Lord has removed men far away,
And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
13 But yet a tenth will be in it,
And will return and be for consuming,
As a terebinth tree or as an oak,
Whose stump remains when it is cut down.
So (P)the holy seed shall be its stump.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 6:5 destroyed, cut off
- Isaiah 6:7 atoned for
Isaiah 6
New Catholic Bible
The Book of Immanuel
Chapter 6
Isaiah’s Call.[a] 1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a high and lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 In attendance above him were seraphim.[b] Each of them had six wings: with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with the third pair they flew. 3 And they called out to one another,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
The entire earth is filled with his glory.”
4 The voices of those who called out shook the thresholds, and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 Then I said,
“Woe is me! I am doomed.
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.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding in his hand a burning coal that he had removed from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said,
“Now that this has touched your lips,
your guilt has been removed
and your sin has been blotted out.”
8 I then heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me!” 9 Then he replied: Go forth and tell this people:
No matter how carefully you listen,
you will not understand.
You will continue to look,
but you will not comprehend.
10 Make the minds of this people dull;
stop up their ears
and close their eyes.
Otherwise their eyes will see,
their ears will hear,
their hearts will understand,
and they will change their ways
and be healed.
11 Then I asked, “How long, O Lord?” He replied:
Until the cities lie in ruins
and become deserted,
until the houses are unoccupied
and the land lies completely desolate,
12 until the Lord drives the people far away
and the country will be totally abandoned.
13 Even if a tenth of the people remain there,
that area too will be destroyed,
like a terebinth or an oak
whose stump remains when it is felled;
the holy seed is its stump.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 6:1 In around 740 B.C., in the midst of the temple ceremonial, the prophet was seized by the glory of God, who is beyond every creature. The “seraphs,” beings of fire, seem to surround God but are unable to endure the splendor of his mystery. Heaven resounds with the great acclamation of the Lord of hosts, that is, the Lord of all the creatures of the universe; God’s “glory,” his mysterious, active presence fills the worlds.
In the moment in which Isaiah experiences the greatness and holiness of God, he is pierced by a sense that he is nothing but sin. But it is not possible to discover God without also opening oneself to some demand; in the Bible, there is no call without a mission. God wills that he should need human beings in order to carry out his plan. His call purifies the one whom he chooses. From now on, Isaiah will be another person, one charged with the mission of censuring his fellow Israelites who are blinding themselves and closing their ears. Only when the people, greatly reduced in numbers, will have lost every illusion and every human support, will salvation from God arise out of the little group of survivors. This vocation story introduces the “Book of Immanuel” (Isa 7–12), which conveys the essentials of his message. - Isaiah 6:2 Seraphim: the word means “burning, blazing.” Here, they are heavenly beings in human form. Isaiah is the first in the Bible to connect them with Yahweh.
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
