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The Commission of Isaiah

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. One cried to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts;
    the whole earth is full of His glory.”

The posts of the door moved at the voice of him who cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

And I said: “Woe is me! For I am undone because I am a man of 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.”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar in his hand. And he laid it on my mouth, and said, “This has touched your lips, and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.”

Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

Then I said, “Here am I. Send me.”

He said, “Go, and tell this people:

‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
    keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
10 Make the heart of this people dull,
    and their ears heavy,
    and shut their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
    and hear with their ears,
    and understand with their heart,
and turn and be healed.”

11 Then I said, “Lord, how long?”

And He answered:

“Until the cities are laid waste
    without inhabitants,
and the houses without man,
    and the land is utterly desolate,
12 and the Lord has removed men far away,
    and there is a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
13 But yet in it shall be a tenth,
    and it shall return, and shall be burned,
as a terebinth tree or as an oak,
    whose stump remains when it is cut down,
    so the holy seed is its stump.”

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In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his [a]train filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts: [b]the whole earth is full of his glory. And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts.

Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a [c]live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: and he touched my mouth with it, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin [d]forgiven. And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I; send me. And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye [e]indeed, but understand not; and see ye [f]indeed, but perceive not. 10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and [g]understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed. 11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until cities be waste without inhabitant, and houses without man, and the land become utterly waste, 12 and Jehovah have removed men far away, and the forsaken places be many in the midst of the land. 13 [h]And if there be yet a tenth in it, it also shall in turn be [i]eaten up: as a terebinth, and as an oak, [j]whose [k]stock remaineth, when they [l]are felled; so the holy seed is the [m]stock thereof.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 6:1 Or, skirts
  2. Isaiah 6:3 Hebrew the fulness of the whole earth is his glory.
  3. Isaiah 6:6 Or, hot stone
  4. Isaiah 6:7 Or, expiated
  5. Isaiah 6:9 Or, continually
  6. Isaiah 6:9 Or, continually
  7. Isaiah 6:10 Or, their heart should understand
  8. Isaiah 6:13 Or, But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten up
  9. Isaiah 6:13 Or, burnt
  10. Isaiah 6:13 Or, whose substance is in them
  11. Isaiah 6:13 Or, substance
  12. Isaiah 6:13 Or, cast their leaves
  13. Isaiah 6:13 Or, substance