Isaiah 6

Isaiah’s Commission

¹In 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.

²Seraphs were standing above him. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.[#Literally “six wings six wings for one”]

³And the one called to the other and said,

“Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh of hosts!

⁴And the pivots of the thresholds shook from the sound of those who called, and the house was filled with smoke.[#Or “temple”]

⁵And I said, “Woe to me! For I am destroyed! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I am living among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the king, Yahweh of hosts!”[#Or “silenced”; #Literally “unclean of lips”; #With an emphatic sense: “in the very heart and midst of”; #Literally “unclean of lips”]

⁶Then one of the seraphs flew to me, and in his hand was a hot coal he had taken from the altar with tongs.

⁷And he touched my mouth, and he said,

“Look! This has touched your lips

⁸Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,

“Whom shall I send?

And I said,

“I am here!

⁹And he said, “Go and say to this people,

‘Keep on listening and do not comprehend!

¹⁰Make the heart of this people insensitive,

so that it may not look with its eyes

¹¹Then I said, “Until when, Lord?”

And he said,

“Until the cities lie wasted without inhabitant,

¹²and Yahweh sends the people far away,

¹³And even if only a tenth part remain, again she will be destroyed[#Literally “still in her a tenth”; #Literally “and she will again and she will be to burn”]

The seed of holiness will be her tree stump.”