Isaiah 6

Isaiah’s Call and Mission

¹In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, and His robe filled the temple.[#2Kg 15:1-7; Is 1:1; 14:28; #Gn 32:30; Ex 3:1-6; 24:9-10; Jos 5:13-15; 1Kg 22:19; Is 31:3; Jn 1:18; 4:24; 12:41; #Is 52:13; 57:15; #Ps 9:7; 11:4; 45:6; Is 66:1; Jr 3:17; Ezk 1:26; 10:1; 43:7; #Lit seam]

²Seraphim were standing above Him; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.[#= heavenly beings; #Rv 4:8; #Ezk 1:14]

³And one called to another:

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts;

His glory fills the whole earth.

⁴The foundations of the doorways shook at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke.[#Ex 19:8; Hab 3:3-10; Rv 15:8]

⁵Then I said:

Woe is me for I am ruined

because I am a man of unclean lips

and live among a people of unclean lips,

and because my eyes have seen the King,

the Lord of Hosts.

⁶Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs.[#Lv 6:12-13; 17:11]

⁷He touched my mouth with it and said:[#Jr 1:9; Dn 10:16]

Now that this has touched your lips,

your wickedness is removed

and your sin is atoned for.

⁸Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying:

Who should I send?

Who will go for Us?

I said:

Here I am. Send me.

⁹And He replied:

Go! Say to these people:

Keep listening, but do not understand;

keep looking, but do not perceive.

¹⁰Dull the minds of these people;[#Lit heart]

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.

¹¹Then I said, “Until when, Lord? ” And He replied:[#Ps 79:5; 89:46]

Until cities lie in ruins without inhabitants,

houses are without people,

the land is ruined and desolate,

¹²and the Lord drives the people far away,

leaving great emptiness in the land.

¹³Though 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 is the stump.