Isaiah 6:7-9
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
7 He touched my mouth with it. “See,” he said, “now that this has touched your lips,[a] your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”(A)
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” “Here I am,” I said; “send me!” 9 [b]And he replied: Go and say to this people:
Listen carefully, but do not understand!
Look intently, but do not perceive!(B)
Footnotes
- 6:7 Touched your lips: Isaiah is thus symbolically purified of sin in preparation for his mission as God’s prophet.
- 6:9–10 Isaiah’s words give evidence that he attempted in every way, through admonition, threat, and promise, to bring the people to conversion (cf. 1:18–20), so it is unlikely that this charge to “harden” is to be understood as Isaiah’s task; more probably it reflects the refusal of the people, more particularly the leaders, who were supposed to “see,” “hear,” and “understand,” a refusal which would then lead to a disastrous outcome (vv. 11–12).
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