Isaiah 6:3-5
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
3 One cried out to the other:
“Holy, holy, holy[a] is the Lord of hosts!
All the earth is filled with his glory!”
4 At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook and the house was filled with smoke.[b](A)
5 Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed![c] For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips,(B) and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 6:3 Holy, holy, holy: these words have been used in Christian liturgy from the earliest times.
- 6:4 Smoke: reminiscent of the clouds which indicated God’s presence at Mount Sinai (Ex 19:16–19; Dt 4:11) and which filled the tabernacle (Ex 40:34–38) and the Temple (1 Kgs 8:10–11) at their dedication.
- 6:5 Doomed: there are two roots from which the verb here could be derived; one means “to perish, be doomed,” the other “to become silent,” and given Isaiah’s delight in puns and double entendre, he probably intended to sound both notes. “I am doomed!” is suggested by the popular belief that to see God would lead to one’s death; cf. Gn 32:31; Ex 33:20; Jgs 13:22. “I am struck silent!” is suggested by the emphasis on the lips in vv. 5–6, and such silence is attested elsewhere as the appropriate response to the vision of the Lord in the Temple (Hb 2:20).
Isaiah 6:3-5
New International Version
3 And they were calling to one another:
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.(E)
5 “Woe(F) to me!” I cried. “I am ruined!(G) For I am a man of unclean lips,(H) and I live among a people of unclean lips,(I) and my eyes have seen(J) the King,(K) the Lord Almighty.”(L)
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