Isaiah’s Call and Mission

In the year that King Uzziah(A) died, I saw the Lord(B) seated on a high and lofty(C) throne,(D) and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphim[a] were standing above him; they each had six wings:(E) with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.(F) And one called to another:

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies;
his glory(G) fills the whole earth.(H)

The foundations of the doorways shook(I) at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke.

Then I said:

Woe is me(J) for I am ruined[b]
because I am a man of unclean lips
and live among a people of unclean lips,(K)
and because my eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of Armies.

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar(L) with tongs. He touched my mouth(M) with it and said:

Now that this has touched your lips,
your iniquity is removed
and your sin is atoned for.(N)

Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking:

Who will I send?
Who will go for us?

I said:

Here I am. Send me.

And he replied:

Go! Say to these people:
Keep listening, but do not understand;(O)
keep looking, but do not perceive.
10 Make the minds[c] of these people dull;
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.(P)

11 Then I said, “Until when, Lord?” (Q) And he replied:

Until cities lie in ruins without inhabitants,(R)
houses are without people,
the land is ruined and desolate,
12 and the Lord drives the people far away,
leaving great emptiness in the land.
13 Though 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(S) is the stump.(T)

Footnotes

  1. 6:2 = heavenly beings
  2. 6:5 Or I must be silent
  3. 6:10 Lit heart

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

Above it stood the seraphims: 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 the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

And the posts of the door moved 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, the Lord of hosts.

Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:

And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye 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 understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,

12 And the Lord have removed men far away, and there be 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 eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.