“More holy than the holiest holiness
is Adonai-Tzva’ot!
The whole earth is filled
with his glory!”

“Woe to me! I [too] am doomed! —
because I, a man with unclean lips,
living among a people with unclean lips,
have seen with my own eyes
the King, Adonai-Tzva’ot!”

⁶ One of the s’rafim flew to me with a glowing coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ He touched my mouth with it and said,

“Here! This has touched your lips.
Your iniquity is gone,
your sin is atoned for.”

⁸ Then I heard the voice of Adonai saying,

“Whom should I send?
Who will go for us?”

I answered, “I’m here, send me!” ⁹ He said, “Go and tell this people:

‘Yes, you hear, but you don’t understand.
You certainly see, but you don’t get the point!’

¹⁰ “Make the heart of this people [sluggish with] fat,
stop up their ears, and shut their eyes.
Otherwise, seeing with their eyes,
and hearing with their ears,
then understanding with their hearts,
they might repent and be healed!”

¹¹ I asked, “Adonai, how long?” and he answered,

“Until cities become uninhabited ruins,
houses without human presence,
the land utterly wasted;
¹² until Adonai drives the people far away,
and the land is one vast desolation.
¹³ If even a tenth [of the people] remain,
it will again be devoured.

“But like a pistachio tree or an oak,
whose trunk remains alive
after its leaves fall off,
the holy seed will be its trunk.”