< Isaiah 6 >
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted; and the train of His robe filled the temple.
And it came to pass in the year in which king Ozias died, [that] I saw the Lord sitting on a high and exalted throne, and the house was full of his glory.
2 Above Him stood seraphim, each having six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
And seraphs stood round about him: each one had six wings: and with two they covered [their] face, and with two they covered [their] feet, and with two they flew.
3 And they were calling out to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts; all the earth is full of His glory.”
And one cried to the other, and they said, Holy, holy, holy [is the] Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke.
And the lintel shook at the voice they uttered, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 Then I said: “Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts.”
And I said, Woe is me, for I am pricked to the heart; for being a man, and having unclean lips, I dwell in the midst of a people having unclean lips; and I have seen with mine eyes the King, the Lord of hosts.
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
And there was sent to me one of the seraphs, and he had in his hand a coal, which he had taken off the altar with the tongs:
7 And with it he touched my mouth and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your iniquity is removed and your sin is atoned for.”
and he touched my mouth, and said, Behold, this has touched your lips, and will take away your iniquities, and will purge off your sins.
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” And I said: “Here am I. Send me!”
And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go to this people? And I said, behold, I am [here], send me. And he said, Go, and say to this people,
9 And He replied: “Go and tell this people, ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
You shall hear indeed, but you shall not understand; and you shall see indeed, but you shall not perceive.
10 Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
For the heart of this people has become gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
11 Then I asked: “How long, O Lord?” And He replied: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left unoccupied and the land is desolate and ravaged,
And I said, How long, O Lord? And he said, Until cities be deserted by reason of their not being inhabited, and the houses by reason of there being no men, and the land shall be left desolate.
12 until the LORD has driven men far away and the land is utterly forsaken.
And after this God shall remove the men far off, and they that are left upon the land shall be multiplied.
13 And though a tenth remains in the land, it will be burned again. As the terebinth and oak leave stumps when felled, so the holy seed will be a stump in the land.”
And yet there shall be a tenth upon it, and again it shall be for a spoil, as a turpentine tree, and as an acorn when it falls out of its husk.