Isaiah 6
1 In the year that king Ozias died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and elevated: and his train filled the temple.
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated in majesty on a high throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple.
2 Upon it stood the seraphims: the one had six wings, and the other had six wings: with two they covered his face, and with two they covered his feet, and with two they hew.
Seraphim stood above him, and each of them had six wings: They used two wings to cover their faces, two to cover their feet, and two to fly.
3 And they cried one to another, and said: Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of hosts, all the earth is full of his glory.
They were calling out to one another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; his glory fills the whole earth.
4 And the lintels of the doors were moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
The sound of their shouts made the doorposts and doorsteps shake, and the Temple was filled with smoke.
5 And I said: Woe is me, because I have held my peace; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people that hath unclean lips, and I have seen with my eyes the King the Lord of hosts.
I cried out, “I'm doomed! I'm going to die because I'm a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, for I've seen the King, the Lord Almighty!”
6 And one of the seraphims flew to me, and in his hand was a live coal, which he had taken with the tongs off the altar.
Then one of the seraphim flew over to me. He was holding a glowing coal that he had picked up with tongs from the altar.
7 And he touched my mouth, and said: Behold this hath touched thy lips, and thy iniquities shall be taken away, and thy sin shall be cleansed.
He touched me on my mouth with it and told me, “Look! This has touched your lips, so now your guilt is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: Whom shall I send? and who shall go for us? And I said: Lo, here am I, send me.
Then I heard the Lord asking, “Who shall I send? Who will go and speak for us?” So I said, “I'm here! Please send me!”
9 And he said: Go, and thou shalt say to this people: Hearing, hear, and understand not: and see the vision, and know it not.
He replied, “Go and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but never understanding. Keep on seeing, but never comprehending.’
10 Blind the heart of this people, 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 be converted and I heal them.
Make the minds of this people insensitive; make their ears deaf and shut their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their minds, and repent and be healed.”
11 And I said: How long, O Lord? And he said: Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land shall be left desolate.
Then I asked, “How long will this last, Lord?” He replied, “Until towns are ruined and empty, houses are abandoned, and the land is devastated and destroyed;
12 And the Lord shall remove men far away, and she shall be multiplied that was left in the midst of the earth.
until the Lord sends the people far away and the country is totally deserted.
13 And there shall be still a tithing therein, and she shall turn, and shall be made a show as a turpentine tree, and as an oak that spreadeth its branches: that which shall stand therein, shall be a holy seed.
Even though a tenth of the population remains in the land, it will be destroyed again. But in the same way as the terebinth and oak trees leave stumps when they're cut down, so the holy seed will remain as stump.”
