< Isaiah 6 >
1 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.
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.
2 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.
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.
3 They were calling out to one another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; his glory fills the whole earth.
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, [is] the LORD of hosts: the whole earth [is] full of his glory.
4 The sound of their shouts made the doorposts and doorsteps shake, and the Temple was filled with smoke.
And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 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!”
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.
6 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.
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:
7 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.”
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.
8 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!”
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.
9 He replied, “Go and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but never understanding. Keep on seeing, but never comprehending.’
And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
10 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.”
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 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;
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 until the Lord sends the people far away and the country is totally deserted.
And the LORD have removed men far away, and [there be] a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
13 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.”
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.