< Isaiah 6 >

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train 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 the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew.
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 One called to another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of Armies! The whole 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 The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house 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 undone, because I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Armies!”
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, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off 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 He touched my mouth with it, and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven.”
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 I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am. 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 He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand. You see indeed, but don’t perceive.’
You shall hear indeed, but you shall not understand; and you shall see indeed, but you shall not perceive.
10 Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and turn again, 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 said, “Lord, how long?” He answered, “Until cities are waste without inhabitant, houses without man, the land becomes utterly waste,
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 and the LORD has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many within the land.
And after this God shall remove the men far off, and they that are left upon the land shall be multiplied.
13 If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed, as a terebinth, and as an oak whose stump remains when they are cut down, so the holy seed is its stump.”
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.

< Isaiah 6 >