Isaiah Chapter 6

Isaiah’s Call and Cleansing

1 The year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a high throne, and his train filled the Temple. 2 Seraphs hovered above him, each with six wings:  two covered their faces, two covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 One shouted to the other,       

            “Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD of Hosts;

                  the whole world is full of his glory.”

4 The thresholds shook when he shouted, and smoke filled the Temple. 5 I said,

                        “I’m doomed! I’m lost,

                              a man with unclean lips

                              living among people with unclean lips,

                              and I’ve seen the King, the LORD of Hosts!”                                            

Is 6:1-5

6 One seraph flew to me with a burning coal he’d taken off the altar with tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said, “That has taken away your guilt; your sin’s forgiven.”

8 Then I heard the Lord say, “Who will I send? Who’ll go for us?”

I said, “I’ll go; send me.”

9 He said,

            “Go tell this nation:

                  ‘Keep listening, but don’t understand anything;

                  keep looking, but don’t perceive anything.

            10 Harden your hearts,

                        be hard of hearing,

                        and shut your eyes

                  so you can’t see or hear,

                         understand and repent,

                        and be healed.’”                                            

Is 6:6-10

11 I said, “How long, Lord?”

“Till the towns are deserted,

            the houses are empty,

            and the land’s forsaken;

12 till I’ve taken the people far away

            and leave the land largely abandoned.

13 A tenth of it will survive

                  only to be invaded again and burned;

            like a terebinth tree or oak

                  whose stump is still standing after it’s cut down,

                  the stump will be Israel’s holy seed.”                 

Is 6:11-13

From the CNT translation by Virgil Warren, PhD