Isaiah 6
Open in the reader1In the year that King Strength-of-He-Who-Is died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted; and the train of His robe filled the temple.
2Above Him stood Burning Ones, each having six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
3And they were calling out to one another: “Devoted, devoted, devoted is He-Who-Is of Hosts; all the earth is full of His glory.”
4At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke.
5Then 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, He-Who-Is of Hosts.”
6Then one of the Burning Ones flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
7And 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.”
8Then 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!”
9And He replied: “Go and tell this people, ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
10Make 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.”
11Then 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,
12until He-Who-Is has driven men far away and the land is utterly forsaken.
13And though a tenth remains in the land, it will be burned again. As the terebinth and oak leave stumps when felled, so the devoted seed will be a stump in the land.”