Isaiah’s commission

1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2Above him were seraphim, each with 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 to one another:

‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;

the whole earth is full of his glory.’

4At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

5‘Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.’

6Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.’

8Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’

And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’

9He said, ‘Go and tell this people:

‘ “Be ever hearing, but never understanding;

be ever seeing, but never perceiving.”

10Make the heart of this people calloused;

make their ears dull

and close their eyes.6:9,10 Hebrew; Septuagint “You will be ever hearing, but never understanding; / you will be ever seeing, but never perceiving.” / 10 This people’s heart has become calloused; / they hardly hear with their ears, / and they have closed their eyes

Otherwise they might see with their eyes,

hear with their ears,

understand with their hearts,

and turn and be healed.’

11Then I said, ‘For how long, Lord?’

And he answered:

‘Until the cities lie ruined

and without inhabitant,

until the houses are left deserted

and the fields ruined and ravaged,

12until the Lord has sent everyone far away

and the land is utterly forsaken.

13And though a tenth remains in the land,

it will again be laid waste.

But as the terebinth and oak

leave stumps when they are cut down,

so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.’