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Holy is the Lord

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon his[a] throne, high and exalted. The train of his robe filled the Temple. The seraphim stood above him. Each had six wings:[b] with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he was flying. They kept on calling to each other:[c]

“Holy, holy, holy[d] is the Lord of the Heavenly Armies!
    The whole earth is full of his glory!”

The foundations of the thresholds quaked at the sound of those who kept calling out,[e] and the Temple was filled with smoke.

“How terrible it will be for me!” I cried, “because I am ruined! I’m a man with unclean lips, and I live among a people with unclean lips! And my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of the Heavenly Armies!”

The Calling of Isaiah

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, carrying a burning coal in his hand that he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth and said, “Look! Now that this has touched your[f] lips, your guilt is taken away, and your sins[g] atoned for.”

Then I heard the voice of the Lord as he was asking, “Whom will I send? Who will go for us?”

“Here I am!” I replied. “Send me.”

“Go!” he responded. “Tell this people:

“‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
    keep[h] on seeing, but do not perceive.’
10 Dull the mind[i] of this people,
    deafen their ears,
        and blind their eyes.
By doing so, they won’t see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
understand with their minds,
    turn back,
        and be healed.”

11 Then I asked, “For how long, Lord?”[j]

He replied:

“Until cities lie waste,
    without inhabitants,
and houses without people;
    and the land becomes utterly desolate.
12 Until[k] the Lord removes people far away,
    and there are many empty places
        in the middle of the land.
13 Even though a tenth of its people remain[l] in it,
    it will once again be burned,[m]
like a terebinth[n] or an oak tree,[o]
    the stump of which, though the tree has been[p] felled,
        still contains holy seed.”[q]

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 6:1 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read a
  2. Isaiah 6:2 So 1QIsaa; MT reads six wings, six wings; LXX reads six wings and six wings
  3. Isaiah 6:3 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read calling and saying
  4. Isaiah 6:3 So MT LXX; 1QIsaa reads Holy, holy
  5. Isaiah 6:4 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads of him who called out
  6. Isaiah 6:7 So 1QIsaa MT LXX; 4QIsaf reads the
  7. Isaiah 6:7 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads sin
  8. Isaiah 6:9 So 1QIsaa; MT reads and keep
  9. Isaiah 6:10 Lit. Fatten the heart
  10. Isaiah 6:11 So 1QIsaa; MT reads Lord
  11. Isaiah 6:12 Lit. And
  12. Isaiah 6:13 Lit. tenth remains
  13. Isaiah 6:13 Or devastated
  14. Isaiah 6:13 I.e. a sacred tree used for idolatry; cf. Hos 4:13
  15. Isaiah 6:13 Or Asherah pole; i.e. felled oaks used for making idols; cf. Hos 4:13, Isa 44:14
  16. Isaiah 6:13 1QIsaa lacks though the tree has been; MT LXX read which, when
  17. Isaiah 6:13 So 1QIsaa MT; LXX lacks this line