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Isaiah 6
New International Version
Isaiah 6
New International Version
Isaiah’s Commission
6 In the year that King Uzziah(A) died,(B) I saw the Lord,(C) high and exalted,(D) seated on a throne;(E) and the train of his robe(F) filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim,(G) each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet,(H) and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.(M)
5 “Woe(N) to me!” I cried. “I am ruined!(O) For I am a man of unclean lips,(P) and I live among a people of unclean lips,(Q) and my eyes have seen(R) the King,(S) the Lord Almighty.”(T)
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal(U) in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips;(V) your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.(W)”
8 Then I heard the voice(X) of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send?(Y) And who will go for us?(Z)”
And I said, “Here am I.(AA) Send me!”
9 He said, “Go(AB) and tell this people:
“‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’(AC)
10 Make the heart of this people calloused;(AD)
make their ears dull
and close their eyes.[a](AE)
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,(AF)
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”(AG)
11 Then I said, “For how long, Lord?”(AH)
And he answered:
“Until the cities lie ruined(AI)
and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted(AJ)
and the fields ruined and ravaged,(AK)
12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away(AL)
and the land is utterly forsaken.(AM)
13 And though a tenth remains(AN) in the land,
it will again be laid waste.(AO)
But as the terebinth and oak
leave stumps(AP) when they are cut down,
so the holy(AQ) seed will be the stump in the land.”(AR)
Footnotes
- Isaiah 6:10 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
Isaiah 6
The Message
Isaiah 6
The Message
Holy, Holy, Holy!
6 1-8 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Master sitting on a throne—high, exalted!—and the train of his robes filled the Temple. Angel-seraphs hovered above him, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two their feet, and with two they flew. And they called back and forth one to the other,
Holy, Holy, Holy is God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
His bright glory fills the whole earth.
The foundations trembled at the sound of the angel voices, and then the whole house filled with smoke. I said,
“Doom! It’s Doomsday!
I’m as good as dead!
Every word I’ve ever spoken is tainted—
blasphemous even!
And the people I live with talk the same way,
using words that corrupt and desecrate.
And here I’ve looked God in the face!
The King! God-of-the-Angel-Armies!”
Then one of the angel-seraphs flew to me. He held a live coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with the coal and said,
“Look. This coal has touched your lips.
Gone your guilt,
your sins wiped out.”
And then I heard the voice of the Master:
“Whom shall I send?
Who will go for us?”
I spoke up,
“I’ll go.
Send me!”
* * *
9-10 He said, “Go and tell this people:
“‘Listen hard, but you aren’t going to get it;
look hard, but you won’t catch on.’
Make these people blockheads,
with fingers in their ears and blindfolds on their eyes,
So they won’t see a thing,
won’t hear a word,
So they won’t have a clue about what’s going on
and, yes, so they won’t turn around and be made whole.”
11-13 Astonished, I said,
“And Master, how long is this to go on?”
He said, “Until the cities are emptied out,
not a soul left in the cities—
Houses empty of people,
countryside empty of people.
Until I, God, get rid of everyone, sending them off,
the land totally empty.
And even if some should survive, say a tenth,
the devastation will start up again.
The country will look like pine and oak forest
with every tree cut down—
Every tree a stump, a huge field of stumps.
But there’s a holy seed in those stumps.”
Isaiah 6
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
Isaiah 6
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
6 In the year that king Ozias died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and elevated: and his train filled the temple.
2 Upon it stood the seraphims: the one had six wings, and the other had six wings: with two they covered his face, and with two they covered his feet, and with two they hew.
3 And they cried one to another, and said: Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of hosts, all the earth is full of his glory.
4 And the lintels of the doors were moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 And I said: Woe is me, because I have held my peace; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people that hath unclean lips, and I have seen with my eyes the King the Lord of hosts.
6 And one of the seraphims flew to me, and in his hand was a live coal, which he had taken with the tongs off the altar.
7 And he touched my mouth, and said: Behold this hath touched thy lips, and thy iniquities shall be taken away, and thy sin shall be cleansed.
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: Whom shall I send? and who shall go for us? And I said: Lo, here am I, send me.
9 And he said: Go, and thou shalt say to this people: Hearing, hear, and understand not: and see the vision, and know it not.
10 Blind the heart of this people, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes: lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted and I heal them.
11 And I said: How long, O Lord? And he said: Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land shall be left desolate.
12 And the Lord shall remove men far away, and she shall be multiplied that was left in the midst of the earth.
13 And there shall be still a tithing therein, and she shall turn, and shall be made a shew as a turpentine tree, and as an oak that spreadeth its branches: that which shall stand therein, shall be a holy seed.
Isaiah 6
Expanded Bible
Isaiah 6
Expanded Bible
Isaiah Becomes a Prophet
6 In the year that King Uzziah died [C 740 bc], I saw the Lord sitting on a ·very high [L high and exalted] throne. ·His long [L The train/trailing part of his] robe filled the Temple. 2 ·Heavenly creatures of fire [L Seraphim; C the word means “burning ones” and points to purity, power, or judgment] ·stood above [or attended] him [Rev. 4:6–9]. Each creature had six wings: It used two wings to cover its face [C as a shield from God’s awesome glory], two wings to cover its ·feet [or body; C indicating humility; “feet” can be a euphemism for genitals], and two wings for flying. 3 Each creature was calling to the others:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord ·All-Powerful [Almighty; of Heaven’s Armies; T of hosts].
His glory fills the whole earth.”
4 ·Their calling [The sound/noise from each one’s voice] caused the ·frame around the door [doorposts; threshold foundations] to shake, as the Temple filled with smoke.
5 I said, “·Oh, no [L Woe to me]! I ·will be destroyed [am ruined/doomed]. I am ·not pure [L a man with unclean lips; C that is, spiritually unworthy], and I live among people ·who are not pure [L with unclean lips], but I have seen the King, the Lord ·All-Powerful [Almighty; of Heaven’s Armies; T of hosts].”
6 One of the ·heavenly creatures [L Seraphim; v. 2] flew to me with a hot coal [L in his hand] he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 ·The creature [L He/It] touched my mouth with the hot coal and said, “·Look [T Behold], your ·guilt [iniquity] is taken away, because this hot coal has touched your lips. Your sin is ·taken away [forgiven; covered; atoned for].”
8 Then I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom ·can [will] I send [C to speak for God to Israel]? Who will go for us [C referring to God and his heavenly court, or possibly to the Trinity]?”
So I said, “Here I am. Send me!”
9 Then the Lord said, “Go and tell this to the people:
‘You will ·listen and listen [keep on hearing; or listen intently], but you will not ·understand [comprehend].
You will ·look and look [keep on seeing; or look intently], but you will not ·learn [perceive; comprehend].’
10 Make the ·minds [heart; C the center of mind, will, and emotions in Hebrew thought] of these people ·dumb [dull; calloused; hardened].
·Shut [Plug; L Make heavy] their ears. ·Cover [Blind] their eyes.
Otherwise, they might ·really understand
what they see with their eyes [L see with their eyes]
and hear with their ears.
They might really understand in their ·minds [hearts]
and ·come back to me [turn; repent] and be healed [Matt. 13:14–15; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10; Acts 28:26–27; C God seals Israel’s rejection of him and uses it to accomplish his purpose].”
11 Then I asked, “Lord, ·how long should I do this [or how long will this rejection last; L how long]?”
He answered,
“Until the cities ·are destroyed [lie in ruins; are laid waste]
and ·the people are gone [uninhabited],
until there are no people left in the houses,
until the land is ·destroyed [ruined; laid waste] and ·left empty [desolate].
12 ·The Lord will send [or …until the Lord has sent] the people far away [C into exile],
and the [L midst of the] land will be ·left empty [utterly/completely abandoned].
13 Even if only one-tenth of the people are left in the land,
it will be ·destroyed [or burned] again.
These people will be like ·an oak tree [L a terebinth or an oak]
whose stump is left when the tree is chopped down.
·The people who remain will be like a stump that will sprout again [L The holy seed is its stump].”
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
Public Domain (Why are modern Bible translations copyrighted?)
Expanded Bible (EXB)
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.