Isaiah 6:5-13

English Standard Version

⁵And I said: “Woe is me! ^(A)For I am lost; ^(B)for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the ^(C)King, the Lord of hosts!”

⁶Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷And he ^(D)touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

Isaiah's Commission from the Lord

⁸And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for ^(E)us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” ⁹And he said, “Go, and say to this people:

^(F)“‘Keep on hearing,^[a] but do not understand;
keep on seeing,^[b] but do not perceive.’
¹⁰^(G)Make the heart of this people ^(H)dull,^[c]
    and their ears heavy,
    and blind their eyes;
^(I)lest they see with their eyes,
    and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
    and turn and be healed.”
¹¹Then I said, ^(J)“How long, O Lord?”
And he said:
“Until ^(K)cities lie waste
    without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
    and the land is a desolate waste,
¹²and the Lord removes people far away,
    and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
¹³^(L)And though a tenth remain in it,
    it will be burned^[d] again,
like a terebinth or an oak,
    whose stump ^(M)remains
    when it is felled.”
^(N)The holy seed^[e] is its stump.