Isaiah 6

English Standard Version

Isaiah's Vision of the Lord

6 In the year that ^(A)King Uzziah died I ^(B)saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train^[a] of his robe filled the temple. ²Above him stood the seraphim. Each had ^(C)six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³And one called to another and said:

^(D)“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
^(E)the whole earth is full of his glory!”^[b]

⁴And ^(F)the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and ^(G)the house was filled with smoke. ⁵And I said: “Woe is me! ^(H)For I am lost; ^(I)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 ^(J)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 ^(K)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 ^(L)us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” ⁹And he said, “Go, and say to this people:

^(M)“‘Keep on hearing,^[c] but do not understand;
keep on seeing,^[d] but do not perceive.’
¹⁰^(N)Make the heart of this people ^(O)dull,^[e]
    and their ears heavy,
    and blind their eyes;
^(P)lest they see with their eyes,
    and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
    and turn and be healed.”
¹¹Then I said, ^(Q)“How long, O Lord?”
And he said:
“Until ^(R)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^(S)And though a tenth remain in it,
    it will be burned^[f] again,
like a terebinth or an oak,
    whose stump ^(T)remains
    when it is felled.”
^(U)The holy seed^[g] is its stump.