1
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high
and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
2
Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered
their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
3
And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory."
4
At 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."
6
Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal 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;
your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
8
Then 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!"
9
He said, "Go and tell this people: "'Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'
10
Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their
eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand
with their hearts, and turn and be healed."
11
Then I said, "For how long, O Lord?" And he answered: "Until the cities lie ruined
and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined
and ravaged,
12
until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken.
13
And 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."
