Isaiah 6

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 stood seraphim, each with six wings:
with two they covered their faces,
with two they covered their feet,
and with two they flew.

³ And one called to another and said:
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts!
The whole earth is full of his glory!"

⁴ The doorposts and thresholds shook at the voice of the one who called, and the temple was filled with smoke.

⁵ Then I said, "Woe to me! 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 of Hosts!"

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.

⁷ He touched my mouth with it and said,
"See, this has touched your lips;
your guilt is taken away
and your sin is atoned for."

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
"Whom shall I send?
And who will go for us?"
Then I said, "Here I am. Send me!"

⁹ He said, "Go and tell this people:
'Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
keep on seeing, but do not perceive.'

¹⁰ Make the heart of this people dull,
and their ears heavy,
and shut their eyes—
lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed."

¹¹ Then I said, "How long, Lord?"
And he answered:
"Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
and the fields are utterly desolate,

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 burned.
But as the terebinth and oak
leave a stump when cut down,
so the holy seed is its stump."