Isaiah Called to Be a Prophet

6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. ² Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³ And one cried to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;The whole earth is full of His glory!”

⁴ And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.

⁵ So I said:

“Woe is me, for I am undone!Because 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 King,The Lord of hosts.”

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. ⁷ And he touched my mouth with it, and said:

“Behold, this has touched your lips;Your iniquity is taken away,And your sin purged.”

⁸ Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:

“Whom shall I send,And who will go for Us?”

Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

⁹ And 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 heart,And return and be healed.”

¹¹ Then I said, “Lord, how long?”

And He answered:

“Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant,The houses are without a man,The land is utterly desolate,¹² The Lord has removed men far away,And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.¹³ But yet a tenth will be in it,And will return and be for consuming,As a terebinth tree or as an oak,Whose stump remains when it is cut down.So the holy seed shall be its stump.”