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God Calls Isaiah to Be a Prophet

In the year that King Uzziah died,[a] I saw the Lord sitting on a very high and wonderful throne. His long robe filled the Temple. Seraph angels stood around him. Each angel had six wings. They used two wings to cover their faces, two wings to cover their bodies, and two wings to fly. The angels were calling to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord All-Powerful. His Glory fills the whole earth.” The sound was so loud that it caused the frame around the door to shake, and the Temple was filled with smoke.[b]

I was frightened and said, “Oh, no! I will be destroyed. I am not pure enough to speak to God, and I live among people who are not pure enough to speak to him.[c] But I have seen the King, the Lord All-Powerful.”

There was a fire on the altar. One of the Seraph angels used a pair of tongs to take a hot coal from the fire. Then the angel flew to me with it in his hand. Then he touched my mouth with the hot coal and said, “When this hot coal touched your lips, your guilt was taken away, and your sins were erased.[d]

Then I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Who can I send? Who will go for us?”

So I said, “Here I am. Send me!”

Then the Lord said, “Go and tell the people, ‘Listen closely, but don’t understand. Look closely, but don’t learn.’ 10 Confuse them. Make them unable to understand what they hear and see. If you don’t do this, they might really look with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their minds. Then they might come back to me and be healed!”

11 Then I asked, “Lord, how long should I do this?”

He answered, “Do this until the cities are destroyed and all the people are gone. Do this until there is no one left living in the houses and the land is destroyed and empty.”

12 The Lord will make the people go far away, and there will be large areas of empty land in the country. 13 A tenth of the people will be allowed to stay in the land, but it will be destroyed again. They will be like an oak tree. When the tree is chopped down, a stump is left. This stump will be a very special seed that will grow again.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 6:1 year … died This was probably 740 B.C.
  2. Isaiah 6:4 smoke This showed that God was in the Temple. See Ex. 40:34-35.
  3. Isaiah 6:5 I am not pure … him Literally, “I am a man of unclean lips and live among people of unclean lips.”
  4. Isaiah 6:7 erased Or “atoned” or “covered over.”

Isaiah’s Commission

In the year that King Uzziah(A) died,(B) I saw the Lord,(C) high and exalted,(D) seated on a throne;(E) and the train of his robe(F) filled the temple. Above him were seraphim,(G) each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet,(H) and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy(I), holy is the Lord Almighty;(J)
    the whole earth(K) is full of his glory.”(L)

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.(M)

“Woe(N) to me!” I cried. “I am ruined!(O) For I am a man of unclean lips,(P) and I live among a people of unclean lips,(Q) and my eyes have seen(R) the King,(S) the Lord Almighty.”(T)

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal(U) in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips;(V) your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.(W)

Then I heard the voice(X) of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send?(Y) And who will go for us?(Z)

And I said, “Here am I.(AA) Send me!”

He said, “Go(AB) and tell this people:

“‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
    be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’(AC)
10 Make the heart of this people calloused;(AD)
    make their ears dull
    and close their eyes.[a](AE)
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,(AF)
    understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”(AG)

11 Then I said, “For how long, Lord?”(AH)

And he answered:

“Until the cities lie ruined(AI)
    and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted(AJ)
    and the fields ruined and ravaged,(AK)
12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away(AL)
    and the land is utterly forsaken.(AM)
13 And though a tenth remains(AN) in the land,
    it will again be laid waste.(AO)
But as the terebinth and oak
    leave stumps(AP) when they are cut down,
    so the holy(AQ) seed will be the stump in the land.”(AR)

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 6:10 Hebrew; Septuagint ‘You will be ever hearing, but never understanding; / you will be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ / 10 This people’s heart has become calloused; / they hardly hear with their ears, / and they have closed their eyes