Isaiah’s Vision of the Lord in His Glory
1 In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew. 3 One called to another and said,
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts!
The whole earth is full of his glory!”
4 The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 Then I said,
“Woe is me! For I am undone,
because I am a man of unclean lips,
and I dwell among 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 a glowing coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said,
“This has touched your lips,
and your iniquity is taken away,
and your sin is forgiven.”
8 I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
“Whom shall I send?
Who will go for us?”
Then I said,
“Here I am. Send me!”
9 He said, “Go, and tell this people,
‘You hear indeed,
but do not understand.
You see indeed,
but do not perceive.’
10 Make the heart of this people dull.
Make their ears deaf and their eyes blind,
lest they see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their heart,
and turn back and be healed.”
11 Then I said, “Lord, how long?”
He answered,
“Until cities are waste, without inhabitant,
houses, without man,
the land becomes utterly waste,
12 and the Lord has driven men far away,
and there is great desolation in the land.
13 If there is a tenth left in it,
that also will in turn be consumed,
as a terebinth, and as an oak,
whose stump remains when they are cut down,
so the holy seed is its stock.”