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 having 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 out to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts; all the 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 Then I said: “Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling 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, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ And with it he touched my mouth and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your iniquity is removed and your sin is atoned for.” ⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” And I said: “Here am I. Send me!” ⁹ And He replied: “Go and tell this people, ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ ¹⁰ Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears 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 asked: “How long, O Lord?” And He replied: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left unoccupied and the land is desolate and ravaged, ¹² until the LORD has driven men far away and the land is utterly forsaken. ¹³ And though a tenth remains in the land, it will be burned again. As the terebinth and oak leave stumps when felled, so the holy seed will be a stump in the land.”