A Vision of God in the Temple

1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3And one called to another and said:

‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory.’

4The pivots6.4 Meaning of Heb uncertain on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 5And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!’

6Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7The seraph6.7 Heb He touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.’ 8Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’ 9And he said, ‘Go and say to this people:

“Keep listening, but do not comprehend;

keep looking, but do not understand.”

10Make the mind of this people dull,

and stop their ears,

and shut their eyes,

so that they may not look with their eyes,

and listen with their ears,

and comprehend with their minds,

and turn and be healed.’

11Then I said, ‘How long, O Lord?’ And he said:

‘Until cities lie waste

without inhabitant,

and houses without people,

and the land is utterly desolate;

12until the LORD sends everyone far away,

and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land.

13Even if a tenth part remains in it,

it will be burned again,

like a terebinth or an oak

whose stump remains standing

when it is felled.’6.13 Meaning of Heb uncertain

The holy seed is its stump.