In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a
throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the
temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two
he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two
he flew. And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of
him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said:
“Woe is me! For I am lost; for 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!”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning
coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my
mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is
taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and
who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” And he
said, “Go, and say to this people:
“‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
Make the heart of this people dull,
and their ears heavy,
and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
Then I said, “How long, O Lord?”
And he said:
“Until cities lie waste
without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
and the land is a desolate waste,
and the LORD removes people far away,
and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
And though a tenth remain in it,
it will be burned again,
like a terebinth or an oak,
whose stump remains
when it is felled.”
The holy seed is its stump.
