[1] In the year that King Uzzi'ah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a
throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. [2] 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. [3] And one called to
another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth
is full of his glory." [4] And the foundations of the thresholds shook at
the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. [5] 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!" [6] Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having
in his hand a burning coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar.
[7] And he touched my mouth, and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips;
your guilt is taken away, and your sin forgiven." [8] And I heard the voice
of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I
said, "Here am I! Send me." [9] And he said, "Go, and say to this people:
`Hear and hear, but do not understand; see and see, but do not perceive.'
[10] Make the heart of this people fat, and their ears heavy, and shut
their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and
understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed." [11] Then I said,
"How long, O Lord?" And he said: "Until cities lie waste without
inhabitant, and houses without men, and the land is utterly desolate, [12]
and the LORD removes men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the
midst of the land. [13] And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned
again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains standing when it is
felled." The holy seed is its stump.
