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Isaiah 6

Isaiah’s commission

6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him were seraphim, each with 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 to one another:

‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
    the whole 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 ‘Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LordAlmighty.’

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.’

⁸ Then 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!’

⁹ He said, ‘Go and tell this people:

‘“Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
    be ever seeing, but never perceiving.”
¹⁰ Make the heart of this people calloused;
    make their ears dull
    and close their eyes.^[a]
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.’

¹¹ Then I said, ‘For how long, Lord?’

And he answered:

‘Until the cities lie ruined
    and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
    and the fields ruined and ravaged,
¹² until the Lord has sent everyone far away
    and the land is utterly forsaken.
¹³ And though a tenth remains in the land,
    it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth and oak
    leave stumps when they are cut down,
    so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.’

Exodus 33:19-20

¹⁹ And the Lord said, ‘I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. ²⁰ But,’ he said, ‘you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.’

Acts 28:25-28

²⁵ They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: ‘The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said through Isaiah the prophet:

²⁶ ‘“Go to this people and say,
‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
    you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.’
²⁷ For this people’s heart has become calloused;
    they hardly hear with their ears,
    and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.”^[a]

²⁸ ‘Therefore I want you to know that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!’

John 12:37-41

Belief and unbelief among the Jews

³⁷ Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. ³⁸ This was to fulfil the word of Isaiah the prophet:

‘Lord, who has believed our message
    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’^[a]

³⁹ For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:

⁴⁰ ‘He has blinded their eyes
    and hardened their hearts,
so they can neither see with their eyes,
    nor understand with their hearts,
    nor turn – and I would heal them.’^[b]

⁴¹ Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.

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