Isaiah 6

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a throne, high above me. The long back of his robe filled the temple, God's house.

2Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

2Above him stood shining creatures called seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two wings each covered its face. With two it covered its feet. With two it flew.

3And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

3They called out to one another. They said, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory."

Note"The LORD of Hosts" is a title. "Hosts" here means armies, so it means the Lord who leads the armies of heaven.

4And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

4The sound of their voices shook the doorposts of the temple. The whole building filled up with smoke.

5Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

5Then I said, "This is terrible for me! I am ruined. My lips are not clean. I live among people whose lips are not clean. And my own eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts."

6Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:

6Then one of the seraphim flew over to me. He held a burning coal in his hand. He had picked it up from the altar with tongs.

7And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

7He touched my mouth with the coal. He said, "This has touched your lips. Now your wrong is taken away. Your sin is washed clean."

8Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

8Then I heard the Lord's voice. He said, "Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?" I said, "Here I am. Send me."

9And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.

9He said, "Go and tell these people this. You will hear and hear, but you will not understand. You will look and look, but you will not really see."

10Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

10"Make the hearts of these people hard. Stop up their ears. Close their eyes. If you do not, they might see with their eyes. They might hear with their ears. They might understand in their hearts. Then they would turn back and be healed."

11Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,

11Then I asked, "Lord, how long will this last?" He answered, "Until the cities are broken down and nobody lives there. Until the houses are empty. Until the land is bare and ruined."

12And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.

12"It will last until the LORD has sent the people far away. The land will be left alone and empty."

13But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.

13"Even if one person out of ten is still there, that part will be burned again. When a terebinth tree or an oak is cut down, a stump is left behind. In the same way, the holy seed will be the stump left in the land."

NoteA "teil tree" is what we now call a terebinth. It is a large tree that grows in that part of the world.