Isaiah 6

General context

The prophet reports that in the year king Uzziah died he saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and lifted up, with his train filling the temple. Seraphims stand above it, each with six wings, two covering the face, two the feet and two for flying, and they cry to one another that the Lord of hosts is holy, holy, holy and the whole earth full of his glory. The door posts move at the voice and the house fills with smoke. The prophet cries that he is undone, a man of unclean lips among a people of unclean lips, because his eyes have seen the King. A seraphim flies to him with a live coal taken with tongs from the altar, touches his mouth, and says his iniquity is taken away and his sin purged. He then hears the Lord ask whom he shall send and who will go for us, and answers, Here am I; send me. The commission is to tell this people to hear without understanding and see without perceiving, to make their heart fat, their ears heavy and their eyes shut, lest they convert and be healed. The prophet asks how long, and the answer is until cities are wasted without inhabitant, houses without man, the land utterly desolate and men removed far away. Yet a tenth will remain and return and be eaten, like a teil tree or oak whose substance stays when leaves fall; the holy seed will be its substance.

Cited passages: Isaiah 6:1, Isaiah 6:2, Isaiah 6:3, Isaiah 6:4, Isaiah 6:5, Isaiah 6:6, Isaiah 6:7, Isaiah 6:8, Isaiah 6:9, Isaiah 6:10, Isaiah 6:11, Isaiah 6:12, Isaiah 6:13

Isaiah 6 (KJV)

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Historical context

This is the first chapter told in the prophet's own first-person narration, I saw, Then said I, and its one setting marker is the year that king Uzziah died. Uzziah is the first of the four kings named in the book's heading, but the chapter gives no other date and does not say what the vision has to do with his death. The place is the temple, with a throne, an altar, tongs and door posts, and the text does not say whether the prophet is in the building or seeing it. The seraphims are described only by their wings and their cry; the word is not explained. The Lord's question, who will go for us, uses a plural the chapter leaves without comment. The commission to dull the people's hearing is given as the Lord's command to the prophet, and this people is not more closely identified here. The how long answer describes cities wasted and men removed far away without naming an enemy or a date. The final tenth and holy seed are stated in images and not identified with any person or group. The speech of verses nine and ten is quoted later in the New Testament as Isaiah's: And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive. The seraphims' cry is echoed in Revelation, where four beasts with six wings say Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

Cited passages: Isaiah 6:1, Isaiah 1:1, Isaiah 6:6, Isaiah 6:8, Isaiah 6:9, Isaiah 6:12, Isaiah 6:13, Matthew 13:14, Acts 28:26, Revelation 4:8

Literary context

The chapter is a single scene in three movements: sight, cleansing, sending. Everything the prophet sees is high, the throne high and lifted up, the train filling the temple, the seraphims above; his own response drops to the ground, Woe is me. Lips are the hinge. He names unclean lips as his and his people's, the coal touches his lips, and the word declares his sin purged; only then does he speak the offer, Here am I; send me, which reverses the earlier undone. Speech alternates through the second half, Then said I, And he said, Then said I, And he answered, so the commission comes as a dialogue rather than a pronouncement. The commission itself is built on paired verbs turned against their normal result, hear but understand not, see but perceive not, and the prophet's own eyes have seen is set against the eyes he is told to shut. The chapter ends not on the throne but on a tree stump, an oak that keeps its substance when the leaves fall, a final small image after the smoke and the wasted cities. Coming after five chapters of oracles, this narrated call stands between them and the Ahaz narrative that follows in chapter seven.

Cited passages: Isaiah 6:1, Isaiah 6:5, Isaiah 6:7, Isaiah 6:8, Isaiah 6:9, Isaiah 6:10, Isaiah 6:11, Isaiah 6:13, Isaiah 7:1

Key moments

1. The Lord on a throne (Isaiah 6:1). In the year king Uzziah died the prophet sees the Lord high and lifted up in the temple.
2. Holy, holy, holy (Isaiah 6:3). The seraphims cry to one another that the whole earth is full of his glory.
3. Woe is me (Isaiah 6:5). The prophet says he is undone, a man of unclean lips who has seen the King.
4. The coal on his lips (Isaiah 6:7). A seraphim touches his mouth with a live coal and declares his sin purged.
5. Here am I; send me (Isaiah 6:8). The prophet answers the Lord's question about whom to send.
6. Hear but understand not (Isaiah 6:10). The Lord commissions him to make the people's heart fat and shut their eyes.
7. A tenth and the holy seed (Isaiah 6:13). After the desolation a tenth remains, like an oak that keeps its substance.

For reflection

The prophet volunteers before he hears the message, and the message is that the people will hear without understanding. Does the order of Here am I; send me and Go, and tell this people change how the volunteering reads?

People in this chapter

Also indexed here:

• Uzziah