Isaiah 6

1 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. 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 one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that 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 atoned for.” 
8 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.” 9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people: 

      “ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; 
      keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ 
      10 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.” 
      11 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, 
      12 and the LORD removes people 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 
      when it is felled.” 
      The holy seed is its stump.