Isaiah’s Vision of the Lord
1 In the year that King Uzziah wdied I saw the Lord xsitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train1 of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. yEach 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;
4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house awas 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; bfor 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 ctouched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
Isaiah’s Commission from the Lord
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, d“Go, and say to this people:
e“‘Keep on hearing,3 but do not understand;
keep on seeing,4 but do not perceive.’
10 fMake the heart of this people dull,5
and their ears heavy,
and gblind 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 burned6 again,
like a terebinth or an oak,
whose stump remains
when it is felled.”
The holy seed7 is its stump.
Isaiah Sent to King Ahaz
1 hIn the days of iAhaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, jRezin the king of Syria and kPekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. 2 When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with8 Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz9 and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.
3 And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub10 your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the lWasher’s Field. 4 And say to him, ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah. 5 Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, 6 “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it11 for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” 7 thus says the Lord God:
“‘It shall not stand,
and it shall not come to pass.
8 For the head of Syria is Damascus,
and the head of Damascus is Rezin.
And within sixty-five years
mEphraim will be shattered from being a people.
9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
If you12 are not firm in nfaith,
you will not be firm at all.’”
Submission to Authority
13 pBe subject for the Lord’s sake qto every human institution,1 whether it be to the emperor2 as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, rthat by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but sliving as servants3 of God. 17 tHonor everyone. Love the ubrotherhood. vFear God. Honor the emperor.
18 wServants, xbe subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.4 19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while ysuffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is it if, zwhen you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because aChrist also suffered for you, leaving you an bexample, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 cHe committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 dWhen he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but econtinued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 fHe himself bore our sins in his body on the gtree, that we might hdie to sin and ilive to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were jstraying like sheep, but have now returned to the kShepherd and Overseer of your souls.
