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 wastewithout 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 remainswhen it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump.