7. He touched my mouth with the coal. He said, "This has touched your lips. Your guilt has been taken away. Your sin has been paid for."
8. Then I heard the voice of the Lord. He said, "Who will I send? Who will go for us?" I said, "Here I am. Send me!"
9. So he said, "Go and speak to these people. Tell them, " 'You will hear but never understand. You will see but never know what you are seeing.'
10. Make the hearts of these people stubborn. Plug up their ears. Close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes. They might hear with their ears. They might understand with their hearts. And they might turn to me and be healed."
11. Then I said, "Lord, how long will it be like that?" He answered, "It will last until the cities of Israel are destroyed and no one is living in them. It will last until the houses are deserted. The fields will be completely destroyed.
12. It will last until I have sent everyone far away. The land will be totally deserted.
13. Even if a tenth of the people remain there, the land will be completely destroyed again. But when oak trees and terebinth trees are cut down, stumps are left. And my holy people will be like stumps that begin to grow again."