Category: ISAIAH

The Bible – Old Testament

Isaiah

Index

Int. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 

23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 

34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44.

 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 

56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66.

Chapter 6

1

^1 2 In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, with the train of his garment filling the temple.

2

Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings: with two they veiled their faces, with two they veiled their feet, and with two they hovered aloft.

3

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!” they cried one to the other. “All the earth is filled with his glory!”

4

³ At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook and the house was filled with smoke.

5

⁴ Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

6

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember which he had taken with tongs from the altar.

7

⁵ He touched my mouth with it. “See,” he said, “now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”

8

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” “Here I am,” I said; “send me!”

9

⁶ And he replied: Go and say to this people: Listen carefully, but you shall not understand! Look intently, but you shall know nothing!

10

You are to make the heart of this people sluggish, to dull their ears and close their eyes; Else their eyes will see, their ears hear, their heart understand, and they will turn and be healed.

11

“How long, O Lord?” I asked. And he replied: Until the cities are desolate, without inhabitants, Houses, without a man, and the earth is a desolate waste.

12

⁷ Until the LORD removes men far away, and the land is abandoned more and more.

13

If there be still a tenth part in it, then this in turn shall be laid waste; As with a terebinth or an oak whose trunk remains when its leaves have fallen. (Holy offspring is the trunk.)

1 [1-3] Temple: the holy place, just in front of the holy of holies. Seraphim: literally “the burning ones,” are celestial beings who surround the throne of God. Each has six wings. Reverence for the divine majesty causes them to veil their faces with two wings; modesty, to veil their extremities in similar fashion; alacrity in God’s service, to extend two wings in preparation for flight. Holy, holy, holy: God’s perfect interior holiness whose exterior manifestation is his glory. These words are found in the Roman liturgy just before the Canon of the Mass.

2 [1] In the year King Uzziah died: 742 B.C.

3 [4] Smoke: reminiscent of the clouds which surrounded God at Mount Sinai; cf ⇒ Exodus 19:16-19; ⇒ Deut 4:11, ⇒ 12.

4 [5] Doomed: it was popularly believed that to see God would lead to one’s death; cf ⇒ Genesis 32:31; ⇒ Exodus 33:20; ⇒ Judges 13:22.

5 [7] Touched your lips: Isaiah is thus symbolically purified to be worthy of his vocation as God’s prophet. In the Roman liturgy, the celebrant at Mass makes reference to this incident just before he reads the gospel.

6 [9-10] The truth that the nation will remain impenitent is vividly foretold, as if its obstinacy would be caused, instead of merely occasioned, by the prophet’s warning. Cf ⇒ Matthew 13:13-15; ⇒ Mark 4:12; ⇒ Luke 8:10.

7 [12] Several limited deportations in the time of Isaiah would later culminate in the Babylonian exile.

Index

Int. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 

12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21.

 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 

31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 

40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 

49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 

58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66.

The Bible – Old Testament

Isaiah

Index

Int. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 

23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 

34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44.

 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 

56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66.

Chapter 42

1

¹ Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, Upon whom I have put my spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations,

2

Not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street.

3

² A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,

4

³ Until he establishes justice on the earth; the coastlands will wait for his teaching.

5

Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spreads out the earth with its crops, Who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk on it:

6

I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice, I have grasped you by the hand; I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations,

7

To open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.

8

I am the LORD, this is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols.

9

See, the earlier things have come to pass, new ones I now foretell; Before they spring into being, I announce them to you.

10

Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the end of the earth: Let the sea and what fills it resound, the coastlands, and those who dwell in them.

11

⁴ Let the steppe and its cities cry out, the villages where Kedar dwells; Let the inhabitants of Sela exult, and shout from the top of the mountains.

12

Let them give glory to the LORD, and utter his praise in the coastlands.

13

The LORD goes forth like a hero, like a warrior he stirs up his ardor; He shouts out his battle cry, against his enemies he shows his might:

14

I have looked away, and kept silence, I have said nothing, holding myself in; But now, I cry out as a woman in labor, gasping and panting.

15

I will lay waste mountains and hills, all their herbage I will dry up; I will turn the rivers into marshes, and the marshes I will dry up.

16

I will lead the blind on their journey; by paths unknown I will guide them. I will turn darkness into light before them, and make crooked ways straight. These things I do for them, and I will not forsake them.

17

They shall be turned back in utter shame who trust in idols; Who say to molten images, “You are our gods.”

18

⁵ You who are deaf, listen, you who are blind, look and see!

19

Who is blind but my servant, or deaf like the messenger I send?

20

You see many things without taking note; your ears are open, but without hearing.

21

Though it pleased the LORD in his justice to make his law great and glorious,

22

⁶ This is a people despoiled and plundered, all of them trapped in holes, hidden away in prisons. They are taken as booty, with no one to rescue them, as spoil, with no one to demand their return.

23

Who of you gives ear to this? Who listens and pays heed for the time to come?

24

⁷ Who was it that gave Jacob to be plundered, Israel to the despoilers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned? In his ways they refused to walk, his law they disobeyed.

25

So he poured out wrath upon them, his anger, and the fury of battle; It blazed round about them, yet they did not realize, it burned them, but they took it not to heart.

1 [1-4] Servant: there are three other “Servant-of-the-Lord” oracles, ⇒ 49:1-7; ⇒ 50:4-11; ⇒ 52:13-⇒ 53:12. Many identifications have been proposed, e.g., historical Israel, ideal Israel, an Old Testament historical character before or during the lifetime of the prophet, the prophet himself. The New Testament and Christian tradition, however, have seen a fulfillment of these prophecies in Jesus Christ.

2 [3] A reference to the mercy of Christ.

3 [4] Coastlands: the lands of the Mediterranean. In the Old Testament the word often refers to the pagan lands of the west.

4 [11] Kedar: cf footnote to ⇒ Isaiah 21:16. Sela: Petra, the capital of Edom.

5 [18-20] Because of their unbelief, the Lord rebukes his people, whom he calls his servant, his messenger.

6 [22] A people: Israel in exile.

7 [24] Despoilers: the Assyrians and Babylonians.

Index

Int. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 

12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21.

 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 

31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 

40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 

49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 

58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66.

The Bible – Old Testament

Isaiah

Index

Int. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 

23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 

34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44.

 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 

56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66.

Chapter 51

1

¹ Thus says the LORD: Where is the bill of divorce with which I dismissed your mother? Or to which of my creditors have I sold you? It was for your sins that you were sold, for your crimes that your mother was dismissed.

2

² Why was no one there when I came? Why did no one answer when I called? Is my hand too short to ransom? Have I not the strength to deliver? Lo, with my rebuke I dry up the sea, I turn rivers into a desert; Their fish rot for lack of water, and die of thirst.

3

I clothe the heavens in mourning, and make sackcloth their vesture.

4

³ The Lord GOD has given me a well-trained tongue, That I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them. Morning after morning he opens my ear that I may hear;

5

⁴ And I have not rebelled, have not turned back.

6

⁵ I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; My face I did not shield from buffets and spitting.

7

The Lord GOD is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.

8

He is near who upholds my right; if anyone wishes to oppose me, let us appear together. Who disputes my right? Let him confront me.

9

See, the Lord GOD is my help; who will prove me wrong? Lo, they will all wear out like cloth, the moth will eat them up.

10

⁶ Who among you fears the LORD, heeds his servant’s voice, And walks in darkness without any light, Trusting in the name of the LORD and relying on his God?

11

All of you kindle flames and carry about you fiery darts; Walk by the light of your own fire and by the flares you have burnt! This is your fate from my hand: you shall lie down in a place of pain.

1 [1] Responding to the people’s complaint of utter abandonment by God, the prophet shows that their sins were responsible for their banishment. Since there was no bill of divorce, the bond between the Lord and his people still exists and he will ultimately save them.

2 [2] Israel’s faith in God is weak; she does not answer his call, nor believe in his promises of deliverance.

3 [4-11] The third of the four “Servant-of-the-Lord” oracles; in ⇒ Isaiah 50:4-9 the Servant speaks; in ⇒ Isaiah 50:10-11 God reproves the people for not following the Servant.

4 [5] The Servant does not refuse the divine vocation.

5 [6] He willingly submits to insults and beatings. Plucked my beard: a grave insult.

6 [10-11] Instead of trusting in the Lord and his Servant, the people rely on their own devices, to their own destruction.

Index

Int. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 

12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21.

 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 

31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 

40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 

49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 

58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66.