Isaiah Proclaims Holy Judgment and Hope

Isaiah 6:1-13

In the year of the death of Uzziah the king, I saw the Lord sitting on a high and raised throne, and the hem of his robe was filling the temple. Seraphs were standing above him. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And the one called to the other and said, “Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh of hosts! The whole earth is full of his glory.” And the pivots of the thresholds shook from the sound of those who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said, “Woe to me! For I am destroyed! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I am living among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the king, Yahweh of hosts!” Then one of the seraphs flew to me, and in his hand was a hot coal he had taken from the altar with tongs. And he touched my mouth, and he said, “Look! This has touched your lips and has removed your guilt, and your sin is annulled.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “I am here! Send me!” And he said, “Go and say to this people, ‘Keep on listening and do not comprehend! And keep on looking and do not understand!’ Make the heart of this people insensitive, and make its ears unresponsive, and shut its eyes so that it may not look with its eyes and listen with its ears and comprehend with its mind and turn back, and it may be healed for him.” Then I said, “Until when, Lord?” And he said, “Until the cities lie wasted without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is ruined and a waste, and Yahweh sends the people far away, and the abandonment is great in the midst of the land. And even if only a tenth part remain, again she will be destroyed like a terebinth or like an oak, which although felled, a tree stump remains in them. The seed of holiness will be her tree stump.”

LEB via Biblia API

Isaiah 9:1-7

But there will be no gloom for those who were in distress. In former times he treated the land of Zebulun and Naphtali with contempt, but in the future he will honor the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; light has shined on those who lived in a land of darkness. You have made the nation numerous; you have not made the joy great. They rejoice in your presence as with joy at the harvest, as they rejoice when they divide plunder. For you have shattered the yoke of its burden and the stick of its shoulder, the rod of its oppressor, on the day of Midian. For every boot that marches and shakes the earth and garment rolled in blood will be for burning—fire fuel. For a child has been born for us; a son has been given to us. And the dominion will be on his shoulder, and his name is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His dominion will grow continually, and to peace there will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and sustain it with justice and righteousness now and forever. The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will do this.

LEB via Biblia API

Isaiah 53:1-12

Who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed? For he went up like a shoot before him, and like a root from dry ground. He had no form and no majesty that we should see him, and no appearance that we should take pleasure in him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering, and acquainted with sickness, and like one from whom others hide their faces, he was despised, and we did not hold him in high regard. However, he was the one who lifted up our sicknesses, and he carried our pain, yet we ourselves assumed him stricken, struck down by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his wounds we were healed. All of us have wandered about like sheep; we each have turned to his own way; and Yahweh let fall on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was brought like a lamb to the slaughter, and like a sheep is dumb before its shearers, so he did not open his mouth. He was taken by restraint of justice, and who concerned himself with his generation? For he was cut off from the land of the living; he received a blow because of the transgression of my people. He made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet Yahweh was pleased to crush him; he made him sick. If he places his life a guilt offering, he will see offspring. He will prolong days, and the will of Yahweh will succeed in his hand. From the trouble of his life he will see; he will be satisfied. In his knowledge, the righteous one , my servant, shall declare many righteous, and he is the one who will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will divide to him a portion among the many, and with the strong ones he will divide bounty, because he poured his life out to death and was counted with the transgressors; and he was the one who bore the sin of many and will intercede for the transgressors.

LEB via Biblia API