Scripture Readings

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Isaiah 6:1-12 (Vespers, 2nd reading)

1
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.
2
Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
3
And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!”
4
And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
5
So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because 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 live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar.
7
And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.”
8
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
9
And He said, “Go, and tell 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 shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed.”
11
Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered: “Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, the houses are without a man, the land is utterly desolate,
12
The Lord has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.