Isaiah 6

Isaiah 6
The Great Isaiah Scroll, the best preserved of the biblical scrolls found at Qumran dated c. 100–340 BCE, contains all the verses in this chapter.
BookBook of Isaiah
Hebrew Bible partNevi'im
Order in the Hebrew part5
CategoryLatter Prophets
Christian Bible partOld Testament
Order in the Christian part23

Isaiah 6 is the sixth chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. The Jerusalem Bible refers to Isaiah 6-12 as Isaiah's Book of Immanuel. This chapter records the calling of Isaiah to be the messenger of God to the people of Israel.

Text

The original text was written in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 13 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916), Aleppo Codex (10th century), Codex Leningradensis (1008).

Fragments containing parts of this chapter were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls (3rd century BCE or later):

  • 1QIsaa: complete
  • 4QIsaa (4Q55): extant: verses 4–7
  • 4QIsaf (4Q60): extant: verses 3–8, 10–13

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; 𝔊B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: 𝔊S; 4th century), Codex Alexandrinus (A; 𝔊A; 5th century) and Codex Marchalianus (Q; 𝔊Q; 6th century).

Old Testament references

New Testament references

Parashot

In Jewish prayer, the entire Isaiah 6 is part of the Haftara on the Shabbat when the parasha of Yitro, which includes the Ten Commandments, is read from the Torah scroll.

Isaiah's vision of the Lord (6:1–7)

Verse 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.

The date of the death of Uzziah has been estimated as around 740 BCE. Archaeologist William F. Albright dated Uzziah's reign to 783–742 BCE.

Verse 2

Depiction of a Seraph
Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
  • "Seraphim": described here as the 'messengers in the divine council', but has no real biblical parallel. The root word ś-r-p, for Seraph, gives a portrayal of the 'burning ones'.

Verse 3

And one called to another and said:
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!"

This verse is repeated several times in daily Jewish services, including the Kedushah prayer during the repetition of the Amidah, and is part of the Sanctus in Christian Eucharistic Prayer.

Verse 5

Then said I, 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 mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.
  • The verb rendered “I am undone” (nidmeti) is ambiguous. J. J. M. Roberts argues that Isaiah is deliberately exploiting a double meaning, since the word can signify both “I am destroyed” and “I am silenced,” and the passage’s repeated emphasis on lips, ending with the seraph touching Isaiah’s lips with a coal before his commission, supports hearing both senses at once.

Isaiah's commission from the Lord (6:8–13)

Verse 8

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying,
Whom shall I send,
and who will go for us?
Then said I,
Here am I; send me.
  • "Us": the plural form refers to 'the entire divine assembly'.
  • "Here am I; send me": This declaration is remarkable because it is in contrast to the despair Isaiah expresses in verse 5 and for the observation that his human voice is heard in the heavenly court (cf. 1 Kings 22:19–23; Revelation 5:1–14). The Jerusalem Bible notes Abraham and Isaiah as examples of biblical characters who readily respond, and contrasts them with Moses and Jeremiah, whose response is hesitant.

Verse 13

"But yet a tenth will be in it,
And will return and be for consuming,
As a terebinth tree or as an oak,
Whose stump remains when it is cut down.
So the holy seed shall be its stump."

Cross reference: Isaiah 4:2; Isaiah 11:1; Isaiah 53:2; Jeremiah 23:5

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Theodore Hiebert, et al. 1996. The New Interpreter's Bible: Volume VI. Nashville: Abingdon.[ISBN missing][page needed]
  2. ↑ Jerusalem Bible (1966), section heading and footnote a at Isaiah 6:1, London: Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd and Doubleday and Co. Inc.
  3. ↑ Kidner 1994, p. 637.
  4. ↑ Würthwein 1995, pp. 35–37.
  5. ↑ Isaiah Chapter 6 begins in the fifth column of the scroll (counting from the right), nine lines from the bottom, and continues into column six.
  6. ↑ Würthwein 1995, pp. 73–74.
  7. ↑ Alexander, Loveday (2007). "62. Acts". In Barton, John; Muddiman, John (eds.). The Oxford Bible Commentary (first (paperback) ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 1061. ISBN 978-0199277186. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  8. ↑ Isaiah 6:1 NKJV
  9. ↑ Thiele, Edwin R. (1983). The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings (3rd ed.). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan. p. 217. ISBN 978-0-310-36010-0.
  10. ↑ Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges on Isaiah 6, accessed 11 March 2018
  11. ↑ Albright, William F. (1945). "The Chronology of the Divided Monarchy of Israel". Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. No. 100 (December 1945), pp. 16–22.
  12. ↑ Isaiah 6:2 ESV
  13. 1 2 3 Coggins 2007, p. 443.
  14. ↑ Isaiah 6:3 ESV
  15. ↑ Isaiah 6:5 KJV
  16. ↑ Roberts, J. J. M. (1992). "Double Entendre in First Isaiah". The Catholic Biblical Quarterly. 54 (1): 44–46.
  17. ↑ Isaiah 6:8 KJV
  18. ↑ Coogan 2007, p. 987 Hebrew Bible.
  19. ↑ Kidner 1994, p. 638.
  20. ↑ Jerusalem Bible (1966), footnote k at Isaiah 6:9
  21. ↑ Isaiah 6:13 NKJV

Sources

Jewish

Christian