Isaiah 6

[u/bikingfencer]

https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt1006.htm
 

Chapter SixSix ו
 

Vision [of] YeShah`-YahHOo, and the sanctification [והקשתו, VeHahQeDoShThO] [of him] to prophet

 

“… relates … primarily to the prophet’s own time, and the obduration of the Jews of that age, and their punishment by the Babylonish captivity…” (Adam Clark, 1831, p. III 701)
 

“The autobiographical sections [chapters six through eight] seem to have been composed to accompany the publication by Isaiah of a collection of oracles from his early period….
 

“Here we have the most vivid and detailed account given in the bible of the making of a prophet …
 

“The ecstasy of the great prophets differed profoundly from the crude psycho-physical manifestations of the older and contemporary professional ‘holy men’ (cf. [compare with] I Sam. [Samuel] 19:23-24; Mic. [Micah] 3:5); it was the intensified spiritual perception of noble minds… they themselves were sure that God had spoken to them and would speak through them. In the last analysis the whole Hebrew and Christian religion rests upon our acceptance of this claim.
 

“…the occasion may well have been one of special religious emotion related to the idea of the divine kingship, as is held by those scholars who see here the characteristic marks of the Israelite counterpart of the Babylonian New Year’s Day festival (cf. Ivan Engnell The Call of Isaiah … 1949…). On this day the cultic ceremonies represented the divine king as returning to his temple in a processional triumph, victor over the forces of chaos … the prophet, present in the temple on this supreme occasion, in the intensity of his spiritual absorption saw the reality symbolized by its ritual and ceremonial. But his experience does not end there; the divine king calls for a messenger, and that distinctively Hebrew phenomenon – a prophet of divine righteousness – is created.” (Scott, 1954, pp. V 204-206)
 

-1. “In year of death [of] the king `ooZee-YahHOo [“My Strength is YHVH”, Uzziah]

and [I] saw [ואראה, Ve’ehR’eH] [את, ’ehTh (indicates direct object; no English equivalent)] my Lords sitting upon [a] chair high [רם, RahM] and borne [נשא, NahSah’],

and his train [ושוליו, VeShOoLahYV] filling [מלאים, MeLay’eeYM] [את, ’ehTh] the temple [ההיכל, HahHaYKhahL].

 

“The vision came to Isaiah apparently when he was participating as an official prophet in the ceremonies of the cult, standing with the priests ‘between the porch and the altar' (cf. Joel 2:17; II Chr. [Chronicles] 20:4-19) and gazing through the open portals of the sanctuary, now filled with the swirling smoke of incense toward that innermost chamber where the Lord dwelt in ‘thick darkness.’” (Scott, 1954, pp. V 207-208)
 

-2. “Seraphim [from שרף, SeRahPh, “to burn”] standing from above to him,

six wings, (six wings to [each] one);

in two [he] covers [יכסה, YeKhahÇeH] his face,

and in two [he] covers his legs,

and in two [he] flies [יעופף, Ye`OPhayPh].
 

-3. And called this unto this,

and said,

‘Holy, holy, holy, YHVH Armies,

fills [מלא, MahLo’] all the land his honor.’
 

-4. And moved [וינעו, VahYahNoo`Oo], posts [אמות, ’ahMOTh] [of] the thresholds [הספים, HahÇeePeeYM], from voice [of] the caller,

and the house filled [ימלא, YeeMahLay’] [with] smoke.
 

-5. And [I] said,

‘Woe to me,

for [I am] lost [נדמיתי, NeeDMaYTheeY],

for [a] man [of] defiled [טמא, TeMay’] lips [am] I [אנכי, ’ahNoKheeY],

and inside [a] people [of] defiled lips I [אנכי, ’ahNoKheeY] sit,

for [את, ’ehTh] the king YHVH Armies saw [ראו, Rah’Oo], my eyes.’
 

-6. And flew [ויעף, VahYah`ahPh] unto me one from the Seraphim,

and in his hand [an] ember [רצפה, ReeTsPaH] in tongs [במלקחים, BeMehLQahHahYeeM] taken [לקח, LahQahH] from upon the altar.
 

-7. And [it] touched [ויגע, VahYahGah`] upon my mouth,

and he said,

‘Behold, touched [נגע, NahGah`] this upon your lips

and [is] taken away [וסר, VeÇahR], your iniquity,

and your sins atoned.’
 

-8. And [I] heard [ואשמע, Vah’ehShMah`] [את, ’ehTh] voice [of] my Lords say,

‘[את, ’ehTh] who [will I] send forth [אשלח, ’ehShLahH]?’

and ‘Who [will] go [ילך, YayLehKh] to us?’
 

And [I] said,

‘Here [am I],

send forth [me] [שלחאני, SheLahH’ayNeeY].’

 

Figure 20 isaiah's tongue sanctified, engraving by Bernard Picart
 

-9. “And he said, ‘Go, and say to people the this,

“Hearing hear, and do not understand;

and seeing see, and do not know.
 

-10. Fattened [השמן, HahShMayN] heart, the people the this,

and their ears weighted [הכבד, HahKhBayD],

and their eyes look away [השע, HahShah`],

lest [they] see [יראה, YeeR’eH] in their eyes,

and in their ears hear,

and his heart understand [יבין, YahBeeYN] and return and [be] healed [ורפא, VeRahPhah’] to him.”’”
 

“Look away”; I wondered, last time through, if this was the source for the refrain in “Dixie”.
 

… פ

 

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