First Upload: Wednesday March 13, 2019
Last Modified: Thursday September 9, 2021
Author: Eduardo Freire Canosa
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1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
3 And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory."
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty."
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.
7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
9 He said, "Go and tell this people: " 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'
10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed."
11 Then I said, "For how long, O Lord?" And he answered: "Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged,
12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken.
13 And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land."
The canonical text leaves the impression that the Lord is a despot bent on dulling the minds of a presumably innocent people so they will not understand his message and never get healed.
The revised chapter projects a kinder portrait. The Lord longs to be gracious to his people, he rises to show them compassion, but their guides circumscribe his message to a list of rules. Meanwhile the people, reliant on oppression and deceit, hang on to their idols.
The Lord holds out the prospect that he will bring forth a remnant after he consigns Jacob to destruction and Israel to scorn. The remnant will become his chosen people. They will inherit his land, be his servants and eat, drink, rejoice and sing out of the joy of their hearts.
Revised Chapter 6 retains the whole canonical chapter, imports fifty-six more verses from fourteen chapters and dons the title, "The Vision of The Lord."
Three imported verses, 43:28, 65:2 and 65:8, bridge the canonical and revised text. The cross-overs are subtle and compelling.
Several configurations were attempted before opting for the final sequence of paragraphs and the following flowchart, starting with the seventh paragraph,
Paragraph 6 is where the Lord instructs Isaiah to go and tell this people: "Be ever hearing, but never understanding."
Paragraph 7 which opens with the sentence, "All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people," explains why the disheartening instruction was given.
Paragraph 8 which opens with the sentence, "No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity," elaborates and puts the final touches on a dour portrait of the people.
Paragraph 9 which opens with the sentence, "Those who guide this people mislead them, and those who are guided are led astray," lambasts Israel's watchmen, the priests and the prophets, for adhering to the letter of the law rather than embracing its spirit.
Paragraph 10, "Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" reiterates the persistent rejection of the above message by "this people."
Paragraph 11 which opens with the sentence, "Go now, write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll," sums up the charges against the unfaithful house of Jacob.
Paragraph 12 hands down the Lord's verdict, "So I will disgrace the dignitaries of your temple, and I will consign Jacob to destruction and Israel to scorn."
Paragraph 13 returns the reader to the canonical text, "Then I said, 'For how long, O Lord?'" The context of the question has changed drastically. In the canonical chapter Isaiah asks for how long must he make the heart of this people calloused. And the Lord answers, "Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant...and the land is utterly forsaken," which of course did not take place because Isaiah son of Amoz died long before the exile to Babylon. In the revised chapter Isaiah asks for how long will the Lord consign Jacob to destruction and Israel to scorn. And the Lord answers, "Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant...and the land is utterly forsaken," which of course happened twice, with the ruin of Jerusalem by Babylon and with the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome.
Paragraph 14 ends on a hopeful note, "so the holy seed will be the stump in the land."
Paragraph 15 elaborates, "As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes...so will I do in behalf of my servants; I will not destroy them all." The paragraph separates the "good grapes" from the "bad grapes" and prescribes the destiny awaiting both.
On paragraph 16 the Lord reiterates the separation of his servants from the wicked.
On paragraph 17 the Lord proclaims a covenant with the remnant. The covenant is also a compliment intended to console Isaiah son of Amoz.
On paragraph 18 he refuses the Lord's comfort, "Turn away from me; let me weep bitterly. Do not try to console me over the destruction of my people."
1:1. The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
7:21-22. In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two goats. 22 And because of the abundance of the milk they give, he will have curds to eat. All who remain in the land will eat curds and honey
9:16. Those who guide this people mislead them, and those who are guided are led astray.
22:4. Therefore I said, "Turn away from me; let me weep bitterly. Do not try to console me over the destruction of my people."
28:9-13. "Who is it he is trying to teach? To whom is he explaining his message? To children weaned from their milk, to those just taken from the breast? 10 For it is: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there." 11 Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people, 12 to whom he said, "This is the resting place, let the weary rest" and "This is the place of repose"—but they would not listen. 13 So then, the word of the Lord to them will become: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there—so that they will go and fall backward, be injured and snared and captured.
30:8-14. Go now, write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may be an everlasting witness. 9 These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord's instruction. 10 They say to the seers, "See no more visions!" and to the prophets, "Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. 11 Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!" 12 Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says: "Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit, 13 this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly, in an instant. 14 It will break in pieces like pottery, shattered so mercilessly that among its pieces not a fragment will be found for taking coals from a hearth or scooping water out of a cistern."
30:18-24. Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! 19 O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. 20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." 22 Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, "Away with you!" 23 He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows. 24 The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel.
30:26. The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the Lord binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.
30:29. And you will sing as on the night you celebrate a holy festival; your hearts will rejoice as when people go up with flutes to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
31:7. For in that day every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold your sinful hands have made.
32:20. How blessed you will be, sowing your seed by every stream, and letting your cattle and donkeys range free.
33:20-22. Look upon Zion, the city of our festivals; your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved; its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken. 21 There the Lord will be our Mighty One. It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams. No galley with oars will ride them, no mighty ship will sail them. 22 For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; it is he who will save us.
43:28. So I will disgrace the dignitaries of your temple, and I will consign Jacob to destruction and Israel to scorn.
53:1. Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
56:10-12. Israel's watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they lie around and dream, they love to sleep. 11 They are dogs with mighty appetites; they never have enough. They are shepherds who lack understanding; they all turn to their own way, each seeks his own gain. 12 "Come," each one cries, "let me get wine! Let us drink our fill of beer! And tomorrow will be like today, or even far better."
59:4-8. No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments and speak lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil. 5 They hatch the eggs of vipers and spin a spider's web. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and when one is broken, an adder is hatched. 6 Their cobwebs are useless for clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are evil deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands. 7 Their feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are evil thoughts; ruin and destruction mark their ways. 8 The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks in them will know peace.
59:21. "As for me, this is my covenant with them," says the Lord. "My Spirit, who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of their descendants from this time on and forever," says the Lord.
65:2-7. All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations— 3 a people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick; 4 who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil; who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of unclean meat; 5 who say, 'Keep away; don't come near me, for I am too sacred for you!' Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day. 6 "See, it stands written before me: I will not keep silent but will pay back in full; I will pay it back into their laps— 7 both your sins and the sins of your fathers," says the Lord. "Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains and defied me on the hills, I will measure into their laps the full payment for their former deeds."
65:8-15. This is what the Lord says: "As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and men say, 'Don't destroy it, there is yet some good in it,' so will I do in behalf of my servants; I will not destroy them all. 9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah those who will possess my mountains; my chosen people will inherit them, and there will my servants live. 10 Sharon will become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds, for my people who seek me. 11 "But as for you who forsake the Lord and forget my holy mountain, who spread a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny, 12 I will destine you for the sword, and you will all bend down for the slaughter; for I called but you did not answer, I spoke but you did not listen. You did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me." 13 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: "My servants will eat, but you will go hungry; my servants will drink, but you will go thirsty; my servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame. 14 My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts, but you will cry out from anguish of heart and wail in brokenness of spirit. 15 You will leave your name to my chosen ones as a curse; the Sovereign Lord will put you to death, but to his servants he will give another name.
1:1 The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty."
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
9 He said, "Go and tell this people: 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.' 10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.
65:2 "All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations— 65:3 a people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick; 65:4 who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil; who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of unclean meat; 65:5 who say, 'Keep away; don't come near me, for I am too sacred for you!' Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day.
59:4 "No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments and speak lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil. 59:5 They hatch the eggs of vipers and spin a spider's web. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and when one is broken, an adder is hatched. 59:6 Their cobwebs are useless for clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are evil deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands. 59:7 Their feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are evil thoughts; ruin and destruction mark their ways. 59:8 The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks in them will know peace.
9:16 "Those who guide this people mislead them, and those who are guided are led astray. 56:10 Israel's watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they lie around and dream, they love to sleep. 56:11 They are dogs with mighty appetites; they never have enough. They are shepherds who lack understanding; they all turn to their own way, each seeks his own gain. 56:12 'Come,' each one cries, 'let me get wine! Let us drink our fill of beer! And tomorrow will be like today, or even far better.' 28:9 Who is it he is trying to teach? To whom is he explaining his message? To children weaned from their milk, to those just taken from the breast? 28:10 For it is: 'Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there.' 28:11 Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people, 28:12 to whom he said, 'This is the resting place, let the weary rest' and 'This is the place of repose'—but they would not listen. 28:13 So then, the word of the Lord to them will become: 'Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there,' so that they will go and fall backward, be injured and snared and captured.
53:1 "Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
30:8 "Go now, write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may be an everlasting witness. 30:9 These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord's instruction. 30:10 They say to the seers, 'See no more visions!' and to the prophets, 'Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. 30:11 Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!' 30:12 Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: 'Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit, 30:13 this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly, in an instant. 30:14 It will break in pieces like pottery, shattered so mercilessly that among its pieces not a fragment will be found for taking coals from a hearth or scooping water out of a cistern.'
65:6 "See, it stands written before me: 'I will not keep silent but will pay back in full; I will pay it back into their laps— 65:7 both your sins and the sins of your fathers, says the Lord.' Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains and defied me on the hills, I will measure into their laps the full payment for their former deeds. 43:28 So I will disgrace the dignitaries of your temple, and I will consign Jacob to destruction and Israel to scorn."
11 Then I said, "For how long, O Lord?"
And he answered: "Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, 12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. 13 And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.
65:8 "This is what the Lord says: As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and men say, 'Don't destroy it, there is yet some good in it,' so will I do in behalf of my servants; I will not destroy them all. 65:9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob and from Judah, those who will possess my mountains; my chosen people will inherit them, and there will my servants live. 65:10 Sharon will become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds, for my people who seek me. 65:11 But as for you who forsake the Lord and forget my holy mountain, who spread a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny, 65:12 I will destine you for the sword, and you will all bend down for the slaughter; for I called but you did not answer, I spoke but you did not listen. You did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.
65:13 "Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: My servants will eat, but you will go hungry; my servants will drink, but you will go thirsty; my servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame. 65:14 My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts, but you will cry out from anguish of heart and wail in brokenness of spirit. 65:15 You will leave your name to my chosen ones as a curse; the Sovereign Lord will put you to death, but to his servants he will give another name.
7:21 "In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two goats. 7:22 And because of the abundance of the milk they give, he will have curds to eat. All who remain in the land will eat curds and honey. 59:21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord. My Spirit, who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of their descendants from this time on and forever, says the Lord."
22:4 Therefore I said, "Turn away from me; let me weep bitterly. Do not try to console me over the destruction of my people."
30:18 Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! 30:19 O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. 31:7 For in that day every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold your sinful hands have made.
30:20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 30:21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." 30:22 Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, "Away with you!"
30:23 He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows. 30:24 The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel. 32:20 How blessed you will be, sowing your seed by every stream, and letting your cattle and donkeys range free.
33:20 Look upon Zion, the city of our festivals; your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved; its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken. 33:21 There the Lord will be our Mighty One. It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams. No galley with oars will ride them, no mighty ship will sail them. 33:22 For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; it is he who will save us.
30:26 The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the Lord binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted. 30:29 And you will sing as on the night you celebrate a holy festival; your hearts will rejoice as when people go up with flutes to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
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