coal in his hand,
which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: and he touched
my mouth with it, and said, "Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine
iniquity is taken away, and thy sin forgiven."

And 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."

And he said, "Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand
not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this
people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with
their heart, and turn again, and be healed."

Then said I, "Lord, how long?"

{266}

And he answered, "Until cities be waste without inhabitant, and houses
without man, and the land become utterly waste, and the Lord have
removed men far away, and the forsaken places be many in the midst of
the land."

II

ISAIAH'S FIRST PUBLIC SERVICE

(Soon after, two kings from the North threatened to make war against
Judah. The king of Judah was frightened. Isaiah tried to encourage
him, and persuade him to trust God, but in vain. The king was a
coward, and dared neither fight nor trust God, but instead he sent to
the far-away land of Assyria for help.

This is the way in which Isaiah tried to encourage the timid king:)--

And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of
Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son
of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war against it;
but could not prevail against it. And it was told the house of David,
saying, "Syria is confederate with Ephraim."

And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of
the forest are moved with the wind.

Then said the Lord unto Isaiah, "Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and
Shear-jashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, in
the high way of the fuller's field; and say unto him, Take heed, and
be quiet; fear not, neither let thine heart be faint, because of these
two tails of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and
Syria, and of the son of Remaliah. Because Syria hath {267} counselled
evil against thee, Ephraim also, and the son of Remaliah, saying, Let
us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein
for us, and set up a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeel:
thus saith the Lord God, It shall not stand, neither shall