1 In the year that king Ozias died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and elevated: and his train filled the temple.
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VERS. 1.-- *In the year,* etc. Ozias himself is Azarias, etc., *as far as* falling upon his face, he cries out with a loud voice to the Lord. *King Ozias.* The king, namely the leper, who usurped the priesthood. *I saw the Lord.* Christ, namely. The Son was seen in the habit of one reigning; the Holy Spirit spoke, because of the fellowship of majesty and the unity of substance. *Upon a throne high,* etc. He who sees the Lord reigning in the heavenly powers sees him upon a throne high and lifted up, which are the Thrones and the Dominations, etc. Some say that the seraphim are powers in heaven attending upon God and praising him, which are sent upon ministries chiefly to those who have need of purgation, and, for certain sins, in part to punishments. Cherubim, a multitude of knowledge, upon whom the Lord is shown to sit after the manner of a charioteer, whence: *Thou that sittest upon the cherubim,* etc. But the seraphim, apart from this place, I do not remember to have read in the canonical Scriptures. They err therefore who are wont to write in their prayers: Thou that sittest upon the cherubim and seraphim.
2 Upon it stood the seraphims: the one had six wings, and the other had six wings: with two they covered his face, and with two they covered his feet, and with two they flew.
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VERS. 2.-- *They stood.* That is, they stand attending upon God; they fly, showing forth God; they lay bare as it were the middle part; they do not make manifest the things that are veiled; they do not veil the things that are known. *Six wings to one.* Victorinus understands the twelve apostles. But we, the twelve stones of the altar which iron did not touch, and the twelve gems in the diadem of the priest. The angels are said to have wings, because they dwell in the higher places, or because of their swift running to and fro in all things, as the winds also are called winged. *With two they veiled his face.* What things were before these I know not, etc., *as far as* the angels also and the preachers teach nothing thereof; likewise: *They veiled the feet.* What is to be after this world we know not: the middle things, however, which were made in six days or ages, or are made; we know only *With two they veiled,* because we have knowledge of the present alone. My Hebrew has entered by a far other way, etc., *as far as* and then, being truly purged in the lips, I said to the Lord: *Behold I, send me.*
3 And they cried one to another, and said: Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of hosts, all the earth is full of his glory,
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VERS. 3.-- *And they cried.* They do not say it lightly, but pronounce with a cry a confession salutary for all: Holy, holy, holy, because they themselves also, namely the seraphim, are holy: for nothing is holier than these: but they marvel that the Son so humbled himself and underwent the cross, and became known to earthly things. *Holy, holy,* etc. The mystery of the Trinity. In both Testaments the Trinity is preached, the Lord Christ, namely, who here is of four letters, which is set down properly of God: Iod, He, Iod, He; that is, two *ia,* which doubled make the ineffable name of God. *The whole earth is full.* And it shall be filled, etc., *as far as* after two and forty years from the passion of the Lord.
4 And the lintels of the doors were moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
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VERS. 4.-- *The lintels.* In the Old Testament the Lord spoke, etc., *as far as* which taking up we say: *We know in part, and we prophesy in part*.
5 And I said: Woe is me, because I have held my peace; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people that hath unclean lips, and I have seen with my eyes the King the Lord of hosts.
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VERS. 5.-- *Polluted.* This he says because of the fellowship of the people, with whom he was constrained to speak. It is harmful to live with sinners. *I dwell.* Note that one must not tarry with sinners. *And I have seen with my eyes the King, the Lord of hosts: and one flew to me.* So Abraham, after he had seen the Lord and heard his voice, confesses himself to be ashes and dust, because however great the dignity of men may be, it grows cheap in comparison of him.
6 And one of the seraphims flew to me, and in his hand was a live coal, which he had taken with the tongs off the altar.
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VERS. 6.-- *Of the seraphim.* Seraphim with *m* we say in the masculine gender, with *n* in the neuter gender plural. Seraphim, however, can be said in the singular, as cherubim and cherub. *And in his hand.* That is, by his working, that is, of Christ. The coal, that is, charity, which with the tongs, that is, the teaching of the two Testaments, he had taken from the altar, and had set before Isaias for an example. *A coal.* The Seventy: a carbuncle, a fiery stone, which because of its flame-like colour is called igneous. *With tongs.* This is the ladder of Jacob, the sword twice sharpened, etc., *as far as* comprehending the word of God with the double edge of the precepts. *From the altar.* Which John saw in the Apocalypse, which is full of fiery coals, wherewith sins can be purged.
7 And he touched my mouth, and said: Behold this hath touched thy lips, and thy iniquities shall be taken away, and thy sin shall be cleansed.
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VERS. 7.-- *Behold I have touched thy lips:* whence: *What may be given to thee, or what may be added to thee for a deceitful tongue? The sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals that lay waste*. This is the word of God, of which it is said: Thou hast coals of fire, thou shalt sit upon them, these shall be to thee for a help. *And the iniquity shall be taken away.* Jeremias, who was a boy, and therefore almost free from sin, is purged by the touch of a hand alone. But to Isaias, who says: I am a man polluted in the lips, an angel is sent with a coal.
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: Whom shall I send? and who shall go for us? And I said: Lo, here am I, send me.
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VERS. 8.-- *Whom shall I send?* He does not compel, but seeks the will: for the will alone deserves the reward. But Isaias, as one purged, offers himself of his own accord. *Send me.* He thinks that he is to announce good, etc., *as far as* that it was not of rashness but of obedience that he offered himself.
9 And he said: Go, and thou shalt say to this people: Hearing, hear, and understand not: and see the vision, and know it not.
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VERS. 9.-- *Hear ye that hear.* Luke according to the Seventy in the Acts of the Apostles: *With the ear you shall hear, and shall not understand,* etc., *as far as* and he uses Greek testimonies rather than Hebrew.
10 Blind the heart of this people, 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 be converted and I heal them.
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VERS. 10.-- *Blind,* etc. To which is like, etc., *as far as* nor is it cruelty of God, but mercy, the unbelieving being blinded, to enlighten the humble. *And he be converted.* Although the sin be grievous, if anyone be converted, he can be saved: but these, for the greatness of their crime, are unworthy of penance.
11 And I said: How long, O Lord? And he said: Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land shall be left desolate.
12 And the Lord shall remove men far away, and she shall be multiplied that was left in the midst of the earth.
13 And there shall be still a tithing therein, and she shall turn, and shall be made a show as a turpentine tree, and as an oak that spreadeth its branches: that which shall stand therein, shall be a holy seed.
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VERS. 13.-- *And still.* And in place of, that is, still out of that nation a tithing, as if still a tenth part of that nation shall remain. *And it shall be.* Under Hadrian Judaea was laid waste again, in the fiftieth year indeed after the captivity of the Romans. For they were forbidden by public laws to enter Judaea.