6.8
The Book of Isaiah 6.8 · Whom shall I send?6.8Whom shall I send?
With his guilt dealt with, Isaiah hears the Lord speak. He answers at once.
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וָאֶשְׁמַע1
wā-ʾešmaʿ
And I heard
אֶת־2
ʾeṯ-
mark of the accusative
קוֹל3
qôl
the voice of
אֲדֹנָי4
ʾăḏōnāy
the Lordmy lords
אֹמֵר5
ʾōmēr
saying
, אֶת־6
ʾeṯ-
mark of the accusative
מִי7
mî
whomwho
אֶשְׁלַח8
ʾešlaḥ
shall I sendI will send
, וּמִי9
û-mî
and who
יֵלֶךְ־10
yēlēḵ-
will go
לָנוּ11
lānû
for us
וָאֹמַר12
wā-ʾōmar
And I said
, הִנְנִי13
hinənî
Here I ambehold me
. שְׁלָחֵנִי׃14
šəlāḥēnî
Send me
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here I am. Send me.”
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here I am. Send me.”
↔ echoes in other books:·
6.9
The Book of Isaiah 6.9 · Go and say to this people6.9Go and say to this people
The Lord answers Isaiah's offer with a strange commission. He is to speak to the people, and they will hear without taking it in.
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And he said, “Go, and say to this people: Keep listening, but do not understand; and keep looking but do not perceive.”
↔ echoes in other books:··
“Who will go for us?” The plural has puzzled readers for centuries. The likeliest picture is a royal council: the king asks his court, as YHWH asks the host of heaven in 1 Kings 22:19–22, where a spirit steps forward to volunteer. Here a human steps forward. The older Canaanite poems from Ugarit picture El presiding over an assembly of the gods in just this way.
Hinənî, “here I am”, is the answer Abraham gives (hinnēnî, Genesis 22:1) and Samuel gives as a boy in the night (1 Samuel 3:4). It is a word of readiness, not of location.