Isaiah 6:5

Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
said	וָאֹמַ֞ר va.'o.Mar	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 1st person common singular
Woe	אֽוֹי 'o-	H188	lamentation · interjection
undone	נִדְמֵ֗יתִי nid.Mei.ti	H1820	to be dumb or silent · verb, niphal perfect, 1st person common singular
man	אִ֤ישׁ 'ish	H376	a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
unclean	טְמֵֽא te.me'-	H2931	foul in a religious sense · adjective, masculine singular construct
lips	שְׂפָתַ֙יִם֙ se.fa.Ta.yim	H8193	the lip (as a natural boundary) · noun, common feminine dual absolute
dwell	יוֹשֵׁ֑ב yo.Shev	H3427	properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
midst	וּבְתוֹךְ֙ u.ve.toKh	H8432	a bisection · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
people	עַם 'am-	H5971	a people (as a congregated unit) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
unclean	טְמֵ֣א te.Me'	H2931	foul in a religious sense · adjective, masculine singular construct
lips	שְׂפָתַ֔יִם se.fa.Ta.yim	H8193	the lip (as a natural boundary) · noun, common feminine dual absolute
eyes	עֵינָֽי 'ei.Nai	H5869	an eye (literally or figuratively) · noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix
seen	רָא֥וּ ra.'U	H7200	to see · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
King	הַמֶּ֛לֶךְ ha.Me.lekh	H4428	a king · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
LORD	יְהוָ֥ה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
hosts	צְבָא֖וֹת tze.va.'ot	H6635	a mass of persons (or figuratively · noun, common feminine plural absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Luke 5:8-9 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
James 3:6-10 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the…
Jeremiah 1:6 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.
Jeremiah 9:3-8 And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to ev…
Matthew 12:34-37 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
Exodus 6:30 And Moses said before the LORD, Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me?
Exodus 4:10 And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow o…
Isaiah 29:13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their he…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 6:5-8

Our curiosity would lead us to enquire further concerning the seraphim, their songs and their services; but here we leave them, and must attend to what passed between God and his prophet. Secret things belong not to us, the secret things of the world of angels, but things revealed to and by the prophets, which concern the administration of God's kingdom among men. Now here we have, I. The consternation that the prophet was put into by the vision which he saw of the glory of God (Isa 6:5): Then said I, Woe is me! I should have said, "Blessed art thou, who hast been thus highly favoured, highly honoured, and dignified, for a time, with the privilege of those glorious beings that always behold…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 6:5

undone-- (Exo 33:20). The same effect was produced on others by the presence of God (Jdg 6:22; Jdg 13:22; Job 42:5-6; Luk 5:8; Rev 1:17). lips--appropriate to the context which describes the praises of the lips, sung in alternate responses (Exo 15:20-21; Isa 6:3) by the seraphim: also appropriate to the office of speaking as the prophet of God, about to be committed to Isaiah (Isa 6:9). seen--not strictly Jehovah Himself (Joh 1:18; Ti1 6:16), but the symbol of His presence. Lord--Hebrew, "JEHOVAH."

John Gill on Isaiah 6:5

Then said I, woe is me,.... There's no woe to a good man, all woes are to the wicked; but a good man may think himself wretched and miserable, partly on account of his own corruptions, the body of sin and death he carries about with him; and partly on account of wicked men, among whom he dwells, Romans 7:24, for I am undone; a good man cannot be undone, or be lost and perish; he is lost in Adam with the rest; in effectual calling he is made sensible of his lost and undone state; and under the power of unbelief may write bitter things against himself; but be can never perish, or be lost and undone for ever. The Targum is, "for I have sinned;'' and his particular sin is after mentioned: som…

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John Calvin

The Church Fathers

We must especially follow the commandments, and signing our lips with the seal of the cross we must pray to the Lord that he may cleanse our mouths, which are disfigured with human foulness.
— Cassiodorus, EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 141:8

Mathois said, 'The nearer a man comes to God, the more he sees himself to be a sinner. Isaiah the prophet saw the Lord and knew himself to be wretched and unclean (Is. 6:5).'
— Desert Fathers, The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks

By "mouth" [or lips] is meant the hidden region of the heart, from which God's praise is efficaciously sung. So he rightly proclaims after the forgiveness of his sin that his lips will be opened and that his mouth can announce the praise of the Lord.
— Cassiodorus, EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 5:17

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Angels — By the word “angels” (i.e. “messengers” of God) we ordinarily understand a race of spiritual beings of a nature exalted far above that of man, although infinitely removed from that of God—whose…
Living creatures — As represented by Ezekiel (1-10) and John (Rev. 4, etc.), are the cherubim. They are distinguished from angels (Rev. 15:7); they join the elders in the “new song” (5:8, 9); they warn of danger from…
Company · EVIL — EVIL
Conviction · OF SIN — OF SIN
Excellency And Glory Of Christ, The · As King — As King
God · .To — .To
Humility · EXEMPLIFIED — EXEMPLIFIED
Ministers · Qualified by God — Qualified by God
Missionary Work By Ministers · God qualifies for — God qualifies for
Remorse · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Speaking · EVIL — EVIL
Visions · Mentioned in scripture: To Isaiah — Mentioned in scripture: To Isaiah

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Isaiah 6:5

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 6:5-8

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 6:5

John Gill on Isaiah 6:5

John Calvin

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Isaiah 6:5

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 6:5-8

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 6:5

John Gill on Isaiah 6:5

John Calvin

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Isaiah 6:5

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Isaiah 6:5

Rashi on Isaiah 6:5