8Then 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!”

9He said, “Go, and tell this people:
         ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive;
         Keep on looking, but do not understand.’

10“Render the hearts of this people insensitive,
         Their ears dull,
         And their eyes dim,
         Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
         Hear with their ears,
         Understand with their hearts,
         And return and be healed.”

11Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered,
         “Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant,
         Houses are without people
         And the land is utterly desolate,

12“The LORD has removed men far away,
         And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.

13“Yet there will be a tenth portion in it,
         And it will again be subject to burning,
         Like a terebinth or an oak
         Whose stump remains when it is felled.
         The holy seed is its stump.”

NASB ©1995