Then I said, “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 my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!”
5. Wo to me! for I am undone. The Prophet now relates how powerfully he was affected by that vision; namely that he was so terrified by seeing God; that he expected immediate destruction. He assigns the reason for believing that it is all over with him; because, says he, I am a man of unclean lips I wonder why Jerome renders it, because I...
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).
Isaiah cried out in terror not because he was blessed but because he stood guilty. A man of unclean lips cannot endure the presence of the Holy King without knowing himself undone, and he rightly trembled at the justice of God.
AI summary
Commenting on Isaiah 6:5-8