Bible Strands
Isaiah 6:8
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” And I said: “Here am I. Send me!”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Lord addresses Isaiah in a temple vision, immediately after Isaiah's sin has been atoned by a coal to his lips (v.7). Isaiah answers.
The words — מִי (mi, "whom?") poses a genuine question, and אֶשְׁלַח ('eshlach, "will I send") uses the same root (shalah) that undergirds every prophetic commissioning in Hebrew Scripture.
The thread — The pattern of grace-then-commission recurs in Paul's Damascus road (Acts 26:16) and his self-description as least of the saints yet called to the Gentiles (Ephesians 3:8); Moses' refusal in Exodus 4:10 stands as the contrast.
Why it lands — The Lord asks a question, not a command, and the answer is a self-offering: "Here am I." It asks the reader to recognize that the call comes after grace, not as a prerequisite for it.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
Cross-references
- Exodus 4:10 “Please, Lord,” Moses replied, “I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since You have spoken to Your servant, for I am slow of speech and tongue.”
- Acts 26:16 ‘But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen from Me and what I will show you.
- Ephesians 3:8 Though I am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
- Acts 22:21 Then He said to me, ‘Go! I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”
- Isaiah 65:1 “I revealed Myself to those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek Me. To a nation that did not call My name, I said, ‘Here I am! Here I am!’
- Matthew 4:20 And at once they left their nets and followed Him.
- Acts 20:24 But I consider my life of no value to me, if only I may finish my course and complete the ministry I have received from the Lord Jesus—the ministry of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
- Deuteronomy 4:33 Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking out of the fire, as you have, and lived?
- Acts 28:25 They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: “The Holy Spirit was right when He spoke to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet:
- Genesis 3:8 Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.