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.

ISAIAH 6:5KJV
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Isaiah 6:5 (KJV)

What does Isaiah 6:5 mean?

Isaiah 6:5 describes Isaiah’s alarm when he sees the LORD as King. Isaiah recognizes that his own speech, and the speech of the people among whom he lives, is unclean. Faced with this sight, he fears that he is ruined.

Isaiah speaks after the room fills with smoke in verse 4. His focus on “lips” points to speech as the place where he recognizes uncleanness. He includes himself before speaking about the people around him.

The Hebrew behind Isaiah 6:5

  • “undone” — דָּמָה (damah): Here the word is often understood as being ruined or brought to an end. Isaiah’s cry expresses a fear of destruction, not just embarrassment.
  • “unclean” — טָמֵא (tameʾ): The word describes something considered impure or unfit for sacred use. Applied to lips, it gives Isaiah’s concern about speech a solemn force.
  • “hosts” — צָבָא (tsavaʾ): The word can mean an army or an organized company. In “LORD of hosts,” it pictures the LORD as ruler over vast forces.

Why Isaiah 6:5 matters

  • Isaiah places himself among the people whose speech he describes. He says, “I am a man of unclean lips,” and then identifies the people in the same terms.
  • The LORD’s royal authority is central to Isaiah’s fear. Isaiah calls the one he has seen “the King, the LORD of hosts,” linking his cry to the sight of a ruler of immense power.
  • Isaiah’s lips remain important in the verses that follow. A burning coal touches his mouth in verse 7, before he answers the LORD’s call to speak in verse 8.

Where else these words appear

“undone” Hebrew H1820 · used in 14 verses

  • Psalms 49:12 Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.
  • Jeremiah 14:17 Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow.
  • Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

“Woe” Hebrew H188 · used in 23 verses

  • Numbers 21:29 Woe to thee, Moab! thou art undone, O people of Chemosh: he hath given his sons that escaped, and his daughters, into captivity unto Sihon king of the Amorites.
  • Isaiah 24:16 From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.
  • Jeremiah 45:3 Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the LORD hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.

“unclean” Hebrew H2931 · used in 78 verses

  • Leviticus 5:2 Or if a soul touch any unclean thing, whether it be a carcase of an unclean beast, or a carcase of unclean cattle, or the carcase of unclean creeping things, and if it be hidden from him; he also shall be unclean, and guilty.
  • Leviticus 14:40 Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city:
  • Deuteronomy 14:7 Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the cloven hoof; as the camel, and the hare, and the coney: for they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof; therefore they are unclean unto you.