8. Then I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom can I send? Who will go for us?”So I said, “Here I am. Send me!”
9. Then the Lord said, “Go and tell this to the people:‘You will listen and listen, but you will not understand.You will look and look, but you will not learn.’
10. Make the minds of these people dumb.Shut their ears. Cover their eyes.Otherwise, they might really understandwhat they see with their eyesand hear with their ears.They might really understand in their mindsand come back to me and be healed.”
11. Then I asked, “Lord, how long should I do this?”He answered,“Until the cities are destroyedand the people are gone,until there are no people left in the houses,until the land is destroyed and left empty.
12. The Lord will send the people far away,and the land will be left empty.
13. One-tenth of the people will be left in the land,but it will be destroyed again.These people will be like an oak treewhose stump is left when the tree is chopped down.The people who remain will be like a stump that will sprout again.”