This page gives you ready-to-use Bible study questions for Isaiah 6, with a leader’s answer or discussion note for each one. It is written for a small group, a Sunday class, or personal study. Use the questions in order, or pick the set that fits your time.
Isaiah 6 at a Glance
Isaiah 6 records a vision the prophet receives in the year King Uzziah died. He sees the Lord enthroned in the temple, surrounded by seraphim who call out that God is holy. Isaiah is overwhelmed by his own uncleanness, and one of the seraphim touches his lips with a live coal, declaring his guilt removed.
The chapter then turns to commission. The Lord asks who will go for him, Isaiah volunteers, and he receives a hard message that the people will hear without understanding. Isaiah asks how long this will last, and the answer points to judgment followed by a surviving holy seed.
Observation Questions
Begin here to slow the group down and anchor everyone in what the text actually says before anyone offers meaning. Read the chapter aloud once, then let people answer from the text rather than from memory or commentary.
Isaiah 6:1-3
1 In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew. 3 One called to another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!”
(WEB)
Reading the opening vision aloud sets the scale of the chapter. The throne, the temple and the seraphim’s cry establish God’s holiness before any human response appears. Let the room hear the threefold holy before moving on.
Isaiah 6:5
Then I said, “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Armies!”
(WEB)
This verse gives Isaiah’s honest confession and is central to the whole discussion. Reading it aloud allows the group to hear the raw honesty of his words. It also prepares the room for the cleansing that follows.
Isaiah 6:6-7
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. 7 He touched my mouth with it, and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven.”
(WEB)
These verses describe the coal, the touch and the declaration of forgiveness in a short, vivid sequence. Hearing them together helps the group see the concrete way grace reaches Isaiah. Pause after the last line so the word forgiven can settle.
Isaiah 6:8
I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!”
(WEB)
The Lord’s question and Isaiah’s reply form the hinge of the chapter from cleansing to calling. Reading it aloud invites the group to consider their own readiness to answer. Give time for people to reflect on what they would say.
Isaiah 6:13
If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remains when they are felled; so the holy seed is its stock.”
(WEB)
Ending on the holy seed gives the chapter a note of hope after a heavy message. Reading this verse last lets the group leave with a sense of continuity and promise. It is a good place to close the reading before prayer.
Memory Verse for Isaiah 6
A Closing Prayer for the Group
Father, we come before you as Isaiah did, aware of your holiness and honest about our own unclean lips. We thank you that you take away guilt and forgive sin, and we ask that you would cleanse the words we speak this week. Make us ready to answer when you call, and give us the courage to say, here we are. Keep us steady when our work seems slow, trusting that you preserve a holy seed even in hard seasons. Hold each person in this room, and help us to carry what we have learned into our homes and our days. Amen.
