When Isaiah saw the Holy God of Israel, he cried out, “Woe is me! I am ruined.” The word translated “ruined” is translated elsewhere in Isaiah as “destroyed” (Isa 15:1). It has this same meaning four times in Hosea. Zephaniah speaks of all the merchants who will be “wiped out” (Zeph 1:11). The psalmist speaks of the beasts that “perish” (Ps 49:12, 20). In other words, Isaiah knew that a sinful person like him would be utterly destroyed in the presence of a holy God.
This corresponds with the response of the Israelites when they heard the voice of God at Mount Sinai. They trembled with fear and begged Moses to ask God to speak to him only, for otherwise “we will die” (Exod 20:19; cf. Deut 5:25).
This sense of Isaiah’s response that he would die is not always communicated well in the translations. The venerable King James has “I am undone,” which works but is not a familiar phrase to a modern audience. The NRSV and ESV have “I am lost,” which seems a poor choice. “I am ruined” is a common translation these days (NASB, HCSB, NIV). I like the CEV’s “I am doomed.” But the NET may be the best here: “I am destroyed.” Sadly, however, they blow it on the previous phrase. Whereas the traditional reading is “Woe is me!,” the NET has “Too bad for me!” Yes, it is too bad, but that hardly captures Isaiah’s utter despair.
Thanks Todd. I was wondering about this recently and thinking about how wimpy many of the translations are!