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In Isaiah, the seraphim call out God's holiness to one another. In 3 Enoch, separate groups sing that praise and its response, arranging the heavenly worship as an exchange between choirs.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Isaiah 6:3
Hebrew Bible
1 In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord seated on a high, elevated throne. The hem of his robe filled the temple. 2 Seraphs stood over him; each one had six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and they used the remaining two to fly. 3 They called out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! His majestic splendor fills the entire earth!” 4 The sound of their voices shook the door frames, and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 I said, “Woe to me! I am destroyed, for my lips are contaminated by sin, and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. My eyes have seen the king, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”
3 Enoch 35:4
Hebrew Book of Enoch
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
And some of them utter the "Holy" and others utter the "Blessed", some of them run as messengers, others are standing in attendance, according as it is written (Dan. vii. 10): "Thousand thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set and the books were opened". And in the hour, when the time draws near to say the "Holy", (then) first there goes forth a whirlwind from before the Holy One, blessed be He, and bursts upon the camp of Shekina and there arises a great commotion among them, as it is written (Jer. xxx. 23): "Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord goes forth with fury, a continuing commotion".
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Notes and References
“... This interpretation of the Qedushah as a call and response finds support in
3 Enoch chapters 34.2 and 35.4, where angels are grouped into “those who say
‘Holy’” and “those who say ‘Blessed’”. Similarly in 3 Enoch 39 the ministering
angels recite the “Holy”, and many other groups of named angels fall prostrate
and respond “Blessed be the name of his glorious kingdom for ever and ever.”13
This is a liturgical response which in present-day synagogue liturgy answers the
reciting of the Shema.14 Ezek 3.12 is given in the parallel passage 3 Enoch 48B
2, and also in 3 Enoch 1.12:
And when I opened my mouth and sang praises before the throne of glory the holy crea-
tures below the throne of glory and above the throne responded after me, saying, Holy,
holy, holy, and, Blessed be the glory of the Lord in his dwelling place.
Note that here too the context is that of a responsorial liturgy. ...”
Tuschling, R.M.M.
Angels and Orthodoxy: A Study in Their Development in Syria and Palestine from the Qumran Texts to Ephrem the Syrian
(p. 180) Mohr Siebeck, 2012
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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