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Isaiah

About this book
Chapter 6

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.” 6 But then one of the seraphs flew toward me. In his hand was a hot coal he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said, “Look, this coal has touched your lips. Your evil is removed; your sin is forgiven.” 8 I heard the voice of the Lord say, “Whom will I send? Who will go on our behalf?”⁠ I answered, “Here I am, send me!” 9 He said, “Go and tell these people:⁠ “‘Listen continually, but don’t understand. Look continually, but don’t perceive.’⁠ 10 Make the hearts of these people calloused; make their ears deaf and their eyes blind.⁠ Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, their hearts might understand and they might repent and be healed.”⁠ 11 I replied, “How long, Lord?” He said, “Until cities are in ruins and unpopulated, and houses are uninhabited, and the land is ruined and devastated, 12 and the Lord has sent the people off to a distant place, and the very heart of the land is completely abandoned. 13 Even if only a tenth of the people remain in the land, it will again be destroyed, like one of the large sacred trees or an Asherah pole, when a sacred pillar on a high place is thrown down. That sacred pillar symbolizes the special chosen family.”⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 6:3 and 1 Enoch 39:12

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

In 1 Enoch, heavenly beings proclaim holiness using language that parallels Isaiah’s vision of seraphs in the temple, suggesting that the prophetic scene of Isaiah was adapted into later Jewish apocalyptic traditions and liturgical settings.

Passages

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.”
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

1 Enoch 39:12

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
10 For a long time my eyes gazed on that place, and I blessed Him and praised Him, saying: 'Blessed is He, and may He be blessed from the beginning and forever. 11 Before Him there is no ceasing. He knows, before the world was created, what is forever and what will be from generation to generation. 12 Those who never sleep bless You; they stand before Your glory and bless and praise and exalt You, saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Spirits; He fills the earth with spirits."' 13 Here my eyes saw all those who never sleep; they stand before Him and bless and say: 'You are blessed, and blessed be the name of the Lord forever and ever.' 14 Then my face was changed, for I could no longer look on it.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

References

"... Although verse 12 is a paraphrase of Isaiah 6:3, it is likely that these lines and their context reflect contemporary Jewish liturgy. The verb 'bless' which frames the lines (verses 12, 13) and the baruk formula in verse 13 parallel the juxtaposition of Isaiah 6:3 and Ezekiel 3:12 in two insertions in the early Jewish liturgy ..."
George W. E. Nickelsburg, A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 37-82 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012), 128.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Isaiah 6:3 and 1 Enoch 39:12

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