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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 3 Enoch 1:12

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

In Isaiah, the prophet hears angels praise God in heavenly worship. In 3 Enoch, the angels answer Ishmael’s song with the same praise as he now participates in the same heavenly liturgy.

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

3 Enoch 1:12

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Hebrew Book of Enoch
11 After one hour (had passed) the Holy One, blessed be He, opened to me the gates of Shekina, the gates of Peace, the gates of Wisdom, the gates of Strength, the gates of Power, the gates of Speech (Dibbur), the gates of Song, the gates of Qedushsha, the gates of Chant. 12 And he enlightened my eyes and my heart by words of psalm, song, praise, exaltation, thanksgiving, extolment, glorification, hymn and eulogy. And as I opened my mouth, uttering a song before the Holy One, blessed be He, the Holy Chayyoth beneath and above the Throne of Glory answered and said: "HOLY" and "BLESSED BE THE GLORY OF YHWH FROM HIS PLACE!" (i.e. chanted the Qedushsha).
400–600 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 3 Enoch

References

“... The description of the angels and their heavenly praise for the most part is an end in itself, man is not present therein. However, based on the narrative frame and the constantly repeated opening formula: "R. Yishmaangel Metatron, the Prince of the Countenance, said to me," the entire macroform is shown to be a revelation of Metatron to R. Yishma•el, who for his part has as- cended to heaven. At the beginning it is stated explicitly that R. Yishmaholy creatures joining in with the trishagion' of Isaiah 6:3 and the "Blessed be the glory of the Lord in his place" (Ezekiel 3:12).48 Therefore, there can be no doubt that in 3 Enoch as well the praise of the angels in heaven serves as the model for earthly praise, even though the connection is less direct than in other texts and deter- mined mostly by the narrative frame. ...”
Peter Schäfer, The Hidden and Manifest God: Some Major Themes in Early Jewish Mysticism, trans. Aubrey Pomerance (Albany, NY: State University of New York, 1992), 132.

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 3 Enoch 1:12

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