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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 26:8

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

In Isaiah, the six-winged seraphim continually praise God around his throne. In 3 Enoch, the angel Seraphiel teaches those angels their songs, organizing the image of the 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 26:8

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Hebrew Book of Enoch
8 The name of that prince is SERAPHIEL H'. And the crown on his head, its name is "the Prince of Peace". And why is he called by the name of SERAPHIEL? Because he is appointed over the Seraphim. And the flaming Seraphim are given in his charge. And he presides over them by day and by night and teaches them song, praise, proclamation of beauty, might and majesty; that they may proclaim the beauty of their King in all manner of Praise and Sanctification (Qedushsha). 9 How many are the Seraphim? Four, corresponding to the four winds of the world. And how many wings have they each one of them? Six, corresponding to the six days of Creation. And how many faces have they? Each one of them four faces.
400–600 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 3 Enoch

References

“... 1. Theophanies: The visions of the Merkabah in Ezekiel 1; 3:12-15, 22-24; 8:1-4; 10:1-22; and 43:1-7 were their basic texts. These provided them with such fundamental elements as the Merkabah (3En 1:1, 5-7); the wheels (ophanim; 3En 25); the four creatures (hayyot; 3En 20f.); the throne of glory (3En 1:10,12); the hasmal (3En 36:2,7); the cherubim (3En 22). Daniel 7:9-10 and Isaiah 6 were incorporated into Ezekiel's picture. Daniel 7 records a vision of God seated on a fiery throne which has wheels of flame. It furnishes the additional motifs of the heavenly law court (3En 28:7), the River of Fire (3En 18:19-21; 19:4; 33:4; 36:1-2; 37:1), and the hosts of attendant angels (cf. 3En 19:6). Isaiah 6 contains a vision of God seated on a high and exalted throne (cf. 3En 26:12). Isaiah 6 contributes to the total picture the seraphim (3En 26) and the QeduSSah (3En 1:12; 20:2). Note also the vision of heaven in 1 Kings 22:19-22, in which the Lord is seen seated on his throne with all the array of heaven standing before him. Ezekiel employs the language of the nature theophanies ("fire, lightning, storm") to express the appearance of God's glory. The Merkabah texts expand this imagery by drawing on other Old Testament accounts of nature theophanies, particularly God's appearance to Israel at Sinai (Ex 19:16-18; cf. IKgs 19:11- 13; Pss 18:7-15 and 97:2-5). For combinations of these elements see 3 Enoch 34 and 37. 2. Angels: Such Old Testament phrases as "the host of heaven" (IKgs 22:19) and "the host of the height" (Isa 24:31) suggest that the number of the angels is virtually infinite (cf. 3En 19:6). The Old Testament appplies various names to the angels: seraphim (Isa 6:2, 6); cherubim (Ezek 10); creatures (hayyot) (Ezek 1); Watchers and holy ones (Hrin and qaddisin) (Dan 4:14). 3 Enoch takes these names as designations of different orders of angels (3En 19-22; 25-28:6). The angels are represented in Genesis 19: If. and Daniel 8:15f. as having human form, and in Joshua 5:13; Numbers 22:23; and 1 Chronicles 21:16, 30 as being armed with weapons; cf. 3 Enoch 22:3-9. The powerful "angel of the Lord" in the Old Testament (who is sometimes hard to distinguish from God himself) may be the prototype of 3 Enoch's Metatron (cf. Ex 23:20-23 with Judg 2:1-5, and see 3En 12:5 and b.Sanh 38b). ...”
Philip S. Alexander, “3 (Hebrew Apocalypse of) Enoch,” in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, ed. James H. Charlesworth (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1983), 1:246.

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 26:8

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