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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 Ladder of Jacob 2:8

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions

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Summary

In Isaiah, the seraphim sing “holy” three times and say God's splendor fills the whole earth. In the Ladder of Jacob, they sing the same but say God fills heaven and earth, language also found in Christian and Hellenistic Jewish versions of the song.

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

Ladder of Jacob 2:8

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
7 Before the face of your majesty the six-winged Seraphim fear, and hide their feet and their face with their wings, and with the others they fly, and sing: […] Highest, with twelve faces, many-named, fiery, lightning-formed, holy one! 8 Holy, Holy, Holy, Jao Jaova, Jaoel, Sabakdos, Chabod, Sabaoth, Omlelech, Elaber, S'me Barech, eternal king, strong, mighty, very great, patient. 9 Blessed One, who fill heaven and earth and the sea and the abyss and all aeons with your glory. 10 Hear my song, with which I have praised you, and grant me my petition for which I pray to you, and show me the interpretation of my dream.
1–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Ladder of Jacob

References

“... Note that the phrase “the whole earth” of Isa 6:3 is often rendered “heaven and earth” in Christian versions of the Qĕduššah, though the same change is sometimes found in Hellenistic Jewish sources (E. R. Goodenough, By Light, Light: The Mystic Gospel of Hellenistic Judaism [New Haven: Yale UP, 1935] 307, 324). [...] Ladder of Jacob 2:6–22 has what resembles a magical hymn in which the Qĕduššah in 2:18–19 is followed by seven divine names followed by a string of transliterated Hebrew words resembling voces magicae (tr. H. G. Lunt in Charlesworth, OTP 2:408): Holy, Holy, Holy, Yao, Yaova, Yaoil, Yao, Kados, Chavod, Savaoth, Omlemlech il avir amismi varich, eternal king, mighty, powerful, most great, patient, blessed one! ...”
David E. Aune, Revelation 1–5, WBC 52 (Dallas: Word Books, Publisher, 1997), Notes on Rev 4:8.

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 Ladder of Jacob 2:8

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