“O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face to you, my God! For our iniquities have climbed higher than our heads, and our guilt extends to the heavens.
89:7 a God who is honored 3 in the great angelic assembly, 4
and more awesome than 5 all who surround him?
9:7 “You are righteous, 8 O Lord, but we are humiliated this day 9 – the people 10 of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far away in all the countries in which you have scattered them, because they have behaved unfaithfully toward you.
1 tn Heb “look.”
2 tn Heb “I said.”
3 tn Heb “feared.”
4 tn Heb “in the great assembly of the holy ones.”
5 tn Or perhaps “feared by.”
6 tn Hebrew שָׂרָף (saraf, “seraph”) literally means “burning one,” perhaps suggesting that these creatures had a fiery appearance (cf. TEV, CEV “flaming creatures”; NCV “heavenly creatures of fire”). Elsewhere in the OT the word “seraph” refers to poisonous snakes (Num 21:6; Deut 8:15; Isa 14:29; 30:6). Perhaps they were called “burning ones” because of their appearance or the effect of their venomous bites, which would cause a victim to burn up with fever. It is possible that the seraphs seen by Isaiah were at least partially serpentine in appearance. Though it might seem strange for a snake-like creature to have wings, two of the texts where “seraphs” are snakes describe them as “flying” (Isa 14:29; 30:6), perhaps referring to their darting movements. See the note at 14:29.
7 sn Some understand “feet” here as a euphemistic reference to the genitals.
8 tn Heb “to you (belongs) righteousness.”
9 tn Heb “and to us (belongs) shame of face like this day.”
10 tn Heb “men.”