Isaiah 6:3-5

6:3 They called out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy ¹  is the Lord who commands armies! ²  His majestic splendor fills the entire earth!” 6:4 The sound of their voices shook the door frames, ³  and the temple was filled with smoke.

6:5 I said, “Too bad for me! I am destroyed, ⁴  for my lips are contaminated by sin, ⁵  and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. ⁶  My eyes have seen the king, the Lord who commands armies.” ⁷ 

Isaiah 54:5

54:5 For your husband is the one who made you –

the Lord who commands armies is his name.

He is your protector, ⁸  the Holy One of Israel. ⁹ 

He is called “God of the entire earth.”

Hosea 12:3-5

Israel Must Return to the God of Jacob

12:3 In the womb he attacked his brother;

in his manly vigor he struggled ¹⁰  with God.

12:4 He struggled ¹¹  with an angel and prevailed;

he wept and begged for his favor.

He found God ¹²  at Bethel, ¹³ 

and there he spoke with him! ¹⁴ 

12:5 As for the Lord God Almighty,

the Lord is the name by which he is remembered! ¹⁵ 

Zechariah 2:8-11

2:8 For the Lord who rules over all says to me that for his own glory ¹⁶  he has sent me to the nations that plundered you – for anyone who touches you touches the pupil ¹⁷  of his ¹⁸  eye. 2:9 “I am about to punish them ¹⁹  in such a way,” he says, “that they will be looted by their own slaves.” Then you will know that the Lord who rules over all has sent me.

2:10 “Sing out and be happy, Zion my daughter! ²⁰  For look, I have come; I will settle in your midst,” says the Lord. 2:11 “Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on the day of salvation, ²¹  and they will also be my ²²  people. Indeed, I will settle in the midst of you all.” Then you will know that the Lord who rules over all has sent me to you.

John 12:40

12:40 “He has blinded their eyes

and hardened their heart, ²³ 

so that they would not see with their eyes

and understand with their heart, ²⁴ 

and turn to me, ²⁵  and I would heal them.” ²⁶ 

John 14:9

14:9 Jesus replied, ²⁷  “Have I been with you for so long, and you have not known ²⁸  me, Philip? The person who has seen me has seen the Father! How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

¹ tn Some have seen a reference to the Trinity in the seraphs’ threefold declaration, “holy, holy, holy.” This proposal has no linguistic or contextual basis and should be dismissed as allegorical. Hebrew sometimes uses repetition for emphasis. (See IBHS 233-34 §12.5a; and GKC 431-32 §133.k.) By repeating the word “holy,” the seraphs emphasize the degree of the Lord’s holiness. For another example of threefold repetition for emphasis, see Ezek 21:27 (Heb. v. 32). (Perhaps Jer 22:29 provides another example.)

² tn Perhaps in this context, the title has a less militaristic connotation and pictures the Lord as the ruler of the heavenly assembly. See the note at 1:9.

³ tn On the phrase אַמּוֹת הַסִּפִּים (’ammot hassippim, “pivots of the frames”) see HALOT 763 s.v. סַף.

⁴ tn Isaiah uses the suffixed (perfect) form of the verb for rhetorical purposes. In this way his destruction is described as occurring or as already completed. Rather than understanding the verb as derived from דָּמַה (damah, “be destroyed”), some take it from a proposed homonymic root דמה, which would mean “be silent.” In this case, one might translate, “I must be silent.”

⁵ tn Heb “a man unclean of lips am I.” Isaiah is not qualified to praise the king. His lips (the instruments of praise) are “unclean” because he has been contaminated by sin.

⁶ tn Heb “and among a nation unclean of lips I live.”

⁷ tn Perhaps in this context, the title has a less militaristic connotation and pictures the Lord as the ruler of the heavenly assembly. See the note at 1:9.

⁸ tn Or “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

⁹ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

¹⁰ tn The verb שָׂרָה (sarah) means “to strive, contend” (HALOT 1354 s.v. שׂרה) or “persevere, persist” (BDB 975 s.v. שָׂרָה; see Gen 32:29). Almost all English versions render the verb here in terms of the former: NAB, NASB “contended”; NRSV “strove”; TEV, CEV “fought against.”

¹¹ tc The MT vocalizes the consonantal text וָיָּשַׂר (vayyasar, vav consecutive + Qal preterite 3rd person masculine singular from שׂוּר, sur, “to see”); however, parallelism with שָׂרַה (sarah, “he contended”) in 12:3 suggested that it be vocalized as ויּשׂר (vav consecutive + Qal preterite 3rd person masculine singular from שׂרה [“to strive, contend”]). The latter is followed by almost all English versions here.

¹² tn Heb “him”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹³ map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.

¹⁴ tc The Leningrad Codex and the Allepo Codex both read 1st person common plural עִמָּנוּ (’immanu, “with us”). The LXX and Peshitta both reflect an alternate Hebrew Vorlage of 3rd person masculine singular עִמוֹ (’imo, “with him”). The BHS editors suggest emending the MT in favor of the Greek and Syriac. The internal evidence of 12:4-5 favors the 3rd person masculine singular reading. It is likely that the 1st person common plural ־נוּ reading on עִמָּנוּ arose due to a misunderstanding of the 3rd person masculine singular ־נוּ suffix on יִמְצָאֶנּוּ (yimtsa’ennu, “he found him”; Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular + 3rd person masculine singular suffix) which was probably misunderstood as the 1st person common plural suffix: “he found us.” Several English versions follow the LXX and Syriac: “there he spoke with him” (RSV, NAB, NEB, NIV, NJPS, TEV). Others follow the MT: “there he spoke with us” (KJV, NASB, CEV). The Hebrew University Old Testament Project, which tends to preserve the MT whenever possible, adopts the MT reading but gives it only a “C” rating. See D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 5:262-63.

¹⁵ tn Heb “[is] his memorial name” (so ASV); TEV “the name by which he is to be worshipped.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “After glory has he sent me” (similar KJV, NASB). What is clearly in view is the role of Zechariah who, by faithful proclamation of the message, will glorify the Lord.

¹⁷ tn Heb “gate” (בָּבָה, bavah) of the eye, that is, pupil. The rendering of this term by KJV as “apple” has created a well-known idiom in the English language, “the apple of his eye” (so ASV, NIV). The pupil is one of the most vulnerable and valuable parts of the body, so for Judah to be considered the “pupil” of the Lord’s eye is to raise her value to an incalculable price (cf. NLT “my most precious possession”).

¹⁸ tc A scribal emendation (tiqqun sopherim) has apparently altered an original “my eye” to “his eye” in order to allow the prophet to be the speaker throughout vv. 8-9. This alleviates the problem of the Lord saying, in effect, that he has sent himself on the mission to the nations.

¹⁹ tn Heb “I will wave my hand over them” (so NASB); NIV, NRSV “raise my hand against them.”

²⁰ sn This individualizing of Zion as a daughter draws attention to the corporate nature of the covenant community and also to the tenderness with which the Lord regards his chosen people.

²¹ tn Heb “on that day.” The descriptive phrase “of salvation” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

²² tc The LXX and Syriac have the 3rd person masculine singular suffix in both places (“his people” and “he will settle”; cf. NAB, TEV) in order to avoid the Lord’s speaking of himself in the third person. Such resort is unnecessary, however, in light of the common shifting of person in Hebrew narrative (cf. 3:2).

²³ tn Or “closed their mind.”

²⁴ tn Or “their mind.”

²⁵ tn One could also translate στραφῶσιν (strafwsin) as “repent” or “change their ways,” but both of these terms would be subject to misinterpretation by the modern English reader. The idea is one of turning back to God, however. The words “to me” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

²⁶ sn A quotation from Isa 6:10.

²⁷ tn Grk “Jesus said to him.”

²⁸ tn Or “recognized.”