Psalms 103:20-21

103:20 Praise the Lord, you angels of his,

you powerful warriors who carry out his decrees

and obey his orders! ¹ 

103:21 Praise the Lord, all you warriors of his, ² 

you servants of his who carry out his desires! ³ 

Psalms 103:1

Psalm 103 ⁴ 

By David.

103:1 Praise the Lord, O my soul!

With all that is within me, praise ⁵  his holy name!

Psalms 22:19

22:19 But you, O Lord, do not remain far away!

You are my source of strength! ⁶  Hurry and help me! ⁷ 

Nehemiah 9:6

9:6 You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, ⁸  along with all their multitude of stars, ⁹  the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You impart life to them all, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.

Isaiah 6:2-3

6:2 Seraphs ¹⁰  stood over him; each one had six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, ¹¹  and they used the remaining two to fly. 6:3 They called out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy ¹²  is the Lord who commands armies! ¹³  His majestic splendor fills the entire earth!”

¹ tn Heb “[you] mighty ones of strength, doers of his word, by listening to the voice of his word.”

² tn Heb “all his hosts.”

³ tn Heb “his attendants, doers of his desire.”

⁴ sn Psalm 103. The psalmist praises God for his mercy and willingness to forgive his people.

⁵ tn The verb “praise” is understood by ellipsis in the second line (see the preceding line).

⁶ tn Heb “O my strength.”

⁷ tn Heb “hurry to my help.”

⁸ tn Heb “the heavens of the heavens.”

⁹ tn Heb “all their host.”

¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ sn Some understand “feet” here as a euphemistic reference to the genitals.

¹² 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.)

¹³ 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.