Psalms 99:3

99:3 Let them praise your great and awesome name!

He ¹  is holy!

Isaiah 6:3

6:3 They called out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy ²  is the Lord who commands armies! ³  His majestic splendor fills the entire earth!”

Revelation 4:8

4:8 Each one of the four living creatures had six wings ⁴  and was full of eyes all around and inside. ⁵  They never rest day or night, saying: ⁶ 

“Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God, the All-Powerful, ⁷ 

Who was and who is, and who is still to come!”

¹ tn The pronoun refers to the Lord himself (see vv. 5, 9).

² 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.)

³ 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.

⁴ tn Grk “six wings apiece,” but this is redundant with “each one” in English.

⁵ tn Some translations render ἔσωθεν (eswqen) as “under [its] wings,” but the description could also mean “filled all around on the outside and on the inside with eyes.” Since the referent is not available to the interpreter, the exact force is difficult to determine.

⁶ tn Or “They never stop saying day and night.”

⁷ tn On this word BDAG 755 s.v. παντοκράτωρ states, “the Almighty, All-Powerful, Omnipotent (One) only of God…(ὁ) κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ π. …Rv 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 21:22.”