Isaiah 6:1-3

Isaiah’s Commission

6:1 In the year of King Uzziah’s death, ¹  I saw the sovereign master ²  seated on a high, elevated throne. The hem of his robe filled the temple. 6:2 Seraphs ³  stood over him; each one had six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, ⁴  and they used the remaining two to fly. 6:3 They called out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy ⁵  is the Lord who commands armies! ⁶  His majestic splendor fills the entire earth!”

Ezekiel 1:26-28

1:26 Above the platform over their heads was something like a sapphire shaped like a throne. High above on the throne was a form that appeared to be a man. 1:27 I saw an amber glow ⁷  like a fire enclosed all around ⁸  from his waist up. From his waist down I saw something that looked like fire. There was a brilliant light around it, 1:28 like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds after the rain. ⁹  This was the appearance of the surrounding brilliant light; it looked like the glory of the Lord. When I saw ¹⁰  it, I threw myself face down, and I heard a voice speaking.

Ezekiel 10:4

10:4 Then the glory of the Lord arose from the cherub and moved to the threshold of the temple. The temple was filled with the cloud while the court was filled with the brightness of the Lord’s glory.

Ezekiel 10:18

10:18 Then the glory of the Lord moved away from the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim.

Ezekiel 11:23

11:23 The glory of the Lord rose up from within the city and stopped ¹¹  over the mountain east of it.

John 12:41

12:41 Isaiah said these things because he saw Christ’s ¹²  glory, and spoke about him.

John 12:2

12:2 So they prepared a dinner for Jesus ¹³  there. Martha ¹⁴  was serving, and Lazarus was among those present at the table ¹⁵  with him.

Colossians 4:6

4:6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer everyone.

Colossians 4:2

Exhortation to Pray for the Success of Paul’s Mission

4:2 Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.

Colossians 1:17

1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together ¹⁶  in him.

Revelation 21:11

21:11 The city possesses ¹⁷  the glory of God; its brilliance is like a precious jewel, like a stone of crystal-clear jasper. ¹⁸ 

[6:1]  ¹ sn That is, approximately 740 b.c.

[6:1]  ² tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 8, 11 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[6:2]  ³ 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.

[6:2]  ⁴ sn Some understand “feet” here as a euphemistic reference to the genitals.

[6:3]  ⁵ 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.)

[6:3]  ⁶ 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.

[1:27]  ⁷ tn See Ezek 1:4.

[1:27]  ⁸ tc The LXX lacks this phrase. Its absence from the LXX may be explained as a case of haplography resulting from homoioteleuton, skipping from כְּמַרְאֵה (kÿmar’eh) to מִמַּרְאֵה (mimmar’eh). On the other hand, the LXX presents a much more balanced verse structure when it is recognized that the final words of this verse belong in the next sentence.

[1:28]  ⁹ sn Reference to the glowing substance and the brilliant light and storm phenomena in vv. 27-28a echoes in reverse order the occurrence of these phenomena in v. 4.

[1:28]  ¹⁰ tn The vision closes with the repetition of the verb “I saw” from the beginning of the vision in 1:4.

[11:23]  ¹¹ tn Heb “stood.”

[12:41]  ¹² tn Grk “his”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The referent supplied here is “Christ” rather than “Jesus” because it involves what Isaiah saw. It is clear that the author presents Isaiah as having seen the preincarnate glory of Christ, which was the very revelation of the Father (see John 1:18; John 14:9).

[12:2]  ¹³ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity and to conform with contemporary English style.

[12:2]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “And Martha.” The connective καί (kai, “and”) has been omitted in the translation because it would produce a run-on sentence in English.

[12:2]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “reclining at the table.”

[1:17]  ¹⁶ tn BDAG 973 s.v. συνίστημι B.3 suggests “continue, endure, exist, hold together” here.

[21:11]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “from God, having the glory of God.” Here a new sentence was started in the translation by supplying the words “the city” to refer back to the previous clause and translating the participle (“having”) as a finite verb.

[21:11]  ¹⁸ tn On the term ἰάσπιδι (iaspidi) BDAG 465 s.v. ἴασπις states, “jasper, a precious stone found in various colors, mostly reddish, somet. green…brown, blue, yellow, and white. In antiquity the name was not limited to the variety of quartz now called jasper, but could designate any opaque precious stone. Rv 21:18f. W. λίθος 4:3 (TestSol C 11:8). λίθος ἴασπις κρυσταλλίζων a stone of crystal-clear jasper 21:11 (cp. Is 54:12); perh. the opal is meant here; acc. to some, the diamond.”