6.3
The Book of Isaiah 6.3 · Holy, holy, holy6.3Holy, holy, holy
The seraphs call to one another in worship. Their cry names the one on the throne.
· · ·
וְקָרָא1
wə-qāraʾ
And calledand he called
זֶה2
zeh
onethis
אֶל־3
ʾel-
to
זֶה4
zeh
the otherthis
וְאָמַר5
wə-ʾāmar
and saidand he said
, קָדוֹשׁ6
qāḏôš
Holy
קָדוֹשׁ7
qāḏôš
holy
קָדוֹשׁ8
qāḏôš
holy
is
יְהוָה9
YHWH
the LORDYHWH
צְבָאוֹת10
ṣəḇāʾôṯ
of hostsarmies
; כָל־11
ḵol-
the wholeall
הָאָרֶץ12
hā-ʾāreṣ
earththe earth
is
מְלֹא13
məlōʾ
full offullness of
כְּבוֹדוֹ׃14
kəḇôḏô
his glory
And one called to the other and said, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
And one called to the other and said, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
↔ echoes in other books:
6.4
The Book of Isaiah 6.4 · The house filled with smoke6.4The house filled with smoke
At the seraphs' cry the temple itself reacts. The building shakes and fills with smoke.
· · ·
The bases of the thresholds shook at the voice of the one calling, and the house was filled with smoke.
This is the line that became the Sanctus of the Christian liturgy and the Qedushah of the synagogue. Hebrew has no word for “most”; to say a thing to the utmost it repeats it. Qādôš three times is holiness past which there is nothing.
YHWH ṣəḇāʾôt, “the LORD of hosts”, is the title of a commander: the hosts are the armies of heaven, the stars and the divine beings around his throne. The Greek did not translate it: Κύριος σαβαώθ keeps the Hebrew word as a name, and it passed that way into the New Testament (Revelation 4:8 echoes this whole verse).