Isaiah 6:3
in Isaiah 6And they were calling out to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts; all the earth is full of His glory.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
KJV
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
⋯
This verse in Isaiah 6
Commentary
31 notes on this verseCherubim and seraphim with unwearied voices praise him and say, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts." They say it not once, lest you should believe that there is but one; not twice, lest you should exclude the Spirit; they say not holies [in the plural], lest you should imagine that there is plurality, but they repeat three times and say the same word, that even in a hymn you may understand the distinction of persons in the Trinity and the oneness of the Godhead, and while they say this they proclaim God.
This site's exposition
Above Him stood seraphim
on Isaiah 6:2-3
Seraphim, throne attendants distinct from the cherubim, appear only in this chapter. The threefold "Holy, holy, holy" marks a superlative in Hebrew. The cry that "all the earth is full of His glory" carries that holiness out over the whole earth.
This site's exposition
Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts
The seraphim call Holy three times, one to another, before the LORD of Hosts on His throne. Jerome and Fulgentius saw a sign of the Trinity in the three, and Cyril of Alexandria saw the earth full of His glory through Christ. Revelation 4:8 repeats the cry.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
What are we going to do there? Tell me. Sleep? Yes, here people who have nothing to do just sleep. But there is no sleep there, because there is no weariness. So we aren't going to perform works of necessity, aren't going to sleep—what are we going to do? None of us must be afraid of boredom; none of us must imagine it's going to be so boring there. Do you find it boring now to be well? You can get tired of anything and everything in this age; can you get tired of being well? If you don't get tired of good health, will you get tired of immortality? So what activity are we going to engage in? "Amen" and "Alleluia." Here, you see, we do one thing and another, there one thing, I don't say day and night but day without end; what the powers of heaven, the seraphim, say now without ever getting bored: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts."
My Hebrew master used to say that the two seraphim, which are described in Isaiah as having six wings each and as crying one to another and saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts," were to be understood to mean the only-begotten Son of God and the Holy Spirit.
My Hebrew teacher also used to teach as follows, that since the beginning or the end of all things could not be comprehended by any except our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, this was the reason why Isaiah spoke of there being in the vision that appeared to him two seraphim only, who with two wings cover the face of God, with two cover his feet and with two fly, crying one to another and saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of your glory." For because the two seraphim alone have their wings over the face of God and over his feet, we may venture to declare that neither the armies of the holy angels, nor the holy thrones, nor the dominions, nor principalities nor powers can wholly know the beginnings of all things and the ends of the universe.
A commentator
Pseudo-Dionysius the AreopagiteCommentary (church-history corpus) · Written before 532.
proposed
The scriptural declaration "they cried out to one another" means, I think, that they ungrudgingly impart to each other the conceptions resulting from their looking on God. And we should piously remember that in Hebrew the Scripture gives the designation of seraphim to the holiest …
Isaiah, too, includes one Holy Spirit in the glory of the Trinity when he says, "I saw the Lord seated on a high throne; seraphim were stationed above and cried one to the other, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts!" And in a …
23 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers11 voices
A commentator
Philoxenus of Mabbug13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 9 -- Second Discourse on Poverty · Written before 523.
proposed
"A thousand thousand stand before Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand minister unto Him"; now this concerneth the Seraphim who stand above Him, having their wings spread out to fly, and this one crieth to this, saying, "Holy, Holy, Holy." And concerning the Cherubim …
Because the seraphim use the title Lord singularly in this song, but repeat "holy" three times (in reference to the Trinity), we know they are referring to the one essence of Deity. The praise "holy, holy, holy" properly indicates the Trinity, and the appellation "Lord …
And what they cry out, one to another, or according to the Hebrews, this one to that one, that is, one to one, they encourage each other in the praises of the Lord and say: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts, in order to demonstrate the mystery of the Trinity in one Divinity; and they testify that the glory of God fills not just the Temple of the Jews, as before, but the entire earth, which He deigned to assume a human body for our salvation and descend to the earth. Finally, when Moses prayed to the Lord on behalf of the people, asking Him to spare the sinful people, the Lord responded: 'I will be merciful to them.' However, as surely as I live and as surely as my name lives, my glory will fill the whole earth (Num. 14: 20, 21). The seventy-first psalm also declares: 'His glory will fill the whole earth' (Psalm 71:19). That is why the angels proclaimed to the shepherds: 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will' (Luke 2:14). Therefore, some impiously understand the two Seraphim to refer to the Son and the Holy Spirit: as we teach according to the evangelist John and the Apostle Paul, that the Son of God was seen in the majesty of his reign, and the Holy Spirit spoke. Some Latin scholars understand the two Seraphim to refer to the Old and New Testaments, which speak only of the present age. Hence, they are said to have six wings and to veil the face and feet of God, and eagerly bear witness to the truth, and show forth all the sacraments of the Trinity that they proclaim. And they marvel at each other because the Lord of hosts, in the form of the Father, took on the form of a servant and humbled Himself even unto death, death on a cross (Philippians II), so that not only heavenly beings, but also earthly beings may know Him.
he saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up, while the Seraphim stood in a circle around him, the one having six wings, and the other six wings, with which they did cover themselves, and the one cried out to the other …
God again used an expression ambiguously respecting the Trinity, repeating thrice through Isaiah the word Holy which he made applicable to one God, saying: The Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory; showing both the number of the three Persons and …
The prophet Isaiah did not keep silent about this Trinity of persons and unity of nature revealed to him, when he says he saw the seraphim crying out, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts." Therefore, where the triple "holy" is repeated, there is the …
The mouths of the seraphim are filled with blessings. They offer a doxology in turn, not in my opinion because they are tired but because they show respect to one another, both receiving and giving the doxology. They say "holy" three times and then conclude with "Lord of hosts." This demonstrates that the Holy Trinity exists in one divine essence. All hold and confess that the Father exists, along with the Son and the Spirit. Nothing divides those who are named nor separates them into different natures. Just the opposite is true. We recognize one Godhead in three persons.
In announcing that the whole earth is full of his glory, the seraphim are predicting the mystery of the economy that will be brought to pass through Christ. Prior to the Word's becoming flesh the world was ruled by the devil, the evil one, the serpent, the apostate. The creature, rather than the Creator, was worshiped. But when the only-begotten Word of God became human, the entire earth was filled with his glory.
Do you desire to learn how the powers above pronounce that name; with what awe, with what terror, with what wonder? "I saw the Lord," says the prophet, "sitting upon a throne, high, and lifted up; around him stood the seraphim; and one cried to another and said, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" Do you perceive with what dread, with what awe, they pronounce that name while glorifying and praising him? But you, in your prayers and supplications, call upon him with much listlessness; when it would become you to be full of awe and to be watchful and sober!
What, then, do you think? Do you think that the angels in heaven talk over and ask each other questions about the divine essence? By no means! What are the angels doing? They give glory to God, they adore him, they chant without ceasing their triumphal and mystical hymns with a deep feeling of religious awe. Some sing, "Glory to God in the highest"; the seraphim chant, "Holy, holy, holy," and they turn away their eyes because they cannot endure God's presence as he comes down to adapt himself to them in condescension.
We make mention also of the seraphim, whom Isaiah in the Holy Spirit saw standing around the throne of God, and with two of their wings veiling their face, and with two their feet, while with two they flew, crying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts." For the reason of our reciting this confession of God, delivered down to us from the seraphim, is this, that so we may be partakers with the hosts of the world above in their hymn of praise.
The Medieval Church4 voices
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 2 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
To be sanctified is to be drawn away from any love that sullies and corrupts and may lead the soul to ruin. In this must the creature resemble the Creator: "You shall be holy," He said, "because I am holy." This holiness makes one God-conformed. …
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 8 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
Our intellect enlightened by faith cries out three times: "Holy, holy, holy." There are two Seraphim established in us through faith, and each one makes the triple exclamation, but refers only once to the Lord God. For the understanding of God is the understanding of …
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 21 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
This, indeed, is the Monarch who exerts power to the supreme degree, who is supremely wise in discerning the truth, supremely holy in loving the good, and supremely constant in distributing what is just. The Seraphim correspond to supreme holiness, for in them there is …
218. And they cried one to another. Here he sets out their praise: and concerning this, he does three things. First, he sets out the manner of praising as to their devotion, for they cried from the greatness of their affection; as to their concord, …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Cried - Singing in consort. Holy - This is repeated thrice, to intimate the Trinity of persons united in the Divine essence. Glory - Of the effects and demonstrations of his glorious holiness, as well as of his power, wisdom, and goodness.
Two things the seraphim here give God the praise of:-- (1.) His infinite perfections in himself. Here is one of his most glorious titles praised: he is the Lord of hosts, of their hosts, of all hosts; and one of his most glorious attributes, his holiness, without which his being the Lord of hosts (or, as it is in the parallel place, Rev. iv.
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And one cried unto another,....
The Nineteenth Century5 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
And one cried to another - Hebrew ‘This cried to this.’ That is, they cried to each other in alternate responses.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The Trinity is implied (on "Lord," see on Isa 6:1). God's holiness is the keynote of Isaiah's whole prophecies. whole earth--the Hebrew more emphatically, the fulness of the whole earth is His glory (Ps 24:1;
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OUR FIRST business to-night will be briefly to explain the metaphor employed in the text. The prophet was told that despite all the remonstrances he was instructed to deliver, and notwithstanding the eloquent earnestness of his lips, which had been just touched by a live coal from off the altar, still the people of Israel would persevere in their sins, and would therefore be certainly destroyed. He asked the question, “Lord, how long?” that is, How long will the people be thus impenitent? How long will thy sore judgment thus continue?
OUR FIRST business to-night will be briefly to explain the metaphor employed in the text. The prophet was told that despite all the remonstrances he was instructed to deliver, and notwithstanding the eloquent earnestness of his lips, which had been just touched by a live coal from off the altar, still the people of Israel would persevere in their sins, and would therefore be certainly destroyed. He asked the question, “Lord, how long?” that is, How long will the people be thus impenitent? How long will thy sore judgment thus continue? And he was informed that God would waste and destroy the cities and their inhabitants, till the land should be utterly desolate. Then it was added, for his comfort, “Yet in it shall be a tenth.” And so it happened; for when “Nebuchadnezzar carried away all Jerusalem,” the historian gives this reservation—’none remained save the poorer sort of the people of the land.” They were left by the captain of the guard, “to be vine-dressers and husbandmen.” Thus in it there was a tenth; this small remnant of the people, however, was to be nearly destroyed too. “It shall return and shall be eaten;” the sense is, eaten up or consumed. The poor creatures left in the land, many of them fled into Egypt at the time of the conspiracy of Ishmael (not Ishmael, the son of Hagar, but an unworthy member of the royal family of Judah), and there in Egypt most of them were cut off and perished.
Holy, holy, holy - This hymn performed by the seraphim, divided into two choirs, the one singing responsively to the other, which Gregory Nazian., Carm. 18, very elegantly calls Συμφωνον, αντιφωνον, αγγελων στασιν, is formed upon the practice of alternate singing, which prevailed in the Jewish Church from the time of Moses, whose ode at the Red Sea was thus performed, (see Exo 15:20, Exo 15:21), to that of Ezra, under whom the priests and Levites sung alternately, “O praise Jehovah, for he is gracious; For his mercy endureth for ever;” Ezr 3:11. See De Sac. Poes. Hebr. Prael. xix., at the beginning.
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְקָרָ֨א | vekara' | and he called | H7121 → | 733 times |
| זֶ֤ה | zeh | this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| זֶה֙ | zeh | this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| וְאָמַ֔ר | veamar | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| קָד֧וֹשׁ׀ | kadoosh | [is] holy | H6918 → | 116 times |
| קָד֛וֹשׁ | kadoosh | holy | H6918 → | 116 times |
| קָד֖וֹשׁ | kadoosh | holy | H6918 → | 116 times |
| יְהוָ֣ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| צְבָא֑וֹת | tzevaot | of hosts | H6635 → | 485 times |
| מְלֹ֥א | melo' | [the] fullness of | H4393 → | 38 times |
| כָל־ | khol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הָאָ֖רֶץ | haaretz | the earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
| כְּבוֹדֽוֹ׃ | kevodo | [is] glory his | H3519 → | 200 times |
וְקָרָ֨אand he called
vekara'H7121 →733 times
זֶ֤הthis
zehH2088 →1180 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
זֶה֙this
zehH2088 →1180 times
וְאָמַ֔רand he said
veamarH559 →5305 times
קָד֧וֹשׁ׀[is] holy
kadooshH6918 →116 times
קָד֛וֹשׁholy
kadooshH6918 →116 times
קָד֖וֹשׁholy
kadooshH6918 →116 times
יְהוָ֣הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
צְבָא֑וֹתof hosts
tzevaotH6635 →485 times
מְלֹ֥א[the] fullness of
melo'H4393 →38 times
כָל־all
khol-H3605 →5413 times
הָאָ֖רֶץthe earth
haaretzH776 →2504 times
כְּבוֹדֽוֹ׃[is] glory his
kevodoH3519 →200 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Exodus 15:11Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? Who is like You—majestic in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?
it leads to
- 1 Kings 8:23
and said: “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth below, keeping Your covenant of loving devotion with Your servants who walk before You with…
- Psalms 89:5–8
The heavens praise Your wonders, O LORD— Your faithfulness as well— in the assembly of the holy ones.
- 1 Samuel 2:2
There is no one holy like the LORD. Indeed, there is no one besides You! And there is no Rock like our God.
- 2 Samuel 7:22
How great You are, O Lord GOD! For there is none like You, and there is no God but You, according to everything we have heard with our own ears.
- Revelation 4:8
And each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around and within. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty,…
- 1 Kings 8:23
Through
Psalms 72:19And blessed be His glorious name forever; may all the earth be filled with His glory. Amen and amen.
it leads to
- Habakkuk 2:14
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Habakkuk 2:14
Through
Ezra 3:11And they sang responsively with praise and thanksgiving to the LORD: “For He is good; for His loving devotion to Israel endures forever.” Then all the people gave a great shout of praise to…
it leads to
- 1 Chronicles 16:34
Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.
- Psalms 106:1
Hallelujah! Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.
- 1 Chronicles 16:34
Where this verse is studied
By subject
Holiness35 verses
Worship35 verses
On this page
Studies16
On this verse
About Isaiah

This page draws on 27 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, On the Holy Spirit 3.16.110; Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 211A.2; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 2; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 8; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 21; Caesarius of Arles, SERMON 212:3; Charles Spurgeon, The New Park Street Pulpit, Sermon No. 121: “The Leafless Tree” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Cosmas Indicopleustes, The Christian Topography, Book 5; Cyril of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 1:4; Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lecture 23:6; Fulgentius of Ruspe, TO PETER ON THE FAITH 6; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Chrysostom, HOMILY CONCERNING THE STATUES 7:9; John Chrysostom, AGAINST THE ANOMOEANS 1:35; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 1:3; Origen of Alexandria, ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 4:3; Philoxenus of Mabbug, 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 9 -- Second Discourse on Poverty; Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, Commentary (church-history corpus); Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 6:3 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.
