Yahweh’s holiness and majesty

3 One time Mosheh (Moses) was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Yitro (Jethro) (or Yitro, the priest at Midyan), and he led the flock beyond the wilderness and came to a hill. (This was later known as the mountain of God at Horev). 2 While he was there. Yahweh’s messenger appeared to him in a flame coming from the middle of a bush, and as Mosheh looked, to his surprise he saw that the bush was burning in the fire yet not actually being burnt up.[ref] 3 “I’ve got to go and see this amazing sight,” Mosheh said to himself. “How come that bush isn’t burning up?”

4 When Yahweh saw that he’d left his path in order to look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Mosheh, Mosheh.”

“I’m here,” he replied.

5 “Don’t come any closer,” Yahweh said. “Take off your sandals because the place where you’re standing is HOLY ground. 6 I’m the god of your father and the god of Avraham, Yitshak (Isaac), and Ya’akov (Jacob).” So Mosheh covered hid his face because he was scared to look at God.

6 In the year that King Uziyah died,[ref] I saw my master sitting on a tall, elevated throne, and his long robe covered the temple floor. 2 There were ‘serafs’ standing above him. They each had six wings—they used two to cover their faces, two to cover their feet, and two to fly with. 3 They were calling out to each other,

“Commander-in-chief Yahweh is holy, yes, fully holy.

The whole earth is filled with his splendour.”[ref]

4 Whenever one of them spoke, the sound of their voices make the doorways shake, and the temple was filled with smoke,[ref] 5 and I said,

“This isn’t going to end well for me. Yes, I’m doomed because I am a man with unclean lips,

and I live among a people with unclean lips,

and yet my eyes have seen the king: Commander-in-chief Yahweh.”

6 Then one of the ‘serafs’ flew to me. He was holding a hot coal that he’d taken off the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with that coal and said,

“Look, this has touched your lips,

and your guilt has been taken away

≈ and the price has been paid for your sin.”

8 Then I heard my master ask, “Who will I send? Who will go on our behalf?”

“I’m here,” I answered. “Send me.”

99 Yahweh reigns—let the nations tremble.

He sits above those winged creatures[ref]—the earth quakes.

2 Yahweh is powerful in Tsiyon (Zion).

He’s more important than all the nations. NOT SURE

3 Let them praise your great and awesome name.

He is holy.

4 He’s a powerful king who loves justice.

You have established fairness.

You have done what is right and fair in dealing with Yisrael (Israel).

5 Praise our god, Yahweh,

and worship him in front of his throne.

He is holy.

6 Mosheh (Moses) and Aharon (Aaron) were among his priests,

and Shmuel (Samuel) was among those who prayed to him.

They asked Yahweh for help and he answered them.

7 He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud.[ref]

They followed his instructions

and obeyed the rules that he gave them.

8 You answered them, Yahweh our god.

You were a forgiving God to them,

but one who punished them for their disobedience.

9 Praise our god Yahweh,

and worship at his sacred hill,

because our god Yahweh is sinless.

12 Who has measured the oceans in their palm,

≈ and has marked off the sky with their handspan?

Who can count the dust grains on the earth,

≈ and has weighed the mountains with scales and the hills with balances?

13 Who has told Yahweh’s spirit what to do,

≈ and has any person given him good advice?[ref]

14 Who did he ask for advice?

≈ Who informed him about something?

Who taught him how to judge fairly,

≈ and taught him knowledge and helped him to understand something?

15 Listen, the nations are like a drop in a bucket,

and are as insignificant as dust on the scales.

He lifts the islands as if they just specks.

16 It’s not enough to set fire to Levanon,

and it doesn’t have enough animals to be an adequate burnt offering.

17 All the nations together are still nothing to him.

He considers their combined power as useless and worthless.

18 Who could you compare God with?

What is there that you all could say is anything like him?[ref]

19 An idol that was cast by a craftsman,

overlaid with gold by a goldsmith,

and then decorated with silver chains?

20 The poorer person chooses a contribution of wood that won’t rot.

They choose a skillful craftsman to make an idol that won’t topple over.

21 Don’t you all know? Haven’t you heard?

Didn’t anyone tell you all from the beginning?

Don’t you all understand the earth’s foundations?

22 He’s the one who sits above the circle of the earth,

and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.

He’s the one who stretches the skies out like a curtain

≈ and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

23 He decides which officials will come to nothing.

≈ He makes the world’s judges irrelevant.

24 Indeed, they’re hardly planted, yes, hardly sown.

Indeed, their stem has barely taken root in the earth,

but he also blows on them and they wither,

and the wind carries them away like straw.

25 “Who else is like me?” asks the holy one.

≈ “Who else could be equal to me?”

26 Look up and see the stars.

Who created them?

Yahweh knows their number as he brings them out.

≈ He calls them all by name.

Because of his great strength and mighty power

not a single one is missing.

4 After that, I looked and wow, a door opening in heaven, and the first voice that I’d heard that sounded like a trumpet told me, “Come up here and I’ll show you what must happen after those things.” 2 Immediately I was in the spirit and wow, a throne was appearing in heaven with someone sitting on it.[ref] 3 The one sitting there sparkled like jewels, and an emerald-looking rainbow encircled the throne. 4 Surrounding that throne were twenty-four other thrones, and on them sat twenty-four elders dressed in white and with golden crowns on their heads. 5 From the centre throne came lightning flashes and thunderous sounds and voices.[ref] In front of it, seven torches were burning,[ref] which are God’s seven spirits.[ref] 6 In front of the throne was something like a sea of glass that was as clear as crystal.[ref]

Around the throne were four living creatures, covered both front and back with eyes. 7 This first living creature resembled a lion, the second resembled a bull, the third had a face like a man, and the fourth one resembled a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings with eyes all around and underneath them.[ref] Day and night they never stop saying:

‘Holy, holy, holy,

is Yahweh, almighty God,

who was and is and is to come.’[ref]

9 Whenever the living creatures praise the one sitting on the throne and honour him and thank him (the one who lives through all the ages), 10 the twenty-four elders drop to their knees with their faces to the ground in front of the one sitting on the throne and worship the one who lives through all the ages. They place their crowns down in front of the throne and say:

11 “You, our God and master, are worthy to receive praise and honour and power,

because you created everything.

Everything exists just as you determined to create it.”

15 Then I saw another miraculous sign in heaven: seven messengers with the seven final disasters, because the expression of God’s anger will finish with these.

2 I saw something that was like a sea of glass that had been mixed with fire. The people who had been victorious over the sea creature and over its image and over the number of its name were standing on that sea of glass. They were holding harps from God 3 and singing this song that came from God’s slave Mosheh (Moses),[ref] and from the lamb, which went:

“What you do, Yahweh God, ruler over everything,

is powerful and marvellous.

Your ways PATHS? are fair and honest,

king of the ages.[fn]

4 Who will refuse to respect you, Yahweh,

and honour your name?[ref]

Yes, you alone are HOLY,

because all the nations will come

and worship in front of you,[ref]

because your RIGHTEOUS acts have been revealed.”