Isaiah Chapter 6 verse 2 Holy Bible
Above him stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
read chapter 6 in ASV
Over him were the winged ones: every one had six wings; two for covering his face, two for covering his feed, and two for flight.
read chapter 6 in BBE
Seraphim were standing above him: each had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he flew.
read chapter 6 in DARBY
Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
read chapter 6 in KJV
read chapter 6 in WBT
Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew.
read chapter 6 in WEB
Seraphs are standing above it: six wings hath each one; with two `each' covereth its face, and with two `each' covereth its feet, and with two `each' flieth.
read chapter 6 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 2. - Above it stood the seraphims; rather, above him were standing seraphim. The "seraphim" are introduced, not as well known, with the article, but without it, as unknown. The word means "fiery ones," and is supposed to denote the burning love of the blessed spirits spoken cf. They appeared to the prophet as standing above the King as he sat upon his throne - "standing" to show their readiness to minister; but why "above him" is not so clear. Perhaps, simply, as those that stand are "above" those that sit; perhaps as ready to fly through infinite space at the bidding of him who was seated in his palace, as it were upon the ground. Their form, as seen by the prophet, appears to have been human, and only distinguished from ordinary humanity by the wings. Thus, though in name they resembled those other "fiery ones," which had punished the Jews in the wilderness (Numbers 21:6-9), there is nothing to show that Isaiah in any way connected the two. Each one had six wings. Gesenius is mistaken in saying that there are at Persepolis any six-winged figures ('Thesaurus,' p. 1342). The Persians not infrequently represented their genii with four wings ('Ancient Monarchies,' vol. 3. pp. 353, 354); but no six-winged figures have been found, so far as I know, among the Persian remains. With twain he covered his face, etc. The general idea of the six wings was probably rapid flight, the carrying out of God's behests "with speed swiftly." But, in the Divine presence, the wings were applied to a different use. One pair veiled the seraph's head from the intolerable effulgence of the Divine glory; another concealed the feet, soiled in their various ministrations, and unmeet for the all-pure presence; the third pair alone sustained the seraph in mid-air, as he hovered in readiness to depart on any errand on which Jehovah aright send him.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(2) Above it stood the seraphims . . .--It is noticeable that this is the only passage in which the seraphim are mentioned as part of the host of heaven. In Numbers 21:6, the word (the primary meaning of which is the burning ones) occurs as denoting the fiery serpents that attacked the people in the wilderness. Probably the brazen serpent which Hezekiah afterwards destroyed (2Kings 18:4) had preserved the name and its significance as denoting the instruments of the fiery judgments of Jehovah. Here, however, there is no trace of the serpent form, nor again, as far as the description goes, of the animal forms of the cherubim of Ezekiel 1:5-11, and of the "living creatures" of Revelation 4:7-8. The "burning ones" are in the likeness of men, with the addition of the six wings. The patristic and mediaeval distinction between the seraphim that excel in love, and the cherubim that excel in knowledge, rests apparently on the etymology of the former word. The "living creatures" of Revelation 4:7-8, seem to unite the forms of the cherubim of Ezekiel with the six wings of the seraphim of this passage. Symbolically the seraphim would seem to be as transfigured cherubim, representing the "flaming fire" of the lightning, as the latter did the storm-winds and other elemental forces of nature (Psalm 104:4). . . .
