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holy, sacred, set apart
Qadosh is the adjectival form of the root qdsh, meaning "holy" or "sacred." BDB defines it as "sacred, holy" with applications to: 1. **God**: The Holy One (haqqadosh), especially in Isaiah 2. **Divine beings**: The "holy ones" (angels, divine council) 3. **Things dedicated to God**: Holy places, objects, times 4. **Israel**: Called to be a holy nation The word expresses the fundamental divine attribute—God's transcendent otherness, purity, and separation from all that is common or profane. The triple repetition "Holy, holy, holy" (Isaiah 6:3) emphasizes this as God's supreme attribute.
holy (of God)
God's essential nature as separate, pure, transcendent
holy ones (divine beings)
Angels or members of the heavenly council
holy (of Israel)
Israel as God's set-apart people
“Holy, holy, holy is YHWH of hosts”
“Be holy, for I YHWH your God am holy”
“they have despised the Holy One of Israel”
“Holy is he”
Qadosh defines God's essential nature: 1. **The Trisagion**: Isaiah 6:3's triple "holy" is the only divine attribute repeated this way 2. **The Holy One of Israel**: This title (especially in Isaiah) combines transcendence with covenant relationship 3. **Call to Holiness**: "Be holy as I am holy" (Leviticus 19:2) grounds ethics in theology 4. **Separation**: Holiness involves being set apart from the common/profane 5. **Moral Purity**: Holiness encompasses not just ritual but ethical purity
Qadosh/Holy has apologetic significance: 1. **Isaiah 6 and John 12**: John 12:41 identifies the one Isaiah saw as Jesus—"Holy, holy, holy" is addressed to Christ 2. **The Holy Spirit**: The Spirit's title "Holy Spirit" (ruach haqqodesh) draws on this vocabulary 3. **Christ's Holiness**: Jesus as "the Holy One of God" (Mark 1:24; John 6:69) identifies him with divine holiness 4. **Sanctification**: The call to holiness grounds Christian ethics in God's nature
Modern scholarship has explored: 1. Rudolf Otto's influential analysis of holiness as mysterium tremendum et fascinans 2. The relationship between ritual and ethical holiness 3. The "contagion" model of holiness 4. Comparative Semitic concepts of the sacred
קדש
qdš
to be set apart, holy
586 total occurrences across 2 forms