Up high in heaven is Your throne of glory

This poem is a kedushah that would be inserted near the recitation of Isaiah 6:3 (“And one called unto another, and said: Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory”) in the liturgy. The author plays with the ascription of that verse to the divine retinue, expanding on the idea that Israel and the angels praise God in the same way. God’s rule is said to extend through heaven and earth, and even the great divine beings tremble in front of the divine glory. The opening words of the first, second, and fourth stanzas derive from Job 11:8; the absence of this phrase in the third stanza calls attention to the impermanence of the human realm.