Ezekiel 1

CHAPTER 1

The Vision of Four Living Creatures

¹Now it happened in the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was by the ^ariver Chebar among the exiles, that the ^bheavens were opened, and I saw ^1cvisions of God.

²(On the fifth of the month ¹in the ^afifth year of King Jehoiachin’s exile,

³the ^aword of ¹Yahweh came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, in the ^bland of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and there ^cthe hand of Yahweh came upon him.)

⁴Then I looked, and behold, a ^astorm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light all around it, and in its midst something like the gleam of ^bglowing metal in the midst of the fire.

⁵And within it there were figures with the likeness of ^afour living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the ^blikeness of a man.

⁶And each of them had ^afour faces and ^bfour wings.

⁷And their legs were straight, and ¹their feet were like a calf’s hoof, and they sparkled like the gleam of ^aburnished bronze.

⁸And under their wings on their ^afour sides were ^bhands of a man. As for the faces and wings of the four of them,

⁹their wings touched one another; their faces did ^anot turn as they went; each ^bwent straight forward.

¹⁰And as for the ^alikeness of their faces, each had the ^bface of a man; ¹all four had the face of a lion on the right and the face of a bull on the left, and ²all four had the face of an eagle.

¹¹And such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above; each had two touching another being, and ^atwo covering their bodies.

¹²And ^aeach went straight forward; ^bwherever the spirit was about to go, they would go, without turning as they went.

¹³¹As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of ^afire, ²like the appearance of torches going back and forth among the living creatures. The fire was bright, and lightning was ³flashing from the fire.

¹⁴And the living creatures ^aran to and fro with the appearance of ^blightning.

¹⁵Then I looked at the living creatures, and behold, there was one ^awheel on the earth beside the living creatures, ¹for each of the four of them.

¹⁶The ^aappearance of the wheels and their workmanship was like the gleam of ^bberyl, and all four of them had the same likeness, their appearance and workmanship being as if ¹one wheel were within another.

¹⁷Whenever they went, they went in any of their four ¹directions without ^aturning as they went.

¹⁸And as for their rims, they were lofty and awesome, and the rims of all four of them were ^afull of eyes all around.

^19aAnd when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them. And when the living creatures ^brose from the earth, the wheels rose also.

^20aWherever the spirit was about to go, they would go in that direction, ¹where the spirit was about to go. And the wheels rose alongside of them; for the spirit of the living ²creatures was in the wheels.

^21aWhenever those went, these went; and whenever those stood still, these stood still. And whenever those rose from the earth, the wheels rose close beside them; for the spirit of the living ¹creatures was in the wheels.

The Vision of the Glory of Yahweh

²²Now ^aover the heads of the living ¹creatures there was something with the likeness of an expanse, like the awesome gleam of ²crystal, spread out over their heads above.

²³And underneath the expanse their wings were stretched out straight, one toward the other; each one also had ^atwo wings covering its body on the one side and on the other.

²⁴I also heard the sound of their wings like the ^asound of many waters as they went, like the ^1bsound of ²the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the ^csound of an army camp; whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings.

²⁵And there came a sound from above the ^aexpanse that was over their heads; whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings.

²⁶Now ^aabove the expanse that was over their heads there was something in the ^blikeness of a throne, like ^csapphire stone in appearance; and upon the likeness of the throne, high up, was the likeness of one with the appearance of a ^dman.

²⁷Then I saw from the appearance of His loins and upward something ^alike the gleam of ¹glowing metal with the appearance of fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw something with the appearance of fire; and there was a radiance all around Him.

²⁸As the appearance of the ^arainbow ¹in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the radiance all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the ^bglory of Yahweh. And I saw this, and I ^cfell on my face and heard a sound of a voice speaking.