Ezekiel 1

Chapter 1

The Vision of Four Figures

¹Now it came about in the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was by the ^ariver Chebar among the exiles, 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 the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, in the ^bland of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and there ^cthe hand of the Lord came upon him.)

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

⁵Within it there were figures resembling ^afour living beings. And this was their appearance: they had human ^bform.

⁶Each of them had ^afour faces and ^bfour wings.

⁷Their legs were straight and ¹their feet were like a calf’s hoof, and they gleamed like ^aburnished bronze.

⁸Under their wings on their ^afour sides were human ^bhands. As for the faces and wings of the four of them,

⁹their wings touched one another; their faces did ^anot turn when they moved, each ^bwent straight forward.

¹⁰As for the ^aform 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 all four had the face of an eagle.

¹¹Such 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.

¹³¹In the midst of the living beings there was something that looked like burning coals of ^afire, ²like torches darting back and forth among the living beings. The fire was bright, and lightning was ³flashing from the fire.

¹⁴And the living beings ^aran to and fro like bolts of ^blightning.

¹⁵Now as I looked at the living beings, behold, there was one ^awheel on the earth beside the living beings, ¹for each of the four of them.

¹⁶The ^aappearance of the wheels and their workmanship was like ¹sparkling ^bberyl, and all four of them had the same form, their appearance and workmanship being as if ²one wheel were within another.

¹⁷Whenever they ¹moved, they moved in any of their four ²directions without ^aturning as they moved.

¹⁸As for their rims they were lofty and awesome, and the rims of all four of them were ^afull of eyes round about.

^19aWhenever the living beings ¹moved, the wheels moved with them. And whenever the living beings ^brose from the earth, the wheels rose also.

^20aWherever the spirit was about to go, they would go in that direction¹. And the wheels rose close beside them; for the spirit of the living ²beings 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 ¹beings was in the wheels.

Vision of Divine Glory

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

²³Under 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 abundant waters as they went, like the ^bvoice of ¹the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the ^csound of an army camp; whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings.

²⁵And there came a voice 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 ^bresembling a throne, like ^1clapis lazuli in appearance; and on that which resembled a throne, high up, was a figure with the appearance of a ^dman.

²⁷Then I ¹noticed from the appearance of His loins and upward something ^alike ²glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw something like fire; and there was a radiance around Him.

²⁸As the appearance of the ^arainbow ¹in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the ^bglory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I ^cfell on my face and heard a voice speaking.