Logos Bible Study

Ezekiel 1:5

The NET BibleOther versions

English

Arabic

Czech

French

German

Hebrew

Hungarian

Italian

Korean

Latin

Portuguese

Russian

Simplified Chinese

Spanish

Traditional Chinese

1:5In the fire16 were what looked like17 four living beings.18 In their appearance they had human form,19

Read in Logos

Footnotes

  1. 16 Heb “from its midst” (מִתּוֹכָהּ, mitokhah). The reads ἐν τῷ μέσῳ (en tō mesō, “in the midst of it”). The also reads ἐν for מִתּוֹךְ (mitokh) in v. 4. The translator of the of Ezekiel either read בְּתוֹךְ (bétokh, “within”) in his Hebrew exemplar or could not imagine how מִתּוֹךְ could make sense and so chose to use ἐν. The Hebrew would be understood by adding “from its midst emerged the forms of four living beings.”
  2. 17 Heb “form, figure, appearance.”
  3. 18 The Hebrew term is feminine plural yet thirty-three of the forty-five pronominal suffixes and verbal references which refer to the living beings in the chapter are masculine plural. The grammatical vacillation between masculine and feminine plurals suggests the difficulty Ezekiel had in penning these words as he was overcome by the vision of God. In ancient Near Eastern sculpture very similar images of part-human, part-animal creatures serve as throne and sky bearers. For a discussion of ancient Near Eastern parallels, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (), 1:. Ezekiel’s vision is an example of contextualization, where God accommodates his self-revelation to cultural expectations and norms.
  4. 19 They had human form may mean they stood erect.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had a human likeness,

NIVNew International Version (2011)

and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human,

CSBChristian Standard Bible

The likeness of four living creatures came from it, and this was their appearance: They looked something like a human,

NLTNew Living Translation

From the center of the cloud came four living beings that looked human,

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

And from its midst was the likeness of four living creatures, and this was their appearance: a human form,

KJV 1900King James Version

Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.