Ezekiel 10

The Glory Departs from the Temple

10And I looked, and there in the ^afirmament ¹that was above the head of the cherubim, there appeared something like a sapphire stone, having the appearance of the likeness of a throne. ^2bThen He spoke to the man clothed with linen, and said, “Go in among the wheels, under the cherub, fill your hands with ^ccoals of fire from among the cherubim, and ^dscatter them over the city.” And he went in as I watched.

³Now the cherubim were standing on the ²south side of the ³temple when the man went in, and the ^ecloud filled the inner court. ^4fThen the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, and paused over the threshold of the ⁴temple; and ^gthe house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord’s ^hglory. ⁵And the ⁱsound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even in the outer court, like ^jthe voice of Almighty God when He speaks.

⁶Then it happened, when He commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from among the wheels, from among the cherubim,” that he went in and stood beside the wheels. ⁷And the cherub stretched out his hand from among the cherubim to the fire that was among the cherubim, and took some of it and put it into the hands of the man clothed with linen, who took it and went out. ^8kThe cherubim appeared to have the form of a man’s hand under their wings.

^9lAnd when I looked, there were four wheels by the cherubim, one wheel by one cherub and another wheel by each other cherub; the wheels appeared to have the color of a ^mberyl stone. ¹⁰As for their appearance, all four looked alike—as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel. ¹¹ⁿWhen they went, they went toward any of their four directions; they did not turn aside when they went, but followed in the direction the head was facing. They did not turn aside when they went. ¹²And their whole body, with their back, their hands, their wings, and the wheels that the four had, were ^ofull of eyes all around. ¹³As for the wheels, they were called in my ⁵hearing, “Wheel.”

^14pEach one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, the second face the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. ¹⁵And the cherubim were lifted up. This was ^qthe living creature I saw by the River Chebar. ^16rWhen the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubim lifted their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also did not turn from beside them. ^17sWhen ⁶the cherubim stood still, the wheels stood still, and when ⁷one was lifted up, ⁸the other lifted itself up, for the spirit of the living creature was in them.

¹⁸Then ^tthe glory of the Lord ^udeparted from the threshold of the ⁹temple and stood over the cherubim. ¹⁹And ^vthe cherubim lifted their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight. When they went out, the wheels were beside them; and they stood at the door of the ^weast gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.

^20xThis is the living creature I saw under the God of Israel ^yby the River Chebar, and I knew they were cherubim. ^21zEach one had four faces and each one four wings, and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings. ²²And ^athe likeness of their faces was the same as the faces which I had seen by the River Chebar, their appearance and their persons. ^bThey each went straight forward.