A word about Ezekiel
1
📚Now this happened in the thirtieth year✭, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, when I was among the captives✭ by the Kebar River✭: the heavens were opened✭, and I saw visions of God.2 📚On the fifth day of the month, which was in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, 3 📚the word of the LORD came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi✭, in the land of the Chaldeans✭ by the Kebar River; and there the hand of the LORD was on him.
Ezekiel’s vision of God’s glory
4 📚✭And I looked and saw a whirlwind coming out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire unfolding itself. And a brightness was around it, and radiating from its center something like the colour of amber, from inside the fire. 5 📚✭✭Also from its center came the likeness of four living beings. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man. 6 📚And each one had four faces, and each one had four wings. 7 📚And their legs were straight legs, and the soles of their feet were like the soles of a calf’s foot; and they gleamed like the colour of burnished bronze. 8 📚And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and the four of them had their faces and their wings. 9 📚Their wings were joined to one another. The beings did not turn as they went; each one went straight forward.
10 📚As for the likeness of their faces, each of the four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side; and each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and each of the four also had the face of an eagle. 11 📚Thus were their faces. And their wings were stretched upward. Two wings of each one were joined to one another, and two covered their bodies. 12 📚And each one went straight forward. Wherever the spirit would go, they went; and they did not turn as they went. 13 📚As for the likeness of the living beings, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of torches. The fire went up and down among the living beings, and the fire was bright, and out of the fire came lightning. 14 📚And the living beings sped back and forth like the appearance of a flash of lightning.
15 📚Now as I was watching the living beings, one wheel appeared on the earth by each of the living beings, with their four faces. 16 📚The appearance of the wheels✭ and their workmanship was like the colour of beryl. And the four had the same likeness; and their appearance and their workmanship was like a wheel inside another wheel. 17 📚When they went, they went in the direction of one of their four sides, and they did not turn as they went. 18 📚As for their rings, they were so high that they were awesome; and their rims were full of eyes all around the four of them.
19 📚And when the living beings went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living beings were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. 20 📚Wherever the spirit would go, they went, for there the spirit went. And the wheels were lifted up close beside them, for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. 21 📚When those went, these went; and when those stood still, these stood still; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up close beside them, for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
Divine splendor
22 📚✭ And the likeness of the expanse above the heads of the living creature was like the colour of an awesome crystal; it was above, stretched out over their heads. 23 📚And under the expanse their wings were straight, toward one another. Each one had two which covered this side, and each one had two which covered that side of their bodies. 24 📚And when they went, I heard the sound of their wings, like the sound of great waters, like the voice of the Almighty✭, the sound of speech, like the sound of an army. When they stood still, they let down their wings.
25 📚And there came a voice from the expanse that was above their heads, when they stood and let down their wings. 26 📚And above the expanse that was above their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone. And high above, on the likeness of the throne was the likeness of the appearance of a man. 27 📚✭And I saw something like the colour of amber, like the appearance of fire all around inside it; from the appearance of his waist upward, and from the appearance of his waist downward, I saw what appeared to be fire, and it had brightness all around. 28 📚The appearance of this surrounding brightness was like the appearance of the rainbow✭ that is in the cloud on a day of rain. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory✭ of the LORD. And when I saw it, I prostrated myself, and I heard a voice of one who spoke.