Ezekiel
Chapter 1
1 In the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was with the captives by the Chebar River, the sky opened, and I saw visions from God.
2 On the fifth day of the month, during the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s capture,
3 God’s message came directly to Ezekiel the priest, Buzi’s son, in the Chaldeans’ land by the Chebar river; and God’s power was with him.
4 I looked and saw a storm coming from the north. It had a big cloud and fire swirling inside it. It was shining, and from the center, it glowed like amber in the fire.
5 From within it came four living beings that looked like people.
6 Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings.
7 Their feet were straight, and the bottoms of their feet were like a calf’s hoof; they shone like polished bronze.
8 They had human hands under their wings on all four sides, and all four had faces and wings.
9 Their wings touched each other; they did not turn as they moved; each one went straight ahead.
10 Each of them had a human face, and each had a lion’s face on the right side. Each also had an ox’s face on the left side, and each of them had an eagle’s face.
11 Their faces looked like this: their wings stretched up; each had two wings touching another’s, and two covered their bodies.
12 They all went straight ahead; wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, without turning as they moved.
13 The living creatures looked like glowing, burning coals and bright lamps moving up and down among them; the fire was bright and lightning flashed from the fire.
14 The living creatures moved quickly back and forth, like a flash of lightning.
15 As I watched the living beings, I saw one wheel on the ground next to the living beings, with its four sides.
16 The wheels looked and were made like shiny yellow-green stones, and all four were alike; each one seemed to be a wheel inside another wheel.
17 When they moved, they went in four directions and did not turn as they moved.
18 The rims of the wheels were tall and frightening, and they were covered with eyes all around the four of them.
19 When the living creatures moved, the wheels moved with them; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose.
20 Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went; that’s where their spirit aimed to go, and the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living being was in the wheels.
21 When they moved, these moved; when they stopped, these stopped; and when they rose from the ground, the wheels rose too, because the spirit of the living being was in the wheels.
22 The appearance of the sky above the living creatures’ heads was like a frightening, clear crystal spread out over their heads.
23 Under the sky, their wings were straight, facing each other. Each one had two wings covering one side of its body and two wings covering the other side.
24 As they moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the sound of mighty waters, like God’s voice, a sound of talking, like the sound of an army: when they stopped, they lowered their wings.
25 A voice came from above the sky when they stood still and lowered their wings.
26 Above the sky above their heads was something that looked like a throne made from blue sapphire, and on that throne was a figure that looked like a man.
27 I saw something that looked like amber, with fire inside and around it, from the middle up and from the middle down; it looked like fire and was bright all around.
28 Like a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the shining light around it. That was what the glory of God looked like. When I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard someone speaking.