< Ezekiel 1 >
1 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth [month], in the fifth [day] of the month, as I [was] among the captives by the river of Kebar, [that] the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
2 In the fifth [day] of the month, which [was] 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 river Kebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.
4 And I looked, and behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness [was] about it, and from the midst of it as the color of amber, from the midst of the fire.
5 Also from the midst of it [came] the likeness of four living creatures. And this [was] their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.
6 And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.
7 And their feet [were] straight feet; and the sole of their feet [was] like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the color of burnished brass.
8 And [they had] the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.
9 Their wings [were] joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.
10 As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.
11 Thus [were] their faces: and their wings [were] stretched upward; two [wings] of every one [were] joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.
12 And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; [and] they turned not when they went.
13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance [was] like burning coals of fire, [and] like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.
14 And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.
15 Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.
16 The appearance of the wheels and their work [was] like the color of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work [was] as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.
17 When they went, they went upon their four sides: [and] they returned not when they went.
18 As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings [were] full of eyes around them four.
19 And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.
20 Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither [was their] spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature [was] in the wheels.
21 When those went, [these] went; and when those stood, [these] stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature [was] in the wheels.
22 And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature [was] as the color of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.
23 And under the firmament [were] their wings straight, the one towards the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.
24 And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of a host: when they stood, they let down their wings.
25 And there was a voice from the firmament that [was] over their heads, when they stood, [and] had let down their wings.
26 And above the firmament that [was] over their heads [was] the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne [was] the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
27 And I saw as the color of amber, as the appearance of fire around within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness on all sides.
28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so [was] the appearance of the brightness around. This [was] the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw [it], I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one speaking.
