The Vision of Four Figures
1 Now it came about in the thirtieth year, on the fifthdayof the fourth month, while I was by the river Chebar among the exiles, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.
2 (On the fifth of the month in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s exile,
3 the word of the Lordcame expressly to Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and there the hand of the Lordcame upon him.)
4 As I looked, behold, a storm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it, and in its midst something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire.
5 Within it there were figures resembling four living beings. And this was their appearance: they had human form.
6 Each of them had four faces and four wings.
7 Their legs were straight and their feet were like a calf’s hoof, and they gleamed like burnished bronze.
8 Under their wings on their four sideswerehuman hands. As for the faces and wings of the four of them,
9 their wings touched one another;their facesdid not turn when they moved, each went straight forward.
10 As for the form of their faces,eachhad the face of a man; all four had the face of a lion on the right and the face of a bull on the left, and all four had the face of an eagle.
11 Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above; each had two touching anotherbeing,and two covering their bodies.
12 And each went straight forward; wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go, without turning as they went.
13 In the midst of the living beings there was something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches darting back and forth among the living beings. The fire was bright, and lightning was flashing from the fire.
14 And the living beings ran to and fro like bolts of lightning.
15 Now as I looked at the living beings, behold, there was one wheel on the earth beside the living beings, foreach ofthe four of them.
16 The appearance of the wheels and their workmanshipwaslike sparkling beryl, and all four of them had the same form, their appearance and workmanshipbeingas if one wheel were within another.
17 Whenever they moved, they moved in any of their four directions without turning as they moved.
18 As for their rims they were lofty and awesome, and the rims of all four of them were full of eyes round about.
19 Whenever the living beings moved, the wheels moved with them. And whenever the living beings rose from the earth, the wheels rosealso.
20 Wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go in that direction. And the wheels rose close beside them; for the spirit of the living beingswasin the wheels.
21 Whenever those went, these went; and whenever those stood still, these stood still. And whenever those rose from the earth, the wheels rose close beside them; for the spirit of the living beingswasin the wheels.
Vision of Divine Glory
22 Now over the heads of the living beingsthere wassomething like an expanse, like the awesome gleam of crystal, spread out over their heads.
23 Under the expanse their wingswere stretched outstraight, one toward the other; each one also had two wings covering its body on the one side and on the other.
24 I also heard the sound of their wings like the sound of abundant waters as they went, like the voice of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army camp; whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings.
25 And there came a voice from above the expanse that was over their heads; whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings.
26 Now above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli in appearance; and on that which resembled a throne, high up,wasa figure with the appearance of a man.
27 Then I noticed from the appearance of His loins and upward something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw something like fire; andthere wasa radiance around Him.
28 As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, sowasthe appearance of the surrounding radiance. Suchwasthe appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I sawit,I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.
—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/80/32k/EZK/1-a2343b8874dc4eb29f330114d39c2692.mp3?version_id=100—