Ezekiel 1
New Catholic Bible
Call of the Prophet[a]
Chapter 1
The Vision of Four Living Creatures.[b] 1 [c]In the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles by the River Chebar, the heavens opened, and I saw divine visions. 2 On the fifth day of the month—it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin— 3 the word of the Lord came to the priest Ezekiel, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Chebar. There the hand of the Lord was upon him.
4 [d]As I looked, I beheld a stormy wind coming from the north: an immense cloud with flashing fire and a brilliant light surrounding it. In the middle of the fire there was something that looked like gleaming amber.[e] 5 Within it, there seemed to be four living creatures with human forms.[f] 6 Each had four faces; each had four wings. 7 Their legs were straight, and they had hooves like those of a calf, sparkling with a gleam like that of burnished bronze.
8 Below their wings, they had human hands on their four sides. All four of them had faces and wings. 9 They touched one another with their wings. They did not turn as they moved; each of them moved straight ahead.
10 As for their faces, each of the four had the face of a man, the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and the face of an eagle. 11 Their wings were spread upward. Each creature had one wing touching the wing of another creature on either side, and two wings covering its body. 12 Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the Spirit wished them to go, they would do so; they never turned as they moved.
13 In the middle of the living creatures was what appeared to be burning coals of fire, like torches darting to and fro between the living creatures. The fire was bright, and lightning issued forth from the fire. 14 The living creatures kept disappearing and reappearing like flashes of lightning.
15 As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each of the four living creatures. 16 As for the appearance and the structure of the wheels, they all held the appearance of sparkling chrysolites, and all four of them looked alike; they were so constructed that each wheel appeared to have another wheel inside it. 17 They could move in any of the four directions they faced, without veering as they moved.
18 The four of them had rims that were awesome in their size, and those rims were filled with eyes all around. 19 When the living creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them, and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose with them. 20 They moved in whatever direction the Spirit wished to go, and the wheels rose with them, for the Spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. 21 When the creatures moved, the wheels also moved. When the creatures stood still, the wheels also stood still. When the creatures left the ground, the wheels also left the ground, for the Spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
22 Over the heads of the living creatures, there was what appeared to be a firmament, glittering like crystal and spread out over their heads. 23 Beneath the firmament, their wings were stretched out straight, one toward another, and each of the creatures had two wings covering its body. 24 I also heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of mighty waters, like the thunder of the Almighty. When they moved, the sound was like the noise emanating from an armed camp. And when they stood still, they lowered their wings.[g]
25 And there came a voice from above the dome over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. 26 Above the dome over their heads there was something like a sapphire in the form of a throne, and seated high above the likeness of a throne there was a form with the appearance of a man.
27 Upward from what resembled his waist I beheld what looked like fire that gave forth a brilliant light all around. 28 The radiance of the encircling light was like a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day.
Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I beheld it, I prostrated myself on the ground, and I heard a voice speaking to me.
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 1:1 Ezekiel, a priest of Jerusalem, is torn away from the temple and the worship that he loves, and joins the caravan of deportees whom Nebuchadnezzar drags off to Babylon after the first capitulation of Jerusalem in 598 B.C. At this time, Ezekiel is a contemporary of Jeremiah and has insight into the evils that are coming. The prophet denounces the infidelity of the people. Moreover, he cannot accept any longer the ancient idea of collective responsibility. He seeks rather to point out the personal responsibility of each individual.
- Ezekiel 1:1 During a vision that reminds us of the prophet Isaiah’s vision (Isa 6:1-13), Ezekiel, the poor “son of man,” is abruptly placed in the presence of the glory of the Lord. He suddenly understands the holiness of the God who seeks his people, even in exile, there on the banks of the Kebar. He understands, too, the tragic fate of this people whose sin can be removed only by being burned in fire (Deut 4:24; Isa 33:14; Heb 12:29).
- Ezekiel 1:1 We are introduced to an amazing narrative that is difficult to read because numerous additions have been made to the original version, either by the prophet himself or by one of his disciples. This can be seen even in these first three verses. Kebar is a wide, navigable canal of water leading from the Euphrates in Babylonia.
- Ezekiel 1:4 The prophet Isaiah had had the same vision, but his took place in the temple of Jerusalem (Isa 6). Ezekiel’s comes to him in the midst of pagan Babylonia. The vision comes from the north. It was from the north that the refugees had come: they left Palestine, skirted the Desert of Syria, and followed the Fertile Crescent. The “glory” of the Lord is no longer in the Jerusalem temple—and it is a priest who says so! Surrounding this glory of God as he comes are fantastic beings, represented in images taken from Babylonian art. The text adds details without restraint in order to show that God is present everywhere; the wheels, which are decorated with motifs using eyes, symbolize the Lord who sees and knows everything. These beings form a throne, as it were, for the glory of God. So great is the distance between God and human beings that the prophet does not have words to suggest the ineffable divine reality, but he nonetheless asserts its presence.
- Ezekiel 1:4 Amber: electron, a naturally occurring alloy of four-fifths gold and one-fifth silver, and amber in color; it is from amber that the Greek name is derived.
- Ezekiel 1:5 The four living beings are imagined as Assyro-Babylonian cherubim, who are regarded as servants of the various divinities and placed as guardians before temples and palaces.
- Ezekiel 1:24 The picture which Ezekiel paints fits in with the way in which the throne of God appears to Moses (Ex 24:10). The same images will be used in the Apocalypse (Ezek 4:2f).
Hesekiel 1
Svenska Folkbibeln
De fyra väsendena och Herrens tron
1 I det trettionde året,[a] på femte dagen i fjärde månaden, när jag var bland de bortförda vid floden Kebar,[b] öppnades himlen och jag fick se syner från Gud.
2 På femte dagen i månaden under det femte året[c] sedan kung Jojakin hade förts bort i fångenskap, 3 kom Herrens ord till prästen Hesekiel, Busis son, i kaldeernas land vid floden Kebar, och Herrens hand kom där över honom.
4 Jag fick se en stormvind komma norrifrån, ett stort moln med flammande eld, och det omgavs av ett sken. Mitt i skenet syntes något som var likt glänsande metall, 5 och mitt i elden syntes något som liknade fyra levande väsen. De såg ut som människor, 6 och varje väsen hade fyra ansikten och vart och ett av dem hade fyra vingar. 7 Deras ben var raka och deras fötter liknade fötterna på en kalv, och de glänste som skinande koppar. 8 De hade människohänder under sina vingar på alla fyra sidorna. Alla fyra hade ansikten och vingar. 9 Deras vingar slöt sig intill varandra, och när de gick behövde de inte vända sig utan de gick alltid rakt fram. 10 Deras ansikten liknade människoansikten, och alla fyra hade lejonansikten på högra sidan. På vänstra sidan hade alla fyra tjuransikten, och alla fyra hade örnansikten. 11 Så var det med deras ansikten. Deras vingar var utbredda upptill. Varje väsen hade två vingar som de rörde vid varandra med och två som täckte deras kroppar. 12 De gick rakt fram. Dit Anden ville gå, dit gick de, och när de gick behövde de inte vända sig. 13 Till utseendet liknade väsendena eldsglöd som brann likt facklor medan elden rörde sig fram och tillbaka mellan dem. Den gav ett sken ifrån sig och blixtar for ut ur elden. 14 Väsendena skyndade fram och tillbaka som blixtar.
15 Medan jag såg på dem, fick jag se ett hjul på jorden bredvid väsendena med de fyra ansiktena. 16 Det såg ut som om hjulen var gjorda av något som liknade krysolit, och alla fyra var likadana. Ett hjul tycktes vara inuti ett annat hjul, 17 så att de kunde gå åt alla fyra hållen utan att vända sig. 18 Hjulringarna var höga och skrämmande, och på alla fyra var hjulringarna fullsatta med ögon runt omkring. 19 När väsendena gick, gick också hjulen bredvid dem, och när de lyfte sig över jorden, lyfte sig också hjulen. 20 Dit Anden ville gå, dit gick de, och hjulen lyfte sig tillsammans med dem, för väsendenas ande var i hjulen. 21 När väsendena gick, gick också hjulen. När de stod stilla, stod också hjulen stilla. När de höjde sig upp från jorden, höjde sig också hjulen, ty väsendenas ande var i hjulen.
22 Över väsendenas huvuden syntes något som liknade ett himlavalv, likt underbar kristall, utspänt över deras huvuden. 23 Under valvet var deras vingar utbredda rakt emot varandra. Varje väsen hade två vingar som täckte den ena sidan av kroppen, och två som täckte den andra sidan. 24 När de gick, lät ljudet av deras vingar i mina öron som bruset av stora vatten, likt den Allsmäktiges röst, ett väldigt dån, likt dånet från en här. När de stod stilla, höll de sina vingar sänkta. 25 Och en röst hördes från himlavalvet över deras huvuden där de stod stilla med sänkta vingar.
26 Ovanför valvet över deras huvuden syntes något som liknade en tron gjord av safirsten. På det som liknade en tron satt en gestalt som såg ut som en människa. 27 Och jag såg något som liknade glänsande malm, omgivet runt omkring av något som liknade eld, från det som tycktes vara hans höfter och ända upp. Och neråt, från det som såg ut att vara hans höfter, såg jag något som såg ut som eld omgiven av ett sken. 28 Skenet syntes runt omkring som bågen i skyn en regnig dag.
Detta var den syn som liknade Herrens härlighet. När jag såg den föll jag ner på mitt ansikte, och jag hörde rösten av någon som talade.
Footnotes
- Hesekiel 1:1 I det trettionde året avser förmodligen profetens egen ålder.
- Hesekiel 1:1 floden Kebar var en biflod till Eufrat.
- Hesekiel 1:2 femte året 593 f. Kr.
1996, 1998 by Stiftelsen Svenska Folkbibeln
Copyright © 2004 by World Bible Translation Center