Ezekiel 1
The Message
Wheels Within Wheels, Like a Gyroscope
1 When I was thirty years of age, I was living with the exiles on the Kebar River. On the fifth day of the fourth month, the sky opened up and I saw visions of God.
2-3 (It was the fifth day of the month in the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin that God’s Word came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, on the banks of the Kebar River in the country of Babylon. God’s hand came upon him that day.)
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4-9 I looked: I saw an immense dust storm come from the north, an immense cloud with lightning flashing from it, a huge ball of fire glowing like bronze. Within the fire were what looked like four creatures vibrant with life. Each had the form of a human being, but each also had four faces and four wings. Their legs were as sturdy and straight as columns, but their feet were hoofed like those of a calf and sparkled from the fire like burnished bronze. On all four sides under their wings they had human hands. All four had both faces and wings, with the wings touching one another. They turned neither one way nor the other; they went straight forward.
10-12 Their faces looked like this: In front a human face, on the right side the face of a lion, on the left the face of an ox, and in back the face of an eagle. So much for the faces. The wings were spread out with the tips of one pair touching the creature on either side; the other pair of wings covered its body. Each creature went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit went, they went. They didn’t turn as they went.
13-14 The four creatures looked like a blazing fire, or like fiery torches. Tongues of fire shot back and forth between the creatures, and out of the fire, bolts of lightning. The creatures flashed back and forth like strikes of lightning.
15-16 As I watched the four creatures, I saw something that looked like a wheel on the ground beside each of the four-faced creatures. This is what the wheels looked like: They were identical wheels, sparkling like diamonds in the sun. It looked like they were wheels within wheels, like a gyroscope.
17-21 They went in any one of the four directions they faced, but straight, not veering off. The rims were immense, circled with eyes. When the living creatures went, the wheels went; when the living creatures lifted off, the wheels lifted off. Wherever the spirit went, they went, the wheels sticking right with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. When the creatures went, the wheels went; when the creatures stopped, the wheels stopped; when the creatures lifted off, the wheels lifted off, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
22-24 Over the heads of the living creatures was something like a dome, shimmering like a sky full of cut glass, vaulted over their heads. Under the dome one set of wings was extended toward the others, with another set of wings covering their bodies. When they moved I heard their wings—it was like the roar of a great waterfall, like the voice of The Strong God, like the noise of a battlefield. When they stopped, they folded their wings.
25-28 And then, as they stood with folded wings, there was a voice from above the dome over their heads. Above the dome there was something that looked like a throne, sky-blue like a sapphire, with a humanlike figure towering above the throne. From what I could see, from the waist up he looked like burnished bronze and from the waist down like a blazing fire. Brightness everywhere! The way a rainbow springs out of the sky on a rainy day—that’s what it was like. It turned out to be the Glory of God!
When I saw all this, I fell to my knees, my face to the ground. Then I heard a voice.
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Ezekiel 1
New King James Version
Ezekiel’s Vision of God
1 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by (A)the River Chebar, that (B)the heavens were opened and I saw (C)visions[a] 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 [b]Chaldeans by the River Chebar; and (D)the hand of the Lord was upon him there.
4 Then I looked, and behold, (E)a whirlwind was coming (F)out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire. 5 (G)Also from within it came the likeness of four living creatures. And (H)this was their appearance: they had (I)the likeness of a man. 6 Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings. 7 Their [c]legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the soles of calves’ feet. They sparkled (J)like the color of burnished bronze. 8 (K)The hands of a man were under their wings on their four sides; and each of the four had faces and wings. 9 Their wings touched one another. The creatures did not turn when they went, but each one went straight (L)forward.
10 As for (M)the likeness of their faces, each (N)had the face of a man; each of the four had (O)the face of a lion on the right side, (P)each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side, (Q)and each of the four had the face of an eagle. 11 Thus were their faces. Their wings stretched upward; two wings of each one touched one another, and (R)two covered their bodies. 12 And (S)each one went straight forward; they went wherever the spirit wanted to go, and they did not turn when they went.
13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, (T)like the appearance of torches going back and forth among the living creatures. The fire was bright, and out of the fire went lightning. 14 And the living creatures ran back and forth, (U)in appearance like a flash of lightning.
15 Now as I looked at the living creatures, behold, (V)a wheel was on the earth beside each living creature with its four faces. 16 (W)The appearance of the wheels and their workings was (X)like the color of beryl, and all four had the same likeness. The appearance of their workings was, as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel. 17 When they moved, they went toward any one of four directions; they did not turn aside when they went. 18 As for their rims, they were so high they were awesome; and their rims were (Y)full of eyes, all around the four of them. 19 (Z)When the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. 20 Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, because there the spirit went; and the wheels were lifted together with them, (AA)for the spirit of the [d]living creatures was in the wheels. 21 When those went, these went; when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up together with them, for the spirit of the [e]living creatures was in the wheels.
22 (AB)The likeness of the [f]firmament above the heads of the [g]living creatures was like the color of an awesome (AC)crystal, stretched out (AD)over their heads. 23 And under the firmament their wings spread out straight, one toward another. Each one had two which covered one side, and each one had two which covered the other side of the body. 24 (AE)When they went, I heard the noise of their wings, (AF)like the noise of many waters, like (AG)the voice of the Almighty, a tumult like the noise of an army; and when they stood still, they let down their wings. 25 A voice came from above the firmament that was over their heads; whenever they stood, they let down their wings.
26 (AH)And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, (AI)in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above (AJ)it. 27 Also from the appearance of His waist and upward (AK)I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around. 28 (AL)Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. (AM)This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.
Ezekiel Sent to Rebellious Israel
So when I saw it, (AN)I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking.
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 1:1 So with MT, LXX, Vg.; Syr., Tg. a vision
- Ezekiel 1:3 Or Babylonians, and so elsewhere in the book
- Ezekiel 1:7 Lit. feet
- Ezekiel 1:20 Lit. living creature; LXX, Vg. spirit of life; Tg. creatures
- Ezekiel 1:21 See note at v. 20
- Ezekiel 1:22 Or expanse
- Ezekiel 1:22 So with LXX, Tg., Vg.; MT living creature
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
