First vision

1 In the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, I was with the exiles at the Chebar River when the heavens opened and I saw visions of God. ² (It happened on the fifth day of the month, in the fifth year after King Jehoiachin’s deportation. ³ The Lord’s word burst in on the priest Ezekiel, Buzi’s son, in the land of Babylon at the Chebar River. There the Lord’s power overcame him.)

⁴ As I watched, suddenly a driving storm came out of the north, a great cloud flashing fire, with brightness all around. At its center, in the middle of the fire, there was something like gleaming amber. ⁵ And inside that were forms of four living creatures. This was what they looked like: Each had the form of a human being, ⁶ though each had four faces and four wings. ⁷ Their feet looked like proper feet, but the soles of their feet were like calves’ hooves, and they shone like burnished bronze. ⁸ Human hands were under their wings on all four sides. All four creatures had faces and wings, and ⁹ their wings touched each other’s wings. When they moved, they each went straight ahead without turning. ¹⁰ As for the form of their faces: each of the four had a human face, with a lion’s face on the right and a bull’s face on the left, and also an eagle’s face. ¹¹ The pairs of wings^[a] that stretched out overhead touched each other, while the other pairs covered their bodies. ¹² Each moved straight ahead wherever the wind propelled them; they moved without turning. ¹³ Regarding the creatures’ forms: they looked like blazing coals, like torches. Fire darted about between the creatures and illuminated them, and lightning flashed from the fire. ¹⁴ The creatures looked like lightning streaking back and forth.

¹⁵ As I looked at the creatures, suddenly there was a wheel on the earth corresponding to all four faces of the creatures. ¹⁶ The appearance and composition of the wheels were like sparkling topaz. There was one shape for all four of them, as if one wheel were inside another. ¹⁷ When they moved in any of the four directions, they moved without swerving. ¹⁸ Their rims were tall and terrifying, because all four of them were filled with eyes all around. ¹⁹ When the creatures moved, the wheels moved next to them. Whenever the creatures rose above the earth, the wheels also rose up. ²⁰ Wherever the wind would appear to go, the wind would make them go there too. The wheels rose up beside them, because the spirit^[b] of the creatures was in the wheels. ²¹ When they moved, the wheels^[c] moved; when they stood still, the wheels stood still; and when they rose above the earth, the wheels rose up along with them, because the spirit^[d] of the creatures was in the wheels.

²² The shape above the heads of the creatures^[e] was a dome; it was like glittering ice stretched out over their heads. ²³ Just below the dome, their outstretched wings touched each other. They each also had two wings to cover their bodies. ²⁴ Then I heard the sound of their wings when they moved forward. It was like the sound of mighty waters, like the sound of the Almighty,^[f] like the sound of tumult or the sound of an army camp. When they stood still, their wings came to rest. ²⁵ Then there was a sound from above the dome over their heads. They stood still, and their wings came to rest.

²⁶ Above the dome over their heads, there appeared something like lapis lazuli in the form of a throne. Above the form of the throne there was a form that looked like a human being. ²⁷ Above what looked like his waist, I saw something like gleaming amber, something like fire enclosing it all around. Below what looked like his waist, I saw something that appeared to be fire. Its brightness shone all around. ²⁸ Just as a rainbow lights up a cloud on a rainy day, so its brightness shone all around. This was how the form of the Lord’s glory appeared. When I saw it, I fell on my face. I heard the sound of someone speaking.

Ezekiel’s commissioning

2 The voice said to me: Human one, stand on your feet, and I’ll speak to you. ² As he spoke to me, a wind^[g] came to me and stood me on my feet, and I heard someone addressing me. ³ He said to me: Human one, I’m sending you to the Israelites, a traitorous and rebellious people. They and their ancestors have been rebelling against me to this very day. ⁴ I’m sending you to their hardheaded and hard-hearted descendants, and you will say to them: The Lord God proclaims. ⁵ Whether they listen or whether they refuse, since they are a household of rebels, they will know that a prophet has been among them.

⁶ And as for you, human one, don’t be afraid of them or their words. Don’t be afraid! You possess thistles and thorns that subdue scorpions.^[h] Don’t be afraid of their words or shrink from their presence, because they are a household of rebels. ⁷ You’ll speak my words to them whether they listen or whether they refuse. They are just a household^[i] of rebels!

⁸ As for you, human one, listen to what I say to you. Don’t become rebellious like that household of rebels. Open your mouth and eat what I give you. ⁹ Then I looked, and there in a hand stretched out to me was a scroll. ¹⁰ He spread it open in front of me, and it was filled with writing on both sides, songs of mourning, lamentation, and doom.

Description of faith

11 Faith is the reality of what we hope for, the proof of what we don’t see. ² The elders in the past were approved because they showed faith.

Acts of faith by God’s people

³ By faith we understand that the universe has been created by a word from God so that the visible came into existence from the invisible.

⁴ By faith Abel offered a better sacrifice to God than Cain, which showed that he was righteous, since God gave approval to him for his gift. Though he died, he’s still speaking through faith.

⁵ By faith Enoch was taken up so that he didn’t see death, and he wasn’t found because God took him up.^[a] He was given approval for having pleased God before he was taken up. ⁶ It’s impossible to please God without faith because the one who draws near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards people who try to find him.

⁷ By faith Noah responded with godly fear when he was warned about events he hadn’t seen yet. He built an ark to deliver his household. With his faith, he criticized the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes from faith.

⁸ By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out without knowing where he was going.

⁹ By faith he lived in the land he had been promised as a stranger. He lived in tents along with Isaac and Jacob, who were coheirs of the same promise. ¹⁰ He was looking forward to a city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

¹¹ By faith even Sarah received the ability to have a child, though she herself was barren and past the age for having children, because she believed that the one who promised was faithful. ¹² So descendants were born from one man (and he was as good as dead). They were as many as the number of the stars in the sky and as countless as the grains of sand on the seashore. ¹³ All these people died in faith without receiving the promises, but they saw the promises from a distance and welcomed them. They confessed that they were strangers and immigrants on earth. ¹⁴ People who say this kind of thing make it clear that they are looking for a homeland. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking about the country that they had left, they would have had the opportunity to return to it. ¹⁶ But at this point in time, they are longing for a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God isn’t ashamed to be called their God—he has prepared a city for them.

¹⁷ By faith Abraham offered Isaac when he was tested. The one who received the promises was offering his only son. ¹⁸ He had been told concerning him, Your legitimate descendants will come from Isaac.^{[b] 19} He figured that God could even raise him from the dead. So in a way he did receive him back from the dead.