Old/New Testament

God gives Ezekiel visions

1 It was the 30th year.^[a] God spoke to me on the fifth day of the fourth month.^[b] I was among the prisoners from Judah at the side of the Kebar river.^[c] At that time the skies opened and I saw visions from God.

² King Jehoiachin of Judah had been a prisoner in Babylon for five years. On the fifth day of the month, ³ the Lord spoke to Ezekiel, the priest.^[d] He was the son of Buzi. He was standing beside the River Kebar in Babylon. While Ezekiel was there, the Lord came to him with power.

⁴ As I looked, I saw a great storm that was coming from the north. It was a large cloud, with bright lightning. Light shone all around the cloud. It was like a fire that had bright metal in the centre of it. ⁵ I could see something like four living things in the middle of the fire. Each of them had the shape of a human. ⁶ But each of them had four faces and four wings. ⁷ Their legs were straight. Their feet were like the feet of young cows. They shone like bright bronze. ⁸ They had human hands under their wings on the four sides. Each of these four living things had faces and wings that were like this: ⁹ Their wings touched each other. All the living things moved forward together. They did not turn as they moved.

¹⁰ This is what their faces looked like: Each of the living things had four faces. There was a human face at the front. There was a lion's face on the right side. There was a bull's face on the left side. Each of them also had the face of an eagle. ¹¹ Their wings waved up above them. Two wings of each living thing touched the wings of the living things on each side of them. Each living thing covered its body with its other two wings. ¹² The living things each moved forward, in the direction that the spirit wanted them to go. They did not turn as they moved.

¹³ In the middle of the living things was a fire. It looked like coals that were burning, or like bright flames. The fire moved around among the living things. It shone brightly, with lightning coming out from it. ¹⁴ The living things moved around very quickly, as fast as lightning.

¹⁵ I continued to look at the four living things. Each of them had a wheel on the ground at its side.^{[e] 16} The four wheels all looked the same. They shone like bright jewels. The wheels were made like this: Each wheel had another wheel that went across the middle of it. ¹⁷ They moved forward in the same direction that the living things moved. They did not turn in any other direction. ¹⁸ The wheels had high edges. Eyes completely covered the edges of all the wheels.

¹⁹ When the living things moved, the wheels moved with them. If the living beings rose up from the ground, the wheels rose with them. ²⁰ The living things went wherever the spirit wanted them to go. The wheels would also go with them. That was because the spirit of the living things was in each wheel. ²¹ When the living things moved, the wheels also moved. When the living things stopped, the wheels stopped moving too. When the living things rose up from the ground, the wheels went up at their side. That happened because the spirit of the living things was in each wheel.

²² I saw something over the heads of the living things. It looked like a high roof that shone brightly like ice. ²³ The living things all stood under the roof. Each of them stood with its wings held out towards the living things on each side of it. They covered their bodies with their other two wings. ²⁴ When they moved, I could hear the sound of their wings. They made a noise like lots of water that pours along a river. It was also like the voice of the Almighty God, or the noise of a great army. When the living things stopped moving, they put their wings down at their sides.

²⁵ While they stood with their wings down at their sides, I heard a voice. It came from above the roof over their heads. ²⁶ Above the roof, there was something that looked like a throne. It was made of a blue jewel called sapphire. On the throne, high above, I saw something that looked like the shape of a man. ²⁷ The top part of his body shone like a fire with bright metal in the centre of it. The lower part of his body looked like flames of fire. All around the human shape, there was a very bright light. ²⁸ It shone with the colours of a rainbow in the clouds when there is rain. This bright light showed the glory of the Lord, who was there.

When I saw this, I bent down low with my face on the ground. I heard a voice that was speaking to me.

God chooses Ezekiel to be his messenger

2 The voice said to me, ‘Son of man, you must stand up on your feet. Then I will speak to you.’ ² A spirit came into me while he spoke.^[f] He made me stand up and I heard him speak to me.

³ He said, ‘Son of man, I am sending you to Israel's people. They are a nation of people who have turned against me. They and their ancestors have refused to obey me, even until today. ⁴ I am sending you to speak to these people. They do not accept my authority and they refuse to change. But you must say to them, “This is what the Almighty Lord says.”

⁵ The Israelites may listen to what you say, or they may not listen. They do not want to obey me. But they will know that I have sent a prophet to them. ⁶ You must not be afraid of them, son of man. Do not be afraid of their words either. It may seem that you are living with thorn bushes all around you. You may think that they can hurt you like dangerous scorpions. But do not be afraid of what they say to you, or how they look at you. Remember that they refuse to obey me. ⁷ You must speak my words to them, whether they listen to you or not. They are people who refuse to obey me. ⁸ But you must listen to what I say to you, son of man. Do not refuse to obey me, as those people refuse to obey me. Open your mouth and eat what I will give to you.’

⁹ When I looked, I saw a hand! It held out a scroll towards me.^{[g] 10} He opened the scroll so that I could see inside it. I saw words that were written on both sides of the scroll. There were sad funeral songs, and words about great trouble that make you weep.

What it means to trust God

11 This is what it means to trust God: We will be sure about the things that we hope for. We will be sure in our minds about things that we cannot even see. ² It was because of their faith that God said good things about the people of long ago. ³ Because of faith, we understand about how God made the universe. He spoke his word to make it happen. In that way, God made all the things that we can see. He made them from things that nobody could see.

⁴ Abel believed God. So he offered a better sacrifice to God than Cain did. And because of Abel's faith, God accepted him as right with him. God said that he was happy with Abel's gifts. Because Abel trusted God, we can still learn from his faith. Abel died long ago, but it is like he is still speaking to us.^[a]

⁵ Enoch also believed God. Because of Enoch's faith, God took him away to heaven. He did not die like other people. As a result, nobody could ever find him, because God had taken him away. Before God took him away, it was clear that Enoch had made God happy.^[b]

⁶ Unless we trust God, it is impossible for us to make God happy. Anyone who comes to God must believe that God is there. They must also believe that God helps everyone who wants to know him.

⁷ Noah believed God too. God told Noah about bad things that would happen. Nobody could see what would happen, but Noah believed God's message. He was careful to do exactly what God told him. He built a large ship to save his family. As a result of his faith, Noah showed that everyone else in the world was wrong. Noah himself became one of those people that God accepted as right with him. They are right with God because they trust him.^[c]

⁸ Abraham also believed God. When God told him to leave his home, he obeyed God. He left his home to go to another country, but he did not know where he was going. It was the place that God had promised to give to Abraham. ⁹ Because of his faith, Abraham went to live like a stranger in that foreign country. God had promised to give that country to him, but Abraham lived there in tents. Isaac and Jacob also lived there in tents like strangers. God had also promised them that the land would belong to them one day.^{[d] 10} We see that Abraham was waiting to live in God's special place. That is the city that God himself has built. God has made it very strong so that it will be there for ever.^[e]

¹¹ Abraham and his wife, Sarah, were too old to have children. But Abraham believed God's promise that they would have children. He trusted God to do what he had promised. As a result of his faith, God made it possible for him and Sarah to have a baby.^{[f] 12} Abraham was so old that he was almost like a dead man. But from this one man there came very many grandchildren. His family became so large that nobody could count them. They were like the number of stars in the sky. They were as many as the bits of sand on the shore of the sea.^[g]

¹³ All these people continued to believe God until they died. But they did not receive all the things that God had promised to give them. They were like people who saw those things far away. That made them happy. These people understood that they lived as strangers and travellers on the earth. ¹⁴ People who live in that way show that they expect to live somewhere else one day. That is the place where they will really be at home. ¹⁵ They were not thinking about the country that they had left. They could have gone back there if they really wanted to. ¹⁶ No, they wanted very much to go to a better place, in heaven. For that reason, God is not ashamed for them to call him their God. He has already prepared a city for them to live in.

¹⁷ Here is another example of Abraham's faith. God wanted to see whether Abraham really trusted him. Because Abraham believed God, he offered his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice. God had promised Abraham that he would have many grandchildren. But Abraham was still ready to offer his only son as a sacrifice. ¹⁸ God had said to Abraham, ‘It is through Isaac that your family will continue.’ ¹⁹ But Abraham was sure that, if Isaac died, God could raise Isaac to life again. We could even say that is a picture of what really happened. It was like Abraham did receive Isaac back from death.^[h]