Old/New Testament
1 1-3 Ezekiel was a priest (the son of Buzi) who lived with the Jewish exiles beside the Chebar Canal in Babylon.
One day late in June, when I was thirty years old,[a] the heavens were suddenly opened to me and I saw visions from God. 4 I saw, in this vision, a great storm coming toward me from the north, driving before it a huge cloud glowing with fire, with a mass of fire inside that flashed continually; and in the fire there was something that shone like polished brass.
5 Then from the center of the cloud, four strange forms appeared that looked like men, 6 except that each had four faces and two pairs of wings! 7 Their legs were like those of men, but their feet were cloven like calves’ feet, and shone like burnished brass. 8 And beneath each of their wings I could see human hands.
9 The four living beings were joined wing to wing, and they flew straight forward without turning. 10 Each had the face of a man in front,[b] with a lion’s face on the right side of his head, and the face of an ox on the left side, and the face of an eagle at the back! 11 Each had two pairs of wings spreading out from the middle of his back. One pair stretched out to attach to the wings of the living beings on each side, and the other pair covered his body. 12 Wherever their spirit[c] went they went, going straight forward without turning.
13 Going up and down among them were other forms that glowed like bright coals of fire or brilliant torches, and it was from these the lightning flashed. 14 The living beings darted to and fro, swift as lightning.
15 As I stared at all of this, I saw four wheels on the ground beneath them, one wheel belonging to each. 16 The wheels looked as if they were made of polished amber, and each wheel was constructed with a second wheel crosswise inside.[d] 17 They could go in any of the four directions without having to face around. 18 The four wheels had rims and spokes, and the rims were filled with eyes around their edges.
19-21 When the four living beings flew forward, the wheels moved forward with them. When they flew upwards, the wheels went up too. When the living beings stopped, the wheels stopped. For the spirit of the four living beings was in the wheels; so wherever their spirit went, the wheels and the living beings went there too.
22 The sky spreading out above them looked as though it were made of crystal; it was inexpressibly beautiful.
23 The wings of each stretched straight out to touch the others’ wings, and each had two wings covering his body. 24 And as they flew, their wings roared like waves against the shore, or like the voice of God, or like the shouting of a mighty army. When they stopped, they let down their wings. 25 And every time they stopped, there came a voice from the crystal sky above them.[e]
26 For high in the sky above them was what looked like a throne made of beautiful blue sapphire stones, and upon it sat someone who appeared to be a Man.
27-28 From his waist up, he seemed to be all glowing bronze, dazzling like fire; and from his waist down he seemed to be entirely flame, and there was a glowing halo like a rainbow all around him. That was the way the glory of the Lord appeared to me. And when I saw it, I fell face downward on the ground and heard the voice of someone speaking to me:
2 And he said to me: “Stand up, son of dust,[f] and I will talk to you.”
2 And the Spirit entered into me as he spoke, and set me on my feet.
3 “Son of dust,” he said, “I am sending you to the nation of Israel, to a nation rebelling against me. They and their fathers have kept on sinning against me until this very hour. 4 For they are a hard-hearted, stiff-necked people. But I am sending you to give them my messages—the messages of the Lord God. 5 And whether they listen or not (for remember, they are rebels), they will at least know they have had a prophet among them.
6 “Son of dust, don’t be afraid of them; don’t be frightened even though their threats are sharp and barbed and sting like scorpions. Don’t be dismayed by their dark scowls. For remember, they are rebels! 7 You must give them my messages whether they listen or not (but they won’t,[g] for they are utter rebels). 8 Listen, son of dust, to what I say to you. Don’t you be a rebel too! Open your mouth and eat what I give you.”
9-10 Then I looked and saw a hand holding out to me a scroll, with writing on both sides. He unrolled it, and I saw that it was full of warnings and sorrows and pronouncements of doom.
11 What is faith? It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead. 2 Men of God in days of old were famous for their faith.
3 By faith—by believing God—we know that the world and the stars—in fact, all things—were made at God’s command; and that they were all made from things that can’t be seen.[a]
4 It was by faith that Abel obeyed God and brought an offering that pleased God more than Cain’s offering did. God accepted Abel and proved it by accepting his gift; and though Abel is long dead, we can still learn lessons from him about trusting God.
5 Enoch trusted God too, and that is why God took him away to heaven without dying; suddenly he was gone because God took him. Before this happened God had said[b] how pleased he was with Enoch. 6 You can never please God without faith, without depending on him. Anyone who wants to come to God must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely look for him.
7 Noah was another who trusted God. When he heard God’s warning about the future, Noah believed him even though there was then no sign of a flood, and wasting no time, he built the ark and saved his family. Noah’s belief in God was in direct contrast to the sin and disbelief of the rest of the world—which refused to obey—and because of his faith he became one of those whom God has accepted.
8 Abraham trusted God, and when God told him to leave home and go far away to another land that he promised to give him, Abraham obeyed. Away he went, not even knowing where he was going. 9 And even when he reached God’s promised land, he lived in tents like a mere visitor as did Isaac and Jacob, to whom God gave the same promise. 10 Abraham did this because he was confidently waiting for God to bring him to that strong heavenly city whose designer and builder is God.
11 Sarah, too, had faith, and because of this she was able to become a mother in spite of her old age, for she realized that God, who gave her his promise, would certainly do what he said. 12 And so a whole nation came from Abraham, who was too old to have even one child—a nation with so many millions of people that, like the stars of the sky and the sand on the ocean shores, there is no way to count them.
13 These men of faith I have mentioned died without ever receiving all that God had promised them; but they saw it all awaiting them on ahead and were glad, for they agreed that this earth was not their real home but that they were just strangers visiting down here. 14 And quite obviously when they talked like that, they were looking forward to their real home in heaven.
15 If they had wanted to, they could have gone back to the good things of this world. 16 But they didn’t want to. They were living for heaven. And now God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has made a heavenly city for them.
17 While God was testing him, Abraham still trusted in God and his promises, and so he offered up his son Isaac and was ready to slay him on the altar of sacrifice; 18 yes, to slay even Isaac, through whom God had promised to give Abraham a whole nation of descendants!
19 He believed that if Isaac died God would bring him back to life again; and that is just about what happened, for as far as Abraham was concerned, Isaac was doomed to death, but he came back again alive!
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.