Ezekiel 10

Then I looked, and above the wide expanse over the heads of the cherubim I saw something like a sapphire stone, shaped like a throne. (Cherubim are winged heavenly creatures.)

1Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.

Note"Firmament" translates Hebrew *raqia*, the same word used for the dome of the sky in Genesis 1; here it is a flat, gleaming platform stretched above the creatures' heads, with the throne resting on top of it. The stone the KJV calls "sapphire" (*sappir*) is most likely lapis lazuli, a deep blue stone prized across the ancient Near East, rather than the modern gem. Cherubim (singular "cherub"; the KJV's "cherubims" is a double plural) are winged attendant figures, closer to the winged bulls and lions carved beside Assyrian and Babylonian palace doors than to the plump infants of later European art; gold cherubim stood over the ark, and cherubim were carved on the walls of Solomon's temple.

2And the LORD said to the man dressed in linen, "Go in among the wheels, under the cherubim. Fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim, and scatter them over the city." And he went in while I watched.

2And he spake unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill thine hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them over the city. And he went in in my sight.

NoteThe man dressed in linen is the figure introduced in the previous chapter, sent through Jerusalem to mark certain people. Linen was the fabric worn by priests and temple servants. "Fill thine hand" is literal: as much as the hands could hold. Scattering burning coals over a city is the ordinary language of setting it on fire.

3Now the cherubim were standing on the south side of the temple when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court.

3Now the cherubims stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court.

NoteThe KJV's "the right side of the house" means the south side: Hebrew gives directions as though facing east, so the right hand is south and the left hand north. "The house" throughout this chapter is the temple in Jerusalem.

4Then the glory of the LORD rose up from above the cherubim and stopped over the doorway of the temple. The temple was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of the LORD's glory.

4Then the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the LORD’s glory.

Note"The glory of the LORD" (Hebrew *kavod*) is the visible presence of God as Israel's writings describe it, a blaze of light wrapped in cloud, the same thing said to have filled the tabernacle and Solomon's temple when they were dedicated. "The threshold of the house" is the doorway of the temple building itself, where the porch opened into the sanctuary.

5The sound of the cherubim's wings could be heard all the way out to the outer court. It was like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.

5And the sound of the cherubims’ wings was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when he speaketh.

NoteThe temple complex had an inner court immediately around the building and a larger outer court beyond it, so a sound reaching the outer court carried across the whole enclosure. Hebrew uses a single word (*qol*) for both "sound" and "voice," which is why the same word appears twice here. "Almighty God" renders *El Shaddai*, an ancient title for God whose original meaning is no longer certain.

6When the LORD gave his order to the man dressed in linen, saying, "Take fire from among the wheels, from among the cherubim," the man went in and stood beside a wheel.

6And it came to pass, that when he had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubims; then he went in, and stood beside the wheels.

7Then one of the cherubim reached out his hand toward the fire that was among them, took some of it, and put it into the hands of the man dressed in linen. The man took it and went out.

7And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims unto the fire that was between the cherubims, and took thereof, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it, and went out.

8The cherubim appeared to have the shape of human hands under their wings.

8And there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man’s hand under their wings.

9When I looked, I saw four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub. The wheels shone like a beryl stone, a gem with a clear greenish color.

9And when I looked, behold the four wheels by the cherubims, one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub: and the appearance of the wheels was as the colour of a beryl stone.

Note"Beryl" translates Hebrew *tarshish*, a stone named after a distant trading port. Which gem was meant is unknown; suggestions include yellow topaz, chrysolite, and beryl. The point being made is that the wheels gleamed like polished stone.

10As for how they looked, all four had the same form, as if one wheel were set inside another wheel.

10And as for their appearances, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel.

11When they moved, they could go in any of the four directions without turning as they moved. Wherever the head faced, they followed it, without turning as they moved.

11When they went, they went upon their four sides; they turned not as they went, but to the place whither the head looked they followed it; they turned not as they went.

Note"They went upon their four sides" means they could move toward any of the four directions without pivoting first. Where the KJV says "the head," the Hebrew simply says "the head" without specifying whose, whether a lead creature's head or whichever of the four faces was pointing forward is left unsaid.

12Their whole bodies, including their backs, their hands, and their wings, were covered with eyes all around, and so were the four wheels.

12And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had.

NoteThe Hebrew word translated "eyes" (*ayin*) can also mean a gleam or sparkle, and some readers understand the bodies and wheels to have been covered with glinting points of light rather than literal eyes. "Their backs" is literally "their flesh."

13As for the wheels, I heard them called out to as "the whirling wheels."

13As for the wheels, it was cried unto them in my hearing, O wheel.

NoteThe KJV's "O wheel" is a word-for-word rendering of the Hebrew *ha-galgal*. *Galgal* means a wheel, but also a whirl or whirlwind, so the phrase reads as a name for the whole rotating assembly, "the whirling thing", rather than as someone shouting at a single wheel.

14Each of the cherubim had four faces: the first was the face of a cherub, the second the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

14And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

NoteIn Ezekiel's first vision of these creatures (chapter 1) the four faces are those of an ox, a man, a lion, and an eagle. Here the first is called the face of a cherub instead of an ox, without explanation; ancient copies and translations differ at this point.

15Then the cherubim rose upward. These were the living creatures I had seen by the Kebar River.

15And the cherubims were lifted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar.

NoteThe Kebar (KJV "Chebar") was a large canal branching off the Euphrates near the city of Nippur in Babylonia, in the district where deported Judeans had been settled. Ezekiel's first vision of these creatures, described in chapter 1, took place there.

16When the cherubim moved, the wheels moved along beside them. And when the cherubim spread their wings to rise up from the ground, the wheels still did not leave their side.

16And when the cherubims went, the wheels went by them: and when the cherubims lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also turned not from beside them.

17When the cherubim stood still, the wheels stood still. When the cherubim rose up, the wheels rose with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

17When they stood, these stood; and when they were lifted up, these lifted up themselves also: for the spirit of the living creature was in them.

Note"Spirit" here is Hebrew *ruach*, which covers breath, wind, and animating life all at once; the same word is used for the wind that blows.

18Then the glory of the LORD moved away from the doorway of the temple and stopped above the cherubim.

18Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims.

19While I watched, the cherubim spread their wings and rose up from the ground, and the wheels went beside them as they went. They stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the LORD's house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.

19And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD’s house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

NoteThe temple faced east, so the east gate was its main entrance and the way out of the complex, opening toward the Kidron valley and the Mount of Olives beyond. Babylonia, where the exiles Ezekiel lived among had been taken, lay in that direction.

20These were the living creatures I had seen beneath the God of Israel by the Kebar River, and now I knew that they were cherubim.

20This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar; and I knew that they were the cherubims.

Note"Under the God of Israel" describes position: the creatures were beneath the platform on which the throne rested, holding it up, as in the opening vision of chapter 1.

21Each one had four faces and four wings, and under their wings was what looked like human hands.

21Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.

22Their faces looked exactly like the faces I had seen by the Kebar River, both in how they appeared and in the creatures themselves. Each one moved straight ahead.

22And the likeness of their faces was the same faces which I saw by the river of Chebar, their appearances and themselves: they went every one straight forward.