Ezekiel

In the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, I was among the prisoners taken from our land, living by the river Chebar. The heavens opened, and I saw visions of God.

1Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

Note"The thirtieth year" is left unexplained in the Hebrew (no starting point is given, and the text never supplies one. Suggestions offered since ancient times include Ezekiel's own age, or a count from some event in the life of the nation; the ambiguity is in the original. The fourth month of the Hebrew calendar falls in roughly June–July. The Chebar was not a river in the ordinary sense but a large canal in Babylonia, near the city of Nippur, where groups of deportees from Judah had been resettled. "The prisoners taken from our land" are those exiles) Ezekiel is writing from among them, hundreds of miles east of Jerusalem.

2It was the fifth day of the month, in the fifth year after King Jehoiachin was carried away as a prisoner.

2In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin’s captivity,

NoteKing Jehoiachin of Judah surrendered Jerusalem to the Babylonians and was deported with the court, the craftsmen and the leading families. Dating events by the years since his deportation was standard practice among the exiles; the fifth year works out to about 593 BC.

3The word of the LORD came directly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar. And the hand of the LORD was on him there.

3The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.

Note"Chaldeans" is the older name for the ruling people of Babylonia; it means Babylonians. "The hand of the LORD was on him" is a fixed Hebrew phrase for a prophet being seized and overpowered by God's compelling presence: it describes the onset of the experience, not a literal touch. Note that this verse speaks of Ezekiel in the third person, though the verses on either side are in his own voice. The switch is in the Hebrew. LORD printed in this way stands for the personal name of Israel's God, four Hebrew letters usually written YHWH, which Jewish readers did not pronounce aloud.

4I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming from the north: a huge cloud with fire flashing back and forth inside it, and a bright light all around it. At its center, in the middle of the fire, was a glow like amber.

4And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.

Note"Amber" translates the Hebrew word *hashmal*, which occurs only in this book and whose meaning is uncertain. It clearly refers to some brilliant, glowing metal or alloy, early translators guessed at a gold-and-silver mix, or at electrum. "Amber" is a traditional guess, not a certainty. Babylon lay east of Judah, but invading armies and, in older poetry, the storm of God both arrive from the north; the direction carries that association.

5Out of the middle of it came the forms of four living creatures. This is what they looked like: they were shaped something like human beings.

5Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.

Note"Living creatures" renders a Hebrew word meaning, quite plainly, "living things", the text deliberately withholds a name for them here. In chapter 10 Ezekiel identifies these same beings as cherubim, the winged attendant figures whose carved images stood in the temple.

6But each one of them had four faces, and each one had four wings.

6And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.

7Their legs were straight, and the bottoms of their feet were like the hoof of a calf. They shone like polished bronze.

7And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.

NoteBronze polished to a mirror shine was among the most brilliant surfaces known in the ancient world; the comparison is to a hard, dazzling, reflective gleam.

8Under their wings, on each of their four sides, they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings.

8And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.

9Their wings touched one another. They did not turn as they moved; each one went straight ahead.

9Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.

10Their faces looked like this: each of the four had a human face, and a lion's face on the right side, and an ox's face on the left side, and each of the four also had an eagle's face.

10As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.

11That is how their faces were. Their wings were spread upward. Each creature had two wings that touched the wings of the creature beside it, and two wings that covered its body.

11Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.

12Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit meant to go, they went, and they did not turn as they moved.

12And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.

NoteThe Hebrew word here, *ruach*, means wind, breath and spirit all at once, and the text does not settle which is meant, an impulse driving the creatures, a wind, or the spirit of God. Translators must choose one word where the Hebrew holds all three.

13As for what the living creatures looked like, among them was something like burning coals of fire, like torches. This fire moved back and forth between the creatures. It was bright, and lightning flashed out of it.

13As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.

14The living creatures darted back and forth, as fast as a flash of lightning.

14And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

15As I watched the living creatures, I saw one wheel on the ground beside the living creatures.

15Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.

16The wheels and the way they were made looked like the gleam of beryl. All four looked alike. Each one was made to look like a wheel inside another wheel.

16The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

Note"Beryl" translates the Hebrew *tarshish*, named after a distant trading port; the exact stone is unknown. It was some gleaming, translucent gem, proposals include yellow topaz, chrysolite and beryl.

17When they moved, they could go in any of their four directions, and they did not turn as they moved.

17When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went.

18Their rims were tall and awesome to look at, and the rims of all four were full of eyes all around.

18As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.

Note"Rings" in the King James is an older word for the rims of a wheel, the outer band, not a separate ornament. "Dreadful" in 1611 English meant awe-inspiring, something that fills a person with dread in the sense of overwhelming reverence. It did not mean bad or unpleasant, as it does now.

19When the living creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them. When the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose too.

19And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

20Wherever the spirit meant to go, they went, since that is where the spirit was going. And the wheels rose alongside them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

20Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

21When the creatures moved, the wheels moved. When the creatures stood still, the wheels stood still. When the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose alongside them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

21When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

22Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was something like a wide expanse, awesome to look at, gleaming like crystal.

22And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.

Note"Firmament" translates the Hebrew *raqia*, a word for something hammered or beaten out flat. In Hebrew descriptions of the world it is the great dome spread over the earth, holding back the waters above; here the same kind of dome is spread over the creatures' heads, forming a floor for what sits above it.

23Under that expanse their wings were stretched out straight toward one another. Each creature also had two wings covering its body on each side.

23And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.

24When they moved, I heard the sound of their wings. It was like the roar of rushing water, like the voice of the Almighty, like the noise of a marching army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.

24And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings.

Note"The Almighty" renders the Hebrew title *Shaddai*, an ancient name for God whose original sense is uncertain, traditionally understood as "the Almighty," though some connect it with mountains. "An host" in the King James means an army on the march; the comparison is to the massed noise of troops in motion.

25And a voice came from above the expanse over their heads as they stood still with their wings lowered.

25And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.

26Above the expanse over their heads was something like a throne that looked like sapphire, a deep blue stone. On the throne, high above, was a figure that looked like a man.

26And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.

NoteThe Hebrew *sappir* is probably not the modern sapphire but lapis lazuli, the deep blue stone flecked with gold that was prized throughout the ancient Near East. Notice how carefully the wording is hedged: not a throne but "the likeness of a throne," not a man but "the appearance of a man." Ezekiel piles up these qualifiers throughout the chapter, and translations preserve them because they are the point of his grammar: he is describing a resemblance to a resemblance.

27From what seemed to be his waist upward, I saw a glow like amber, with what looked like fire inside it all around. From what seemed to be his waist downward, I saw what looked like fire, and a bright light surrounded him.

27And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.

Note"Loins" in the King James means the waist or hips.

28The bright light all around him looked like a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of someone speaking.

28As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.

Note"The bow that is in the cloud" is simply the rainbow; "bow" was the ordinary English word for it. "The glory of the LORD" translates *kavod*, a Hebrew word whose root sense is weight or heaviness, used for the visible blazing presence of God, the thing that filled the tabernacle and the temple. It is a technical term for a manifestation that can be seen, not an abstract quality of honor. Falling face down on the ground was the ordinary posture before a king or a god in that world; it signals overwhelmed submission rather than collapse.