Ezekiel 1 (New American Standard)

The Vision of Four Figures

1 Now it came about in the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was by the ¹river Chebar among the exiles, the ²heavens were opened and I saw ^a3visions of God. 2 (On the fifth of the month ^bin the ⁴fifth year of King Jehoiachin's exile, 3 the ⁵word of the LORD came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, in the ⁶land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar ; and there ⁷the hand of the LORD came upon him.) 4 As I looked, behold, a ⁸storm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it, and in its midst something like ⁹glowing metal in the midst of the fire. 5 Within it there were figures resembling ¹⁰four living beings. And this was their appearance : they had human ¹¹form. 6 Each of them had ¹²four faces and ¹³four wings. 7 Their legs were straight and ^ctheir feet were like a calf's hoof , and they gleamed like ¹⁴burnished bronze. 8 Under their wings on their ¹⁵four sides were human ¹⁶hands. As for the faces and wings of the four of them, 9 their wings touched one another ; their faces did ¹⁷not turn when they moved, each ¹⁸went straight forward. 10 As for the ¹⁹form of their faces, each had the ²⁰face of a man ; ^dall four had the face of a lion on the right and the face of a bull on the left, and ^eall four had the face of an eagle. 11 Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above ; each had two touching another being, and ²¹two covering their bodies. 12 And ²²each went straight forward ; ²³wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go, without turning as they went. 13 ^fIn the midst of the living beings there was something that looked like burning coals of ²⁴fire, ^glike torches darting back and forth among the living beings. The fire was bright, and lightning was ^hflashing from the fire. 14 And the living beings ²⁵ran to and fro like bolts of ²⁶lightning. 15 Now as I looked at the living beings, behold, there was one ²⁷wheel on the earth beside the living beings, ⁱfor each of the four of them. 16 The ²⁸appearance of the wheels and their workmanship was like ^jsparkling ²⁹beryl, and all four of them had the same form, their appearance and workmanship being as if ^kone wheel were within another. 17 Whenever they ^lmoved, they ^mmoved in any of their four ⁿdirections without ³⁰turning as they ^omoved. 18 As for their rims they were lofty and awesome, and the rims of all four of them were ³¹full of eyes round about. 19 ³²Whenever the living beings ^pmoved, the wheels ^qmoved with them. And whenever the living beings ³³rose from the earth, the wheels rose also. 20 ³⁴Wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go in that direction ^r. And the wheels rose close beside them; for the spirit of the living ^sbeings was in the wheels. 21 ³⁵Whenever those went, these went ; and whenever those stood still, these stood still. And whenever those rose from the earth, the wheels rose close beside them; for the spirit of the living ^tbeings was in the wheels.

Vision of Divine Glory

22 Now ³⁶over the heads of the living ^ubeings there was something like an expanse, like the awesome gleam of ^vcrystal, spread out over their heads. 23 Under the expanse their wings were stretched out straight, one toward the other ; each one also had ³⁷two wings covering its body on the one side and on the other. 24 I also heard the sound of their wings like the ³⁸sound of abundant waters as they went, like the ³⁹voice of ^wthe Almighty, a sound of tumult like the ⁴⁰sound of an army camp ; whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings. 25 And there came a voice from above the ⁴¹expanse that was over their heads ; whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings. 26 Now ⁴²above the expanse that was over their heads there was something ⁴³resembling a throne, like ^x44lapis lazuli in appearance ; and on that which resembled a throne, high up, was a figure with the appearance of a ⁴⁵man. 27 Then I ^ynoticed from the appearance of His loins and upward something ⁴⁶like ^zglowing metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw something like fire ; and there was a radiance around Him. 28 As the appearance of the ⁴⁷rainbow ^aain the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the ⁴⁸glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I ⁴⁹fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.