New Century Version NCV
Good News Translation GNT
1 It was the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month of our captivity. I was by the Kebar River among the people who had been carried away as captives. The sky opened, and I saw visions of God.
1
On the fifth day of the fourth month of the thirtieth year, I, Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, was living with the Jewish exiles by the Chebar River in Babylonia. The sky opened, and I saw a vision of God.
2 It was the fifth day of the month of the fifth year that King Jehoiachin had been a prisoner.
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It was the fifth year since King Jehoiachin had been taken into exile.)
3 The Lord spoke his word to Ezekiel son of Buzi in the land of the Babylonians by the Kebar River. There he felt the power of the Lord.
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There in Babylonia beside the Chebar River, I heard the Lord speak to me, and I felt his power.
4 When I looked, I saw a stormy wind coming from the north. There was a great cloud with a bright light around it and fire flashing out of it. Something that looked like glowing metal was in the center of the fire.
4
I looked up and saw a windstorm coming from the north. Lightning was flashing from a huge cloud, and the sky around it was glowing. Where the lightning was flashing, something shone like bronze.
5 Inside the cloud was what looked like four living creatures, who were shaped like humans,
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At the center of the storm I saw what looked like four living creatures in human form,
6 but each of them had four faces and four wings.
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but each of them had four faces and four wings.
7 Their legs were straight. Their feet were like a calf's hoofs and sparkled like polished bronze.
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Their legs were straight, and they had hoofs like those of a bull. They shone like polished bronze.
8 The living creatures had human hands under their wings on their four sides. All four of them had faces and wings,
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In addition to their four faces and four wings, they each had four human hands, one under each wing.
9 and their wings touched each other. The living creatures did not turn when they moved, but each went straight ahead.
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Two wings of each creature were spread out so that the creatures formed a square, with their wing tips touching. When they moved, they moved as a group without turning their bodies.
10 Their faces looked like this: Each living creature had a human face and the face of a lion on the right side and the face of an ox on the left side. And each one also had the face of an eagle.
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Each living creature had four different faces: a human face in front, a lion's face at the right, a bull's face at the left, and an eagle's face at the back.
11 That was what their faces looked like. Their wings were spread out above. Each had two wings that touched one of the other living creatures and two wings that covered its body.
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Two wings of each creature were raised so that they touched the tips of the wings of the creatures next to it, and their other two wings were folded against their bodies.
12 Each went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, the living creatures would also go, without turning.
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Each creature faced all four directions, and so the group could go wherever they wished, without having to turn.
13 The living creatures looked like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire went back and forth among the living creatures. It was bright, and lightning flashed from it.
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Among the creatures there was something that looked like a blazing torch, constantly moving. The fire would blaze up and shoot out flashes of lightning.
14 The living creatures ran back and forth like bolts of lightning.
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The creatures themselves darted back and forth with the speed of lightning.
15 Now as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground by each of the living creatures with its four faces.
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As I was looking at the four creatures I saw four wheels touching the ground, one beside each of them.
16 The wheels and the way they were made were like this: They looked like sparkling chrysolite. All four of them looked the same, like one wheel crossways inside another wheel.
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All four wheels were alike; each one shone like a precious stone, and each had another wheel intersecting it at right angles,
17 When they moved, they went in any one of the four directions, without turning as they went.
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so that the wheels could move in any of the four directions.
18 The rims of the wheels were high and frightening and were full of eyes all around.
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The rims of the wheels were covered with eyes.
19 When the living creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them. When the living creatures were lifted up from the ground, the wheels also were lifted up.
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Whenever the creatures moved, the wheels moved with them, and if the creatures rose up from the earth, so did the wheels.
20 Wherever the spirit would go, the living creatures would go. And the wheels were lifted up beside them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
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The creatures went wherever they wished, and the wheels did exactly what the creatures did, because the creatures controlled them.
21 When the living creatures moved, the wheels moved. When the living creatures stopped, the wheels stopped. And when the living creatures were lifted from the ground, the wheels were lifted beside them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
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So every time the creatures moved or stopped or rose in the air, the wheels did exactly the same.
22 Now, over the heads of the living creatures was something like a dome that sparkled like ice and was frightening.
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Above the heads of the creatures there was something that looked like a dome made of dazzling crystal.
23 And under the dome the wings of the living creatures were stretched out straight toward one another. Each living creature also had two wings covering its body.
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There under the dome stood the creatures, each stretching out two wings toward the ones next to it and covering its body with the other two wings.
24 I heard the sound of their wings, like the roaring sound of the sea, as they moved. It was like the voice of God Almighty, a roaring sound like a noisy army. When the living creatures stopped, they lowered their wings.
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I heard the noise their wings made in flight; it sounded like the roar of the sea, like the noise of a huge army, like the voice of Almighty God. When they stopped flying, they folded their wings,
25 A voice came from above the dome over the heads of the living creatures. When the living creatures stopped, they lowered their wings.
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but there was still a sound coming from above the dome over their heads.
26 Now above the dome there was something that looked like a throne. It looked like a sapphire gem. And on the throne was a shape like a human.
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Above the dome there was something that looked like a throne made of sapphire, and sitting on the throne was a figure that looked like a human being.
27 Then I noticed that from the waist up the shape looked like glowing metal with fire inside. From the waist down it looked like fire, and a bright light was all around.
27
The figure seemed to be shining like bronze in the middle of a fire. It shone all over with a bright light
28 The surrounding glow looked like the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day. It seemed to look like the glory of the Lord. So when I saw it, I bowed facedown on the ground and heard a voice speaking.
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that had in it all the colors of the rainbow. This was the dazzling light which shows the presence of the Lord. When I saw this, I fell face downward on the ground. Then I heard a voice
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.