UST EZE Chapter 1

◄ EZE 1 ► ║ ═ ©

1-2 1-2When I, Ezekiel, was thirty years old, I was living alongside the Kebar Canal, south of Babylon, among the Israelite people whom the Babylonians had forcibly removed from the land of Judah. It was the fifth day of the month of Tammuz, according to Israelite calendars. On that day, the sky looked as though it was opening, and I beheld God’s very presence. (That day was almost five years after the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar forcibly removed King Jehoiachin from Jerusalem.) 3 God spoke his messages directly to Ezekiel the priest, Buzi’s son, at that time. He lived in the Babylonian Empire, along the Kebar Canal. Yahweh empowered Ezekiel to receive what God wanted him to see and hear.)

4 As I watched, I suddenly saw a windstorm coming out of the north. It took the shape of a massive cloud with lightning-like fire continuously flashing. A brilliant light radiated all around the storm, and its center glowed like the gleam of molten, white-hot metal. 5 In the very center of the windstorm appeared what seemed to be four animate creatures. Here is what they looked like: They resembled humans, 6 but every one of them had four different faces and four wings. 7 Their legs were straight, like human legs, but their feet resembled the hooves of calves, and they glowed like the glimmer of polished bronze. 8 Each being had human hands, which rested underneath the wing that was on each of their four sides. As for their four faces and four wings—9 each creature’s wing touched the wing of another, so that, together, the four animate creatures formed a square. Whenever they moved, they did not turn, but instead moved forward in the direction of one of their four faces—either north, south, east, or west.

10 Now, their faces looked like this: In front, each creature had a face that resembled a human face. The face on the right side resembled a lion’s face. The face on the left side resembled an ox’s face, and the face in the back resembled an eagle’s face. 11 That was what their faces looked like. As for their wings, each creature’s four wings were raised and spread out above them. Two of each creature’s wings touched two of the wings of the other creatures that were on either side of it. The other two wings were folded so as to cover the creature’s bodily form. 12 Without rotating as they went, these animate creatures always moved in the direction of one of their faces. They advanced in whichever cardinal direction their life-breath went. 13 The form of the four animate creatures resembled glowing charcoal in the middle of a blazing fire or like flaming torches. Their fire flashed back and forth among the four creatures. It gave off a brilliant, fiery light, and streaks of lightning darted out of the fire. 14 Yes, the creatures were moving back and forth so rapidly that they resembled lightning strikes!

15 As I watched them I suddenly noticed a, single wheel on the ground beside each of the four-faced creatures. 16 Each wheel was identical, and they all glistened like the gleam of a fine topaz. In terms of their construction, each wheel was a gyroscope, made of a single wheel intersecting another wheel at a right angle. 17 Without rotating as they went, the gyroscopic wheels likewise always moved in one of the four cardinal directions corresponding to one of the faces of the four-faced creatures. 18 As for the outer rims of the gyroscopic wheels—they were towering and terrifying, and each one of the four creatures’ wheels was completely covered with eyes!

19 Whenever the animate creatures advanced, their wheels advanced alongside them. Likewise, whenever the creatures ascended above the ground, so too did their wheels. 20 The four creatures’ wheels advanced in whichever cardinal direction their life-breath went. Likewise, the wheels ascended alongside their creature, because the wheels contained the creature’s breath that gave them life. 21 Whenever the four creatures advanced, their wheels also advanced. Whenever the creatures stopped moving, their wheels also stopped. And whenever the creatures ascended above the ground, their wheels also ascended alongside. This was because the wheels contained the creatures’ breath that gave them life.

22 Above the heads of the animate creatures, there was something that resembled a vaulted dome. It was terrifying and glistened like crystalline ice, arching high over their many heads. 23 Under the vaulted dome, each creature’s four wings were stretched out—two, touching two of the wings of the other creatures that were on either side of it, and two, folded to cover the creature’s bodily form. 24 Then I heard the noise that their wings made when the four animate creatures advanced. The noise of their wings sounded like the crashing of ocean waves, or like the voice of the all-powerful God. It sounded like the din of a massive crowd of people, or like the uproar of an army marching to war. Whenever the creatures stopped, they lowered their outstretched wings. 25 Then the animate creatures stopped and lowered their outstretched wings. A voice emanating from space above the vaulted dome that was over their heads began to speak.

26 Then, above the vaulted, crystalline dome that arched high over the heads of the four beings, there was something that resembled a king’s royal chair. It looked like someone had hewn it from sapphire stones. And something sat high above on that sapphire throne—a being that looked human. 27 I noticed that, above what seemed like his waist, the bodily form of this humanoid figure resembled the gleaming glow of molten, white-hot metal, completely enclosed by fire. Then, I noticed that the bodily form below what seemed like his waist resembled a blazing fire. Radiating all around, brilliant light 28 shone like a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day. This is what the brilliant radiance that glowed all around looked like. This light displayed how powerful and wondrous Yahweh is while he appeared to me. When I saw all of this, I prostrated myself flat onto the ground. Then, I heard the humanoid figure who was sitting on that sapphire throne begin to speak.

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