A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
Ezekiel 1
Ezekiel 1 is the opening chapter of the twenty-sixth book of the Bible. The 28-verse chapter records the vision that opens Ezekiel's career as a prophet to the Jewish exiles in Babylon. It is one of the strangest and most vivid passages in the entire Bible.
The chapter opens with a specific date and location. In the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while Ezekiel was among the exiles by the Kebar River in Babylonia, the heavens opened and he saw visions of God.
A windstorm comes out of the north, an immense cloud surrounded by flashing lightning and brilliant light. In the center of the fire, Ezekiel sees the appearance of four living creatures, each with four faces and four wings. The four faces are described as a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle. Their wings touch each other and their movements are coordinated.
Beside each creature is a wheel that gleams like a crystal beryl. The wheels are described as wheels within wheels, with their rims full of eyes. Wherever the spirit goes, the creatures and the wheels go together.
Above the heads of the creatures is a vault that sparkles like ice. Above the vault is a throne of sapphire. On the throne sits a figure with the appearance of a man, glowing like metal on fire, surrounded by what looks like a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day.
Ezekiel ends the chapter by saying this was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When he sees it, he falls facedown.
Verse 1. In the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles by the River Kebar, the heavens opened and I saw visions of God.
Verse 2. On the fifth day of the month—it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin—
Verse 3. the word of the LORD came directly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Kebar. And there the LORD’s hand was upon him.
Verse 4. I looked and saw a whirlwind coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing back and forth and brilliant light all around it. In the center of the fire was a gleam like amber,
Verse 5. and within it was the form of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: They had a human form,
Verse 6. but each had four faces and four wings.
Verse 7. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the hooves of a calf, gleaming like polished bronze.
Verse 8. Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four living creatures had faces and wings,
Verse 9. and their wings were touching one another. They did not turn as they moved; each one went straight ahead.
Verse 10. The form of their faces was that of a man, and each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and also the face of an eagle.
Verse 11. Such were their faces. Their wings were spread upward; each had two wings touching the wings of the creature on either side, and two wings covering its body.
Verse 12. Each creature went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they moved.
Verse 13. In the midst of the living creatures was the appearance of glowing coals of fire, or of torches. Fire moved back and forth between the living creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it.
Verse 14. The creatures were darting back and forth as quickly as flashes of lightning.
Verse 15. When I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces.
Verse 16. The workmanship of the wheels looked like the gleam of beryl, and all four had the same likeness. Their workmanship looked like a wheel within a wheel.
Verse 17. As they moved, they went in any of the four directions, without pivoting as they moved.
Verse 18. Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around.
Verse 19. So as the living creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them, and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose.
Verse 20. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise alongside them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
Verse 21. When the creatures moved, the wheels moved; when the creatures stood still, the wheels stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose alongside them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
Verse 22. Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was the likeness of an awesome expanse, gleaming like crystal.
Verse 23. And under the expanse, their wings stretched out toward one another. Each one also had two wings covering its body.
Verse 24. When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings like the roar of many waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.
Verse 25. And there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads as they stood still with their wings lowered.
Verse 26. Above the expanse over their heads was the likeness of a throne with the appearance of sapphire, and on the throne high above was a figure like that of a man.
Verse 27. From what seemed to be His waist up, I saw a gleam like amber, with what looked like fire within it all around. And from what seemed to be His waist down, I saw what looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded Him.
Verse 28. The appearance of the brilliant light all around Him was like that of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell facedown and heard a voice speaking.
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