Old Testament

Ezekiel 10
The Glory Is Seen Again
101Then I looked, and there, above the vaulted ceiling[] that was over the heads of the cherubim, there was something that looked like a sapphire, shaped like a throne. It could be seen above the cherubim. 2The Lord[] said to the man dressed in linen, “Reach into the structure for the wheels that is beneath the cherubim, fill your cupped hands with fiery coals from among the cherubim, and scatter them over the city.” So he went in while I watched.
3Now the cherubim were standing on the south side of the temple while he, the man, approached, and the cloud filled the inner courtyard. 4Then the Glory of the Lord rose from above the cherubim and moved to the threshold of the temple. The temple was filled with the cloud, and the courtyard was full of the radiance of the Glory of the Lord. 5The sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far away as the outer courtyard, like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.
6When he commanded the man dressed in linen, “Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubim,” the man went and stood beside the wheel. 7Then a cherub stretched out his hand from among the cherubim and reached into the fire that was between the cherubim. He lifted up some coals, and he put them into the cupped hands of the man dressed in linen, and the man took them and went out.
8The cherubim had something that seemed like the form of a human hand under their wings.
9Then I looked, and right there beside the cherubim were four wheels, one wheel beside each cherub, and the wheels looked like topaz. 10The four of them all looked alike—there was a wheel inside each wheel.[] 11The cherubim could move in any of the four directions toward which one of them faced, without turning as they moved. They went straight ahead in the direction they faced, never turning from side to side.[]
12Their entire body, their back, their hands, their wings, and the wheels were full of eyes all around. (I mean the wheels that belonged to the four of them). 13As for the wheels, they were called “wheelwork”[] in my hearing.
14Each one of the cherubim had four faces. One face was the face of a cherub.[] The second face was the face of a man. The third was the face of a lion, and the fourth was the face of an eagle.
15Then the cherubim rose. These were the living creatures that I had seen by the Kebar Canal. 16Whenever the cherubim moved, the wheels moved alongside them, and whenever the cherubim lifted up their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels did not turn away from their side. 17When the cherubim stood still, the wheels would stand still, and when the cherubim rose, the wheels would rise with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
18Then the Glory of the Lord moved out from the threshold of the temple and took a position above the cherubim. 19As I watched, the cherubim lifted up their wings and rose from the ground. As they went out, the wheels remained beside them. They[] stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the House of the Lord, and the Glory of the God of Israel was above the cherubim. 20These were the living creatures that I had seen beneath the God of Israel at the Kebar Canal, and I now knew that they were cherubim. 21Each one had four faces, and each had four wings, with something like the hands of a man underneath their wings. 22The faces looked like the faces that I had seen by the Kebar Canal—exactly the same. Each one went straight ahead.

Footnotes

  • 10:1 Or platform
  • 10:2 The Hebrew reads he. The subject is provided for clarity.
  • 10:10 The inner wheel was apparently at right angles to the outer wheel, allowing the platform to move in any direction without the wheels turning from side to side.
  • 10:11 The expression is difficult. It apparently means that each one of the cherubim faced in one of the four directions of the compass. When the platform moved in any direction, the cherub facing that direction served as the driver. The other cherubim did not turn but remained facing their assigned direction.
  • 10:13 Or the whirling wheels or the spinning wheels
  • 10:14 In chapter 1 the corresponding face was called the face of an ox.
  • 10:19 The translation they is the reading of the Greek text. The Hebrew text reads the singular.