In the fifth day of the month,
which was the fifth year
of king Jehoiachin's captivity,
the word of the LORD
came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest,
the son of Buzi,
in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar;
and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.
Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year,
in the fourth month,
in the fifth day of the month,
as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar,
that the heavens were opened,
and I saw visions of God.
And I looked, and, behold,
a whirlwind came out of the north,
a great cloud,
and a fire infolding itself,
and a brightness was about it,
and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber,
out of the midst of the fire.
Also out of the midst thereof
came the likeness of four living creatures.
And this was their appearance;
they had the likeness of a man.
And every one had four faces,
and every one had four wings.
And they had the hands of a man
under their wings on their four sides;
As for the likeness of their faces,
they four had the face of a man,
and the face of a lion, on the right side:
and they four had the face of an ox on the left side;
they four also had the face of an eagle.
Thus were their faces:
and their wings were stretched upward;
two wings of every one were joined one to another,
and two covered their bodies.
And their feet were straight feet;
and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot:
and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.
And their whole body,
and their backs,
and their hands,
and their wings,
were full of eyes round about.
As for the likeness of the living creatures,
their appearance was like burning coals of fire,
like the appearance of torches:
And the living creatures ran and returned
as the appearance of a flash of lightning.
When they stood, they let down their wings.
And when they went,
I heard the noise of their wings,
like the noise of great waters,
as the voice of the Almighty,
a tumultuous noise, as the noise of a host:
This is the living creature that I saw
under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar;
and I knew that they were the cherubims.
And I looked, and behold,
four wheels beside the cherubim,
one wheel beside one cherub,
and another wheel beside another cherub;
and the appearance of the wheels
was as the look of a chrysolite stone.
And they four had one likeness;
and their appearance and their work was
as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.
As for their rims,
they were high and dreadful and
they four had their rims full of eyes round about.
When the living creatures went,
the wheels went beside them;
and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth,
the wheels were lifted up.
Wherever the spirit was to go, they went;
there was the spirit to go:
and the wheels were lifted up beside them;
for the spirit of the living creature
was in the wheels.
When they went,
they went in their four directions:
they didn't turn as they went,
but to the place where the head looked
they followed it;
And I heard the noise of the wings of
the living creatures as they touched one another,
and the noise of the wheels beside them,
even the noise of a great rushing.
As for the wheels,
they were called in my hearing,
the whirling wheels.
In among the wheels, between the cherubim,
were burning coals of fire.
The fire went up and down among the living creatures;
and the fire was bright,
and out of the fire went forth lightning.
Over the head of the living creature
there was the likeness of an expanse,
like the awesome crystal to look on,
stretched forth over their heads above.
Above the expanse that was over their heads
was the likeness of a throne,
as the appearance of a sapphire stone;
and on the likeness of the throne
was a likeness as the appearance of a man on it above.
I saw as it were glowing metal,
as the appearance of fire within it round about,
from the appearance of his loins and upward;
and from the appearance of his loins and downward
I saw as it were the appearance of fire,
and there was brightness round about him.
As the appearance of the bow
that is in the cloud in the day of rain,
so was the appearance of the brightness around.
This was the appearance
of the likeness of the glory of the LORD....
When I saw it, I fell on my face,
and I heard a voice of one that spoke....