1 It was in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth of the month, while I was among the exiles beside the river Chebar, that the heavens opened and I saw visions of God.
2 On the fifth of the month (it was the fifth year of King Jehoiachin's exile),
3 the word of the LORD came indeed to Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans beside the river Chebar; and there the hand of the LORD came upon him.
4 As I looked, behold, a storm wind was coming out of the north: a huge cloud and fire catching hold of itself, with a radiance surrounding it, and in its center, in the center of the fire, something that shone like amber.
5 Out of its center came the form of four living creatures, and this is how they looked: they had a human form.
6 Every one of them had four faces, and every one of them had four wings.
7 Their legs were straight, and their feet had soles like the hoof of a calf; they glittered with the look of polished bronze.
8 Human hands were under their wings on all four sides, and all four had faces and wings in this way:
9 their wings were joined to one another; they did not turn when they moved, but each went straight forward.
10 As for the form of their faces, they had a human face, and the four had a lion's face on the right, and the four had an ox's face on the left, and the four had an eagle's face.
11 Thus were their faces. Their wings were spread upward; each had two that joined with the wings of the other, and two covering their bodies.
12 Each went straight forward; where the spirit was to go, there they went, without turning as they moved.
13 The look of the living creatures was like coals of fire burning, like the look of torches; the fire went back and forth among the creatures, and the fire had a radiance, and lightning came out of the fire.
14 The living creatures darted to and fro, looking like flashes of lightning.
15 While I watched the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside the creatures, one for each of their four faces.
16 The wheels and their construction looked like the glint of beryl, and all four had the same form; their look and their construction were like a wheel inside a wheel.
17 When they moved, they went toward any of their four sides without turning as they went.
18 Their rims were tall and fearsome, and the rims of all four were covered with eyes all around.
19 Whenever the living creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them, and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose.
20 Where the spirit was to go, they went, there the spirit was to go; and the wheels rose together with them, because the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
21 When the creatures went, the wheels went; when they stopped, the wheels stopped; and when they rose from the ground, the wheels rose together with them, because the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
22 Above the heads of the living creature was the form of an expanse, with the glint of fearsome crystal, stretched out above, over their heads.
23 Beneath the expanse their wings were held out straight, each toward the other; each creature had two wings covering its body on this side and two covering it on that side.
24 As they moved I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of mighty waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a roar like the noise of an army camp. Whenever they stopped, they lowered their wings.
25 Then a voice sounded from above the expanse over their heads; when they stopped, they lowered their wings.
26 Above the expanse over their heads was the form of a throne, looking like sapphire stone, and seated above on the form of the throne was a form that looked like a man.
27 From what looked like his waist upward I saw something shining like amber, looking like fire enclosed all around; and from what looked like his waist downward I saw what looked like fire, with radiance surrounding him.
28 Like the look of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the look of the radiance around him. Such was the appearance of the form of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it I fell face down, and I heard a voice speaking.