1:1 In my thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.
1:2 On the fifth of the month - it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin -
1:3 the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians.* There the hand of the Lord was on him. / *Or Chaldeans
1:4 I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north - an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal,
1:5 and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human,
1:6 but each of them had four faces and four wings.
1:7 Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze.
1:8 Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings,
1:9 and the wings of one touched the wings of another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved.
1:10 Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a human being, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle.
1:11 Such were their faces. They each had two wings spreading out upward, each wing touching that of the creature on either side; and each had two other wings covering its body.
1:12 Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went.
1:13 The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it.
1:14 The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning.
1:15 As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces.
1:16 This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like topaz, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel.
1:17 As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not change direction as the creatures went.
1:18 Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around.
1:19 When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose.
1:20 Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
1:21 When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
1:22 Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked something like a vault, sparkling like crystal, and awesome.
1:23 Under the vault their wings were stretched out one toward the other, and each had two wings covering its body.
1:24 When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty,* like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings. / *Hebrew Shaddai
1:25 Then there came a voice from above the vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings.
1:26 Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man.
1:27 I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him.
1:28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.