Dual PanelThe calling of Ezekiel
1ON the fifth day of the fourth month in the thirtieth year, while I was among the exiles by the river Kebar, the heavens were opened and I saw visions from God.
2On the fifth day of the month in the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin,
3the word of the LORD came to the priest Ezekiel son of Buzi, in Chaldaea by the river Kebar, and there the LORD's hand was upon him.
4In my vision I saw a storm-wind coming from the north, a vast cloud with flashes of fire and brilliant light about it; and within was a radiance like brass, glowing in the heart of the flames.
5In the fire was the likeness of four living creatures in human form.
6Each had four faces and each four wings;
7their legs were straight, and their hoofs were like the hoofs of a calf, glistening and gleaming like bronze.
8Under the wings on each of the four sides were human hands; all four creatures had faces and wings,
9and the wings of one touched those of another. They did not turn as they moved; each creature went straight forward.
10This is what their faces were like: all four had a human face and a lion's face on the right, on the left the face of an ox and the face of an eagle.
11Their wings were spread upwards; each living creature had one pair touching those of its neighbour, while one pair covered its body.
12They moved forward in whatever direction the spirit went; they never swerved from their course.
13The appearance of the creatures was as if fire from burning coals or torches were darting to and fro among them; the fire was radiant, and out of the fire came lightning.
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15As I looked at the living creatures, I saw wheels on the ground, one beside each of the four.
16The wheels sparkled like topaz, and they were all alike: in form and working they were like a wheel inside a wheel,
17and when they moved in any of the four directions they never swerved from their course.
18I saw that they had rims, and the rims were covered with eyes all around.
19When the living creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them; when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose;
20they moved in whichever direction the spirit went; and the wheels rose together with them, for the spirit of the creatures was in the wheels.
21When one moved, the other moved; when one halted, the other halted; when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose together with them, for the spirit of the creatures was in the wheels.
22Above the heads of the living creatures was, as it were, a vault glittering like a sheet of ice, awe-inspiring, stretched over their heads above them.
23Under the vault their wings were spread straight out, touching one another, while one pair covered the body of each.
24I heard, too, the noise of their wings; when they moved it was like the noise of a mighty torrent or a thunderclap, like the noise of a crowd or an armed camp; when they halted their wings dropped.
25A voice was heard from above the vault over their heads, as they halted with drooping wings.
26Above the vault over their heads there appeared, as it were, a sapphire in the shape of a throne, and exalted on the throne a form in human likeness.
27From his waist upwards I saw what might have been brass glowing like fire in a furnace; and from his waist downwards I saw what looked like fire. Radiance encircled him.
28Like a rainbow in the clouds after the rain was the sight of that encircling radiance; it was like the appearance of the glory of the LORD. When I saw this I prostrated myself, and I heard a voice: