EZEKIEL CHAPTER 1
1 Now it came about in the 30th year, in the
4th [month], on the 5th [day] of the month, while I was in the midst of the
exiled people by the river Chebar, that the heavens were opened and I began to
see visions of God.
2 On the 5th [day] of the month, that is,
[in] the 5th year of the exile of King Jehoiachin,
3 the word of Jehovah occurred specifically
to Ezekiel the son of Buzi the priest in the land of the Chaldeans by the river
Chebar, and upon him in that place the hand of Jehovah came to be.
4 And I began to see, and, look! there was a
tempestuous wind coming from the north, a great cloud mass and quivering fire,
and it had a brightness all around, and out of the midst of it there was
something like the look of electrum, out of the midst of the fire.
5 And out of the midst of it there was the
likeness of 4 living creatures, and this was how they looked: they had the
likeness of earthling man.
6 And [each] one had 4 faces, and [each] one
of them 4 wings.
7 And their feet were straight feet, and the
sole of their feet was like the sole of the foot of a calf; and they were
gleaming as with the glow of burnished copper.
8 And there were the hands of a man under
their wings on their 4 sides, and the 4 of them had their faces and their wings.
9 Their wings were joining one to the other.
They would not turn when they went; they would go each one straight forward.
10 And as for the likeness of their faces,
the 4 of them had a man's face with a lion's face to the right, and the 4 of
them had a bull's face on the left; the 4 of them also had an eagle's face.
11 That is the way their faces were. And
their wings were spreading out upward. Each one had 2 joining to each other, and
2 were covering their bodies.
12 And they would go each one straight
forward. To wherever the spirit would incline to go, they would go. They would
not turn as they went.
13 And as for the likeness of the living
creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire. Something like the
appearance of torches was moving back and forth between the living creatures,
and the fire was bright, and out of the fire there was lightning going forth.
14 And on the part of the living creatures
there was a going forth and a returning as with the appearance of the lightning.
15 As I kept seeing the living creatures,
why, look! there was one wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, by the
4 faces of each.
16 As for the appearance of the wheels and
their structure, it was like the glow of chrysolite; and the 4 of them had one
likeness. And their appearance and their structure were just as when a wheel
proved to be in the midst of a wheel.
17 When they went they would go on their 4
respective sides. They would not turn another way when they went.
18 And as for their rims, they had such
height that they caused fearfulness; and their rims were full of eyes all around
the 4 of them.
19 And when the living creatures went, the
wheels would go beside them, and when the living creatures were lifted up from
the earth, the wheels would be lifted up.
20 Wherever the spirit inclined to go, they
would go, the spirit [inclining] to go there; and the wheels themselves would be
lifted up close alongside them, for the spirit of the living creature was in the
wheels.
21 When they went, these would go; and when
they stood still, these would stand still; and when they were lifted up from the
earth, the wheels would be lifted up close alongside them, for the spirit of the
living creature was in the wheels.
22 And over the heads of the living creatures
there was the likeness of an expanse like the sparkle of awesome ice, stretched
out over their heads up above.
23 And under the expanse their wings were
straight, one to the other. Each one had 2 wings covering on this side and each
one had 2 covering on that side their bodies.
24 And I got to hear the sound of their
wings, a sound like that of vast waters, like the sound of the Almighty One,
when they went, the sound of a tumult, like the sound of an encampment. When
they stood still, they would let their wings down.
25 And there came to be a voice above the
expanse that was over their head. When they stood still, they would let their
wings down.
26 And above the expanse that was over their
head there was something in appearance like sapphire stone, the likeness of a
throne. And upon the likeness of the throne there was a likeness of someone in
appearance like an earthling man upon it, up above.
27 And I got to see something like the glow
of electrum, like the appearance of fire all around inside thereof, from the
appearance of his hips and upward; and from the appearance of his hips and
downward I saw something like the appearance of fire, and he had a brightness
all around.
28 There was something like the appearance of
the bow that occurs in a cloud mass on the day of a pouring rain. That is how
the appearance was of the brightness round about. It was the appearance of the
likeness of the glory of Jehovah. When I got to see [it], then I fell upon my
face, and I began to hear the voice of one speaking (Ezekiel 1)
EZEKIEL CHAPTER 10
1 And I continued to see, and, look! upon the
expanse that was over the head of the cherubs there was something like sapphire
stone, like the appearance of the likeness of a throne, appearing above them.
2 And he proceeded to say to the man clothed
with the linen, even to say: Enter in between the wheelwork, in under the
cherubs, and fill the hollows of both your hands with coals of fire from between
the cherubs and toss [them] over the city. So he entered in before my eyes.
3 And the cherubs were standing to the right
of the house when the man entered, and the cloud was filling the inner
courtyard.
4 And the glory of Jehovah proceeded to rise
up from the cherubs to the threshold of the house, and the house gradually
became filled with the cloud, and the courtyard itself was full of the
brightness of the glory of Jehovah.
5 And the very sound of the wings of the
cherubs made itself heard to the outer courtyard, like the sound of God Almighty
when he speaks.
6 And it came about, when he commanded the
man clothed with the linen, saying: Take fire from between the wheelwork, from
between the cherubs, that he proceeded to enter and stand beside the wheel.
7 Then the cherub thrust his hand out from
between the cherubs to the fire that was between the cherubs and carried and put
[it] into the hollows of the hands of the one clothed with the linen, who now
took [it] and went out.
8 And there was seen belonging to the cherubs
the representation of a hand of earthling man under their wings.
9 And I continued to see, and, look! there
were 4 wheels beside the cherubs, one wheel beside the one cherub and one wheel
beside the other cherub, and the appearance of the wheels was like the glow of a
chrysolite stone.
10 And as for their appearance, the 4 of them
had one likeness, just as when a wheel proves to be in the midst of a wheel.
11 When they would go, to their 4 sides they
would go. They would not change direction when they went, because the place to
which the head would face, after it they would go. They would not change
direction when they went.
12 And all their flesh and their backs and
their hands and their wings and the wheels were full of eyes all around. The 4
of them had their wheels.
13 As regards the wheels, to them it was
called out in my ears, Oh wheelwork!
14 And [each] one had 4 faces. The first face
was the face of the cherub, and the second face was the face of earthling man,
and the 3rd was the face of a lion, and the 4th was the face of an eagle.
15 And the cherubs would rise -- it was the
[same] living creature that I had seen at the river Chebar --
16 and when the cherubs went, the wheels
would go alongside them; and when the cherubs lifted up their wings to be high
above the earth, the wheels would not change direction, even they themselves,
from alongside them.
17 When these stood still, they would stand
still; and when these rose, they would rise with them, for the spirit of the
living creature was in them.
18 And the glory of Jehovah proceeded to go
forth from over the threshold of the house and to stand still over the cherubs.
19 And the cherubs now lifted up their wings
and rose from the earth before my eyes. When they went forth, the wheels also
were close alongside them; and they began standing at the eastern entrance of
the gate of the house of Jehovah, and the glory of the God of Israel was over
them, from above.
20 This is the living creature that I had
seen under the God of Israel at the river Chebar, so that I came to know that
they were cherubs.
21 As for the 4, [each] one had 4 faces and
[each] one had 4 wings, and the likeness of the hands of earthling man was under
their wings.
22 And as for the likeness of their faces,
they were the faces the appearance of which I had seen by the river Chebar, the
very ones. They would go each one straight forward (Ezekiel 10).
We have not put this thing together yet, but it could be that 2 Cherubs are axles and 4 living creatures are wheel hubs to this chariot. Jesus, the glory of Jehovah is also a Cherub. More work is obviously required here.