EZEKIEL 1

Ezekiel's Inaugural Vision   1 In my thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifthday, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River,the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.   2 On the fifth of the month--it was the fifth year ofthe exile of King Jehoiachin--   3 the word of the LORDcame to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, by theKebar River in the land of the Babylonians. There thehand of the LORD was on him.   4 I looked, and I saw a windstorm soming out of thenorth--an immense cloud with flashing lightning andsurrounded by brilliant light. The center of the firelooked like glowing metal,   5 and in the fire was whatlooked like four living creatures. In appearance theirform was human,   6 but each of them had four facesand four wings.   7 Their legs were straight; their feetwere like those of a calf and gleamed like burnishedbronze.   8 Under their wings on their four sides they hadhuman hands. All four of them had faces and wings,9 and the wings of one touched the wings of another.Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as theymoved.   10 Their faces looked like this: Each of the four hadthe face of a human being, and on the right side eachhad the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox;each also had the face of an eagle.   11 Such were theirfaces. The 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.12 Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the spiritwould go, they would go, without turning as they went.13 The appearance of the living creatures was likeburning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved backand forth among the creatures; it was bright, andlightning flashed out of it.   14 The creatures sped backand forth like flashes of lightning.   15 As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel onthe ground beside each creature with its four faces.16 This was the appearance and structure of thewheels: They sparkled like topaz, and all four lookedalike. Each appeared to be made like a wheelinterseting a wheel.   17 As they moved, they would goin any one of the four directions the creatures faced;the wheeld did not change direction as the creatureswent.   18 Their rims were high and awesome, and all fourrims were full of eyes all around.   19 When the living creatures moved, the wheelsbeside them moved; and when the living creatures rosefrom the ground, the wheels also rose.   20 Wherever thespirit would go, they would go, and the wheels wouldrise along with them, because the spirit of the livingcreatures was in the wheels.   21 When the creaturesmoved, they also moved; when the creatures stoodstill, they also stood still; and when the creatures rosefrom the ground, the wheels rose along with them,because the spirit of the living creatures was in thewheels.   22 Spread out above the heads of the living creatureswas what looked something like a vault, sparkling likecrystal, and awesome.   23 Under the vault their wingswere stretched out one toward the other, and each hadtwo wings covering its body.   24 When the creaturesmoved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar ofrushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like thetumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.   25 Then there came a voice from above the vault overtheir heads as they stood with lowered wings.   26 Abovethe vault over their heads was what looked like athrone of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne wasa figure like that of a man.   27 I saw that from whatappeared to be his waist up he looked like glowingmetal, as if full of fire, and that from there down helooked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him.28 Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on arainy day, so was the radiance around him.   This was the appearance of the likeness of the gloryof the LORD. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heardthe voice of one speaking.