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EZEKIEL'S FIRST VISION OF GOD (1.1—7.27)

God's Throne

^1 (a)On the fifth day of the fourth month of the thirtieth year,^[a] I, Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, was living with the Jewish exiles by the Chebar River in Babylonia. The sky opened, and I saw a vision of God. (^2 (b)It was the fifth year since King Jehoiachin had been taken into exile.) ³ There in Babylonia beside the Chebar River, I heard the Lord speak to me, and I felt his power.

⁴ I looked up and saw a windstorm coming from the north. Lightning was flashing from a huge cloud, and the sky around it was glowing. Where the lightning was flashing, something shone like bronze. ^5 (c)At the center of the storm I saw what looked like four living creatures in human form, ⁶ but each of them had four faces and four wings. ⁷ Their legs were straight, and they had hoofs like those of a bull. They shone like polished bronze. ⁸ In addition to their four faces and four wings, they each had four human hands, one under each wing. ⁹ Two wings of each creature were spread out so that the creatures formed a square, with their wing tips touching. When they moved, they moved as a group without turning their bodies.

^10 (d)Each living creature had four different faces: a human face in front, a lion's face at the right, a bull's face at the left, and an eagle's face at the back. ¹¹ Two wings^[b] of each creature were raised so that they touched the tips of the wings of the creatures next to it, and their other two wings were folded against their bodies. ¹² Each creature faced all four directions, and so the group could go wherever they wished, without having to turn.

^13 (e)Among^[c] the creatures there was something that looked like a blazing torch, constantly moving. The fire would blaze up and shoot out flashes of lightning. ¹⁴ The creatures themselves darted back and forth with the speed of lightning.

^15 (f)As I was looking at the four creatures I saw four wheels touching the ground, one beside each of them.^{[d] 16} All four wheels were alike; each one shone like a precious stone, and each had another wheel intersecting it at right angles, ¹⁷ so that the wheels could move in any of the four directions. ^18 (g)The rims of the wheels were covered with eyes.^{[e] 19} Whenever the creatures moved, the wheels moved with them, and if the creatures rose up from the earth, so did the wheels. ²⁰ The creatures went wherever they wished, and the wheels did exactly what the creatures did, because the creatures controlled them. ²¹ So every time the creatures moved or stopped or rose in the air, the wheels did exactly the same.

^22 (h)Above the heads of the creatures there was something that looked like a dome made of dazzling crystal. ²³ There under the dome stood the creatures, each stretching out two wings toward the ones next to it and covering its body with the other two wings. ^24 (i)I heard the noise their wings made in flight; it sounded like the roar of the sea, like the noise of a huge army, like the voice of Almighty God. When they stopped flying, they folded their wings, ²⁵ but there was still a sound coming from above the dome over their heads.

^26 (j)Above the dome there was something that looked like a throne made of sapphire, and sitting on the throne was a figure that looked like a human being. ^27 (k)The figure seemed to be shining like bronze in the middle of a fire. It shone all over with a bright light ²⁸ that had in it all the colors of the rainbow. This was the dazzling light which shows the presence of the Lord.

God Calls Ezekiel to Be a Prophet

When I saw this, I fell face downward on the ground. Then I heard a voice