1. Now it came to pass at thirty years, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
2. In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity,
3. the word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and there the hand of the Lord came upon him.
4. And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, and a great cloud, and a fire enfolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
5. Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of man.
6. And each one had four faces, and four wings.
7. And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot; and they sparkled like the colour of highly burnished brass.
8. And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and their faces and their wings on all four sides.
9. With their wings they joined one to another; they did not return when they went; they went each one straight in the direction they were facing.
10. And the likeness of their faces was human faces; and lion faces, on the right side; and they four had ox faces on the left side; likewise they four had eagle faces.
11. Thus were their faces; and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of each one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.
12. And they went each one straight forward in the direction they were facing: wherever the Spirit directed them to go, they went; and they did not return when they went.
13. As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire and like the appearance of lit torches; the fire went up and down among the living creatures and the brightness of the fire; and out of the fire went forth lightning.
14. And the living creatures ran and turned as the appearance of lightnings.
15. Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold a wheel upon the earth with its four rims by the living creatures.
16. The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a stone of Tarsis or beryl; and they four had one likeness; and their appearance and their workmanship was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.