1. In the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles by the river Chebar, the heavens opened, and I saw divine visions.—
2. On the fifth day of the month—this was the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s exile—
3. the word of the Lord came to the priest Ezekiel, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar. There the hand of the Lord came upon him.
4. As I watched, a great stormwind came from the North, a large cloud with flashing fire, a bright glow all around it, and something like polished metal gleamed at the center of the fire.
5. From within it figures in the likeness of four living creatures appeared. This is what they looked like:
6. They were in human form, but each had four faces and four wings,
7. and their legs were straight, the soles of their feet like the hooves of a bull, gleaming like polished brass.
8. Human hands were under their wings, and the wings of one touched those of another.
9. Their faces and their wings looked out on all their four sides; they did not turn when they moved, but each went straight ahead.
10. Their faces were like this: each of the four had a human face, and on the right the face of a lion, and on the left, the face of an ox, and each had the face of an eagle.