¹Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, when I was among the deportees at the River Chebar, that the heavens opened, and I saw visions from God. ²On the fifth day of the month, which was in the fifth year of the deportation of King Jehoiachin, ³the word of the Lord explicitly came to Ezekiel the son of Buzi, the priest, in the land of the Chaldeans, at the River Chebar, and the hand of the Lord came on him there. ⁴And I looked, and what I saw was a stormy wind coming from the north – a large cloud and a self-perpetuating fire which had a glare around it, and in the middle of it was a kind of amber, in the middle of the fire. ⁵And in the middle of it was an apparition of four beings, and their appearance was like this: they had a similarity to a man, ⁶but each had four faces, and they each had four wings. ⁷And their legs were straight, and the sole of their feet was like the sole of calf's foot, and they glittered like the gleam of untarnished copper. ⁸And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides, and the four of them had faces and wings. ⁹Their wings were joined one to another, and they did not turn round as they moved. Each one moved straight forwards. ¹⁰And the appearance of their faces was the face of a man, and the four of them had the face of a lion on the right, and the four of them had the face of an ox on the left, and the four of them had the face of an eagle. ¹¹Both their faces and their wings pointed upwards. Each had two wings joined to each other, and two wings covering their bodies. ¹²And each moved straight forwards. They went wherever the spirit was about to go. They did not turn round as they moved. ¹³And as for a characterization of the beings, their appearance was like burning fiery coals; it was like the appearance of torches, moving about between the beings, and the fire had a glow, and lightning came out of the fire. ¹⁴And the beings ran back and forth, in the likeness of lightning. ¹⁵And I looked at the beings, and what I saw was a wheel on the ground, next to the beings which had four faces. ¹⁶The appearance of the wheels and their nature was like the sparkling of a Tarshish gem, and the four of them had the same appearance. And their form and fashion was as a wheel inside a wheel is. ¹⁷When they moved, they went in the direction of their four sides; they did not turn round as they moved. ¹⁸And they had high wheel rims, and they were fearsome, and their rims were full of eyes around them – for all four of them. ¹⁹As the beings moved, the wheels moved alongside them, and as the beings were lifted above the ground, the wheels were lifted too. ²⁰They went wherever the spirit would be going – to where the spirit was to go. And the wheels were lifted up in concert with them, for the spirit of the being was in the wheels. ²¹When they moved, these moved, and when they stopped, these stopped, and when they were lifted above the ground, the wheels were lifted up in concert with them, for the spirit of the being was in the wheels. ²²And the appearance of what was above the heads of the beings was an expanse, like the sparkle of an awesome sheet of ice, spread out over their heads high up. ²³And under the expanse were their straight wings, facing each other. Each being had two covering their bodies on one side, and each had two covering on the other side. ²⁴And I heard the sound of their wings, like the sound of much running water, like the sound of the Almighty, as they moved – a tumultuous noise like the sound of a military encampment. When they stood still, they let their wings down. ²⁵And there was a sound above the expanse which was over their heads. When they stood still, they let their wings down. ²⁶And above the expanse which was over their heads was something with the appearance of a sapphire gemstone, as an apparition of a throne, and on the apparition of the throne was an apparition with the appearance of a man on it high up. ²⁷And I saw the lustre of amber, like the appearance of fire inside it all around, from the appearance of his waist and upwards. And as for the appearance of his waist and downwards, I saw something with the appearance of fire which had a glow all around. ²⁸As is the appearance of a rainbow, which is present in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the glow all around. It was the appearance of the manifestation of the glory of the Lord, and when I saw it, I fell face down and heard a voice speaking.