Ezekiel 1:4

2 On the fifth day of the month, which was in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity,

3 the word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Chebar; and ^athe hand of the Lord was upon him there.

4 Then I looked, and behold, ^aa whirlwind was coming ^bout of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire.

5 ^aAlso from within it came the likeness of four living creatures. And ^bthis was their appearance: they had ^cthe likeness of a man.

6 Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings.

7 Their¹ legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the soles of calves’ feet. They sparkled ^alike the color of burnished bronze.

8 ^aThe hands of a man were under their wings on their four sides; and each of the four had faces and wings.

9 Their wings touched one another. The creatures did not turn when they went, but each one went straight ^aforward.

10 As for ^athe likeness of their faces, each ^bhad the face of a man; each of the four had ^cthe face of a lion on the right side, ^deach of the four had the face of an ox on the left side, ^eand each of the four had the face of an eagle.

11 Thus were their faces. Their wings stretched upward; two wings of each one touched one another, and ^atwo covered their bodies.

12 And ^aeach one went straight forward; they went wherever the spirit wanted to go, and they did not turn when they went.

13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, ^alike the appearance of torches going back and forth among the living creatures. The fire was bright, and out of the fire went lightning.

14 And the living creatures ran back and forth, ^ain appearance like a flash of lightning.

15 Now as I looked at the living creatures, behold, ^aa wheel was on the earth beside each living creature with its four faces.

16 ^aThe appearance of the wheels and their workings was ^blike the color of beryl, and all four had the same likeness. The appearance of their workings was, as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

Commentaries:

Barnes' Notes

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Ezekiel 1:5 >>

Ezekiel 1:4

Out of the north - From this quarter the Assyrian conquerors came upon the holy land. The vision, though seen in Chaldaea, had reference to Jerusalem, and the seer is to contemplate judgment as it is coming upon the holy land. Others consider the words expressive of the special seat of the power of Yahweh. The high mountain range of Lebanon that closed in the holy land on the north naturally connected to the inhabitants of that country the northern region with the idea of height reaching to heaven, from which such a vision as this might be supposed to come.

Infolding itself - Forming a circle of light - flames moving round and round and following each other in rapid succession, to be as it were the framework of the glorious scene.

Amber - The original word occurs only in Ezekiel. The Septuagint and the Vulgate have "electrum," a substance composed by a mixture of silver and gold, which corresponds very well to the Hebrew word. The brightness, therefore, is that of shining metal, not of a transparent gum. Render it: "out of the midst thereof," like Ezekiel 1:7 burnished gold out of the midst of fire.

Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Ezekiel 1:4:

Isaiah 14:13
Ezekiel 20:45-49
Matthew 17:5
Acts 2:3
Acts 2:3
1 Timothy 6:16

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Ezekiel 1:5 >>

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