Ezekiel 1:4

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:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

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Ezekiel 1:5 >>

whirlwind—emblematic of God's judgments (Jeremiah 23:19; Jeremiah 25:32).

out of the north—that is, from Chaldea, whose hostile forces would invade Judea from a northerly direction. The prophet conceives himself in the temple.

fire infolding itself—laying hold on whatever surrounds it, drawing it to itself, and devouring it. Literally, "catching itself," that is, kindling itself [FAIRBAIRN]. The same Hebrew occurs in Exodus 9:24, as to the "fire mingled with the hail."

brightness . . . about it—that is, about the "cloud."

out of the midst thereof—that is, out of the midst of the "fire."

colour of amber—rather, "the glancing brightness (literally, 'the eye', and so the glancing appearance) of polished brass. The Hebrew, chasmal, is from two roots, "smooth" and "brass" (compare Ezekiel 1:7; Revelation 1:15) [GESENIUS]. The Septuagint and Vulgate translate it, "electrum"; a brilliant metal compounded of gold and silver.

**Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Ezekiel 1:4:**

Ezekiel 1:27
Ezekiel 3:12
Ezekiel 8:2
Zechariah 5:6
Revelation 4:3

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Ezekiel 1:5 >>

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