Ezekiel 1:4–25

⁴I looked and saw a whirlwind coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing back and forth and brilliant light all around it. In the center of the fire was a gleam like amber,^{c 5}and within it was the form of four living creatures.

And this was their appearance: They had a human form, ⁶but each had four faces and four wings. ⁷Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the hooves of a calf, gleaming like polished bronze.

⁸Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four living creatures had faces and wings, ⁹and their wings were touching one another. They did not turn as they moved; each one went straight ahead.

¹⁰The form of their faces was that of a man, and each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and also the face of an eagle. ¹¹Such were their faces.

Their wings were spread upward; each had two wings touching the wings of the creature on either side, and two wings covering its body. ¹²Each creature went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they moved.

¹³In the midst of the living creatures was the appearance of glowing coals of fire, or of torches. Fire moved back and forth between the living creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it. ¹⁴The creatures were darting back and forth as quickly as flashes of lightning.

¹⁵When I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. ¹⁶The workmanship of the wheels looked like the gleam of beryl, and all four had the same likeness. Their workmanship looked like a wheel within a wheel. ¹⁷As they moved, they went in any of the four directions, without pivoting as they moved. ¹⁸Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around. ¹⁹So as the living creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them, and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose.

²⁰Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise alongside them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. ²¹When the creatures moved, the wheels moved; when the creatures stood still, the wheels stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose alongside them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

²²Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was the likeness of an awesome expanse, gleaming like crystal. ²³And under the expanse, their wings stretched out toward one another. Each one also had two wings covering its body.

²⁴When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings like the roar of many waters, like the voice of the Almighty,^d like the tumult of an army.

When they stood still, they lowered their wings. ²⁵And there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads as they stood still with their wings lowered.