1. Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, when I was in the midst of the captives by the river Chobar, the heavens were opened, and I saw the visions of God.
2. On the fifth day of the month, the same was the fifth year of the captivity of king Joachin,
3. The word of the Lord came to Ezechiel the priest the son of Bud in the land of the Chaldeans, by the river Chobar: and the hand of the Lord was there upon him.
4. And I saw, and behold a whirlwind came out of the north: and a great cloud, and a fire infolding it, and brightness was about it: and out of the midst thereof, that is, out of the midst of the fire, as it were the resemblance of amber:
5. And in the midst thereof the likeness of four living creatures: and this was their appearance: there was the likeness of a man in them.
6. Every one had four faces, and every one four wings.
7. Their feet were straight feet, and the sole of their foot was like the sole of a calf's foot, and they sparkled like the appearance of glowing brass.
8. And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides: and they bad faces, and wings on the four sides,
9. And the wings of one were joined to the wings of another. They turned not when they went: but every one went straight forward.
10. And as for the likeness of their faces: there was the face of a man, and the face of a lion on the right side of all the four: and the face of an ox, on the left side of all the four: and the face of an eagle over all the four.
11. And their faces, and their wings were stretched upward: two wings of every one were joined, and two covered their bodies:
12. And every one of them went straight forward: whither the impulse of the spirit was to go, thither they went: and they turned not when they went.
13. And as for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like that of burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps. This was the vision running to and fro in the midst of the living creatures, a bright fire, and lightning going forth from the fire.
14. And the living creatures ran and returned like flashes of lightning.