1. On the fifth day of the fourth month of the thirtieth year, I, Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, was living with the Jewish exiles by the River Chebar in Babylonia. The sky opened, and I saw a vision of God. (
2. It was the fifth year since King Jehoiachin had been taken into exile.)
3. There in Babylonia beside the River Chebar, I heard the Lord speak to me and I felt his power.
4. I looked up and saw a storm coming from the north. Lightning was flashing from a huge cloud, and the sky round it was glowing. Where the lightning was flashing, something shone like bronze.
5. At the centre of the storm, I saw what looked like four living creatures in human form,
6. but each of them had four faces and four wings.
7. Their legs were straight, and they had hoofs like those of a bull. They shone like polished bronze.
8. In addition to their four faces and four wings, they each had four human hands, one under each wing.
9. Two wings of each creature were spread out so that the creatures formed a square with their wing tips touching. When they moved, they moved as a group without turning their bodies.
10. Each living creature had four different faces: a human face in front, a lion's face at the right, a bull's face at the left, and an eagle's face at the back.
11. Two wings of each creature were raised so that they touched the tips of the wings of the creatures next to it, and their other two wings were folded against their bodies.
12. Each creature faced all four directions, and so the group could go wherever they wished, without having to turn.