1Then I looked, and behold, in the expanse that was above the head of the cherubim there appeared over them something like a sapphire stone, in appearance resembling a throne.
2And he spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, ‘Go in among the whirling wheels, beneath the cherub, and fill your hands with coals of fire from among the cherubim, and scatter them over the city.’ And he went in before my eyes.
3Now the cherubim were standing to the right of the house when the man went in, and the cloud filled the inner court.
4Then the glory of Yahweh rose up from over the cherub to the threshold of the house, and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of Yahweh.
5And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.
6And it happened, when he commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, ‘Take fire from among the whirling wheels, from among the cherubim,’ that he went in and stood beside the wheel.
7Then the cherub reached out his hand from among the cherubim to the fire that was among the cherubim, and lifted some and put it into the hands of the one clothed in linen, who took it and went out.
8And there appeared on the cherubim the form of a human hand beneath their wings.
9Then I looked, and behold, four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub and another wheel beside another cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like the gleam of a beryl stone.
10As for their appearance, the four had one likeness, as if a wheel were within a wheel.
11When they moved, they would go toward any of their four directions; they did not turn as they moved, but wherever the head faced, they followed after it; they did not turn as they moved.
12And their whole body, their backs, their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes all around—the four of them had their wheels.
13As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing, ‘The whirling wheels.’
14And each one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, the second face the face of a human, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
15And the cherubim rose up. This was the living creature that I had seen by the Kebar River.
16And when the cherubim moved, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubim lifted their wings to rise up from the earth, the wheels also did not turn away from beside them.
17When they stood, these stood, and when they rose up, these rose up with them, for the spirit of the living creature was in them.
18Then the glory of Yahweh went out from over the threshold of the house and stood over the cherubim.
19And the cherubim lifted their wings and rose up from the earth before my eyes as they went out, with the wheels beside them; and it stood at the entrance of the east gate of the house of Yahweh, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them, above.
20This was the living creature that I had seen beneath the God of Israel by the Kebar River, and I knew that they were cherubim.
21Each had four faces, and each had four wings, and the likeness of human hands was beneath their wings.
22As for the likeness of their faces, they were the same faces that I had seen by the Kebar River—their appearance and themselves. Each went straight ahead.
Open in the interactive reader →