Ezekiel

The Glory Departs

I looked and saw that, in the space above the heads of the cherubim, something looked like a sapphire stone in the form of a throne.

He spoke to the man dressed in linen: “Enter through the space between the wheels under the cherubim; fill your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” And I saw him as he entered.

The cherubim stood on the right side of the temple when the man entered, and the cloud filled the inner court.

Then the glory of the Lord rose from above the cherubim; to the threshold of the temple, and the temple was filled with the cloud, while the court was filled with the radiance of the Lord’s glory.

The sound of the cherubim’s wings could be heard as far as the outer court, resembling the voice of God Almighty when he thunders.

Yet the man dressed in linen had been instructed to take the fire from between the wheels, in the space between the cherubim; so he went and stood beside the wheel.

A cherub then stretched his hand toward the fire in the space between the cherubim, took some, and handed handfuls to the man dressed in linen, who received them and went out.

At that moment, I noticed this human hand under the wings of the cherubim.

I also saw four wheels beside the cherubim, each situated next to a cherub. The wheels looked like they sparkled with the color of yellow topaz.

Regarding their appearance, the four shared the same form; each consisted of two wheels positioned crosswise,

enabling them to move in any of their four directions without turning as they moved.

In the direction the cherub’s head was turned, the wheels followed without rotating. Their rims were encircled with eyes all around.

In my hearing, the wheels were called “whirling.”

Each had four faces—the face of a cherub, the face of a man, the face of a lion, and the face of an eagle.

The cherubim ascended—they were the same creatures I had seen by the river Chebar.

When the cherubim moved, the wheels beside them moved as well; and when the cherubim raised their wings to ascend above the earth, the wheels did not leave their side.

When they stopped, the wheels stopped; when they rose, the wheels rose with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was within them.

The glory of the Lord moved from above the threshold of the house and rested on the cherubim.

Then the cherubim lifted their wings and rose above the earth in my sight; the wheels went with them. They stopped at the east gate of the house of the Lord, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.

These were the living creatures I saw under the God of Israel along the banks of the river Chebar. I recognized them as cherubim.

Each had four faces and four wings, with what seemed like human hands beneath their wings.

As for the appearance of their faces, they were the same as the faces I had seen by the river Chebar. Each one went straight ahead.