In the fire were what looked like four living beings. In their appearance they had human form,

and four faces each, and four wings each, had they;

Their legs were straight, but the soles of their feet were like calves' feet. They gleamed like polished bronze.

They had human hands under their wings on their four sides. As for the faces and wings of the four of them,

their wings touched each other; they did not turn as they moved, but went straight ahead.

Regarding the form and appearance of their faces: they [each] had the face of a man [in front], and each had the face of a lion on the right side, and the face of an ox on the left side; all four also had the face of an eagle [at the back of their heads].

Their faces also and their wings were spread out above: so that two wings of one touched ever two wings of another, and with the other two they covered their body.

Each moved straight ahead -- wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went.

And the likeness of the living creatures: they looked like burning coals of fire; like the appearance of torches. It was continually circling among the living creatures. And the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.

Regarding the appearance of the wheels and their construction: they gleamed like chrysolite (beryl, olivine); and the four were made alike. Their appearance and construction were a wheel [set at a right angle] within a wheel.

When they moved they would go in any of the four directions they faced without turning as they moved.

Regarding their rims: they were so high that they were awesome and dreadful, and the rims of all four of them were full of eyes all around.

Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise up beside them because the spirit of the living being was in the wheel.

When the living beings moved, the wheels moved, and when they stopped moving, the wheels stopped. When they rose up from the ground, the wheels rose up from the ground; the wheels rose up beside them because the spirit of the living being was in the wheel.

and underneath the canopy, their wings spread out straight over their heads toward each other. They each also had two wings with which they covered themselves, one wing covering its body on one side and one wing covering itself on the other side.

When they moved, I heard the sound of their wings -- it was like the sound of rushing waters, or the voice of the Almighty, or the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.

Then there was a voice from above the platform over their heads when they stood still.

He said to me, "Son of man, I am sending you to the house of Israel, to rebellious nations who have rebelled against me; both they and their fathers have revolted against me to this very day.

For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD.

And as for them, whether they listen or not -- for they are a rebellious house -- they will know that a prophet has been among them.

But you, son of man, do not fear them, and do not fear their words -- even though briers and thorns surround you and you live among scorpions -- do not fear their words and do not be terrified of the looks they give you, for they are a rebellious house!

You must speak my words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious.

Therefore, thou son of man, obey thou all things, that I say unto thee, and be not thou stiffnecked, like as they are a stiffnecked household. Open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee."

not to many peoples of unintelligible speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand -- surely if I had sent you to them, they would listen to you!

But the house of Israel is unwilling to listen to you, because they are not willing to listen to me, for the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted.

So pay attention! I'm going to make you just as obstinate and unyielding as they are.

I have made your forehead harder than flint -- like diamond! Do not fear them or be terrified of the looks they give you, for they are a rebellious house."

Go to the exiles, to your fellow countrymen, and speak to them -- say to them, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says,' whether they pay attention or not."

And then I heard the sound of the wings of the living beings as they touched one another and [I heard] the sound of the wheels beside them, a great rushing sound.

I came to the exiles at Tel Abib, who lived by the Kebar River. I sat dumbfounded among them there, where they were living, for seven days.

As for you, son of man, they will put ropes on you and tie you up with them, so you cannot go out among them.

I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to reprove them, for they are a rebellious house.

But when I speak with you, I will loosen your tongue and you must say to them, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says.' Those who listen will listen, but the indifferent will refuse, for they are a rebellious house.

I've assigned you to sleep this way for 390 days, representing the years they've been sinning, as you bear symbolically the punishment of the house of Israel.

Barley cakes shalt thou eat, yet shalt thou first strike them over with man's dung, that they may see it."

Then he said to me, "Son of man, I am about to remove the bread supply in Jerusalem. They will eat their bread ration anxiously, and they will drink their water ration in terror

because they will lack bread and water. Each one will be terrified, and they will rot for their iniquity.

Then she defied my regulations and my statutes, becoming more wicked than the nations and the countries around her. Indeed, they have rejected my regulations, and they do not follow my statutes.

A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee; and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and a third part I will scatter unto all the winds, and will draw out a sword after them.

Then my anger will be fully vented; I will exhaust my rage on them, and I will be appeased. Then they will know that I, the Lord, have spoken in my jealousy when I have fully vented my rage against them.

I will send famine and wild beasts against you and they will take your children from you. Plague and bloodshed will overwhelm you, and I will bring a sword against you. I, the Lord, have spoken!"

Then your survivors will remember me among the nations where they are exiled. They will realize how I was crushed by their unfaithful heart which turned from me and by their eyes which lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves because of the evil they have done and because of all their abominable practices.

They will know that I am the Lord; my threats to bring this catastrophe on them were not empty.'

"'This is what the sovereign Lord says: Clap your hands, stamp your feet, and say, "Ah!" because of all the evil, abominable practices of the house of Israel, for they will fall by the sword, famine, and pestilence.

Then you will know that I am the Lord -- when their dead lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill and all the mountaintops, under every green tree and every leafy oak, the places where they have offered fragrant incense to all their idols.

I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land a desolate waste from the wilderness to Riblah, in all the places where they live. Then they will know that I am the Lord!"

And my eye will not take pity on you, and I will not show compassion for your ways; on you I will bring your detestable things; they will be in the midst of you, and you will know that I [am] Yahweh.'

And mine eye shall not spare, and I will not pity: I will give upon thee according to thy ways, and thine abominations, they shall be in the midst of thee; and ye knew that I am Jehovah striking.

For the seller will not regain and return to what he sold, even were they yet alive; for the vision [of punishment] regarding all the multitude [of people] will not be turned back, nor will any one of them sustain his life because of his sin.

"They have blown the trumpet and everyone is ready, but no one goes to battle, because my anger is against their whole crowd.

Even when their survivors escape, they will be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, each over his own iniquity.

They will wear sackcloth, terror will cover them; shame will be on all their faces, and all of their heads will be shaved bald.

They will discard their silver in the streets, and their gold will be treated like filth. Their silver and gold will not be able to deliver them on the day of the Lord's fury. They will not satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs because their wealth was the obstacle leading to their iniquity.

They rendered the beauty of his ornaments into pride, and with it they made their abominable images -- their detestable idols. Therefore I will render it filthy to them.

I will give it to foreigners as loot, to the world's wicked ones as plunder, and they will desecrate it.

I will turn my face away from them and they will desecrate my treasured place. Vandals will enter it and desecrate it.

I will bring the most wicked of the nations and they will take possession of their houses. I will put an end to the arrogance of the strong, and their sanctuaries will be desecrated.

Terror is coming! They will seek peace, but find none.

Disaster after disaster will come, and one rumor after another. They will seek a vision from a prophet; priestly instruction will disappear, along with counsel from the elders.

The king will mourn and the prince will be clothed with shuddering; the hands of the people of the land will tremble. Based on their behavior I will deal with them, and by their standard of justice I will judge them. Then they will know that I am the Lord!"

He said to me, "Son of man, do you see what they are doing -- the great abominations that the people of Israel are practicing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see greater abominations than these!"

He said to me, "Go in and see the evil abominations they are practicing here."

And seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel, and Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan, [was] standing in the midst of them, [and] [they were] standing {before them}. Each [one] [had] his censer in his hand, and the fragrance of the cloud of the incense [was] going up.

He said to me, "Do you see, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in the chamber of his idolatrous images? For they think, 'The Lord does not see us! The Lord has abandoned the land!'"

He also said to me, “Yet again you will see even greater repulsive acts which they are committing.”

He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Yet you will see still greater repulsive acts than these [that they are committing].”

Then he brought me to the inner court of the Lord's house. Right there at the entrance to the Lord's temple, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the Lord's temple, facing east -- they were worshiping the sun toward the east!

He said to me, "Do you see, son of man? Is it a trivial thing that the house of Judah commits these abominations they are practicing here? For they have filled the land with violence and provoked me to anger still further. Look, they are putting the branch to their nose!

Therefore I will act with fury! My eye will not pity them nor will I spare them. When they have shouted in my ears, I will not listen to them."

And he called in my ears [with] a loud voice, {saying}, "[They] have come near, the punishers of the city, and each [with] his weapon of destruction in his hand.

Next, I noticed six men coming from the direction of the upper gate which faces north, each with his war club in his hand. Among them was a man dressed in linen with a writing kit at his side. They came and stood beside the bronze altar.

Old men, young men, young women, little children, and women -- wipe them out! But do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary!" So they began with the elders who were at the front of the temple.

He said to them, "Defile the temple and fill the courtyards with corpses. Go!" So they went out and struck people down throughout the city.

While they were striking them down, I was left alone, and I threw myself face down and cried out, "Ah, sovereign Lord! Will you destroy the entire remnant of Israel when you pour out your fury on Jerusalem?"

He said to me, "The sin of the house of Israel and Judah is extremely great; the land is full of murder, and the city is full of corruption, for they say, 'The Lord has abandoned the land, and the Lord does not see!'

But as for me, my eye will not pity them nor will I spare them; I hereby repay them for what they have done."

As for their appearance, all four looked alike, as if one wheel were within another wheel.

When they moved, they would go in any of the four directions they faced without turning as they moved; in the direction the head would turn they would follow without turning as they moved,

And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had.

As for their wheels, they were called "the wheelwork" as I listened.

Then the cherubim rose up. They are the living beings that I saw by the river Chebar.

And in the going of the cherubs, the wheels go beside them; and in the cherubs lifting up their wings to be high above the earth, the wheels turn not round, even they, from being beside them.

When the cherubim stood still, the wheels stood still, and when they rose up, the wheels rose up with them, for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.

The cherubim spread their wings, and they rose up from the earth while I watched (when they went the wheels went alongside them). They stopped at the entrance to the east gate of the Lord's temple as the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them.

These were the living creatures which I saw at the Kebar River underneath the God of Israel; I knew that they were cherubim.

As for the form of their faces, they were the faces whose appearance I had seen at the Kebar River. Each one moved straight ahead.

Then said the LORD unto me, "Thou son of man: these men imagine mischief, and a wicked counsel take they in this city,

They say, 'The time is not near to build houses; the city is a cooking pot and we are the meat in it.'

Therefore, thus says the Lord God, “Your dead whom you have laid in the midst of your city are the meat and this city is the pot; but I shall force you out of [the security of] it.

"Son of man, your brothers, your relatives, and the whole house of Israel, all of them are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, 'They have gone far away from the Lord; to us this land has been given as a possession.'

"Therefore say: 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: Although I have removed them far away among the nations and have dispersed them among the countries, I have been a little sanctuary for them among the lands where they have gone.'

"When they return to it, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations.

so that they may follow my statutes and observe my regulations and carry them out. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God.

But those whose hearts are devoted to detestable things and abominations, I hereby repay them for what they have done, says the sovereign Lord."

"Son of man, you are living in the midst of a rebellious house. They have eyes to see, but do not see, and ears to hear, but do not hear, because they are a rebellious house.

"Therefore, son of man, pack up your belongings as if for exile. During the day, while they are watching, pretend to go into exile. Go from where you live to another place. Perhaps they will understand, although they are a rebellious house.

Bring out your belongings packed for exile during the day while they are watching. And go out at evening, while they are watching, as if for exile.

While they are watching, dig a hole in the wall and carry your belongings out through it.

While they are watching, raise your baggage onto your shoulder and carry it out in the dark. You must cover your face so that you cannot see the ground because I have made you an object lesson to the house of Israel."

So I did just as I was commanded. I carried out my belongings packed for exile during the day, and at evening I dug myself a hole through the wall with my hands. I went out in the darkness, carrying my baggage on my shoulder while they watched.