Ezekiel 10

The Glory of the LORD Leaves the Temple

1 Then I looked, and on the platform above the heads of the cherubim there was something like a sapphire stone, shaped like a throne, appearing above them.

2 He spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, “Go in among the wheels under the cherubim. Fill your hands with burning coals from between the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” So he went in while I watched.

3 Now the cherubim were standing on the south side of the temple when the man went in, and the cloud filled the inner courtyard.

4 The glory of the LORD rose up from the cherub and moved to the threshold of the temple. The temple was filled with the cloud, and the courtyard was full of the brightness of the LORD’s glory.

5 The sound of the cherubim’s wings could be heard as far as the outer courtyard, like the voice of God Almighty when He speaks.

The Fire Taken from the Wheels

6 When He commanded the man dressed in linen, “Take fire from between the wheels, from among the cherubim,” the man went in and stood beside a wheel.

7 Then one of the cherubim reached out his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between them. He took some and put it into the hands of the man dressed in linen, who took it and went out.

8 The cherubim appeared to have something like human hands under their wings.

9 I looked, and I saw four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub. The wheels looked like sparkling beryl.

10 As for their appearance, all four looked alike, like a wheel inside another wheel.

11 When they moved, they could go in any of the four directions without turning. They went wherever the head faced, without turning as they moved.

12 Their whole bodies, their backs, hands, wings, and wheels, were completely full of eyes all around, all four wheels.

The Cherubim Identified

13 As I listened, the wheels were called “the whirling wheels.”

14 Each cherub had four faces. One face was the face of a cherub, the second was a human face, the third was the face of a lion, and the fourth was the face of an eagle.

15 Then the cherubim rose up. These were the living beings I had seen by the Kebar River.

16 When the cherubim moved, the wheels moved beside them. When the cherubim lifted their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels did not turn away from them.

17 When they stopped, the wheels stopped. When they rose, the wheels rose with them, because the spirit of the living beings was in them.

The Glory Departs

18 Then the glory of the LORD moved away from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim.

19 When the cherubim lifted their wings and rose from the ground in my sight, the wheels rose with them. They stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the house of the LORD, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

20 These were the living beings I had seen beneath the God of Israel by the Kebar River, and I knew they were cherubim.

21 Each had four faces and four wings, and under their wings was what looked like human hands.

22 Their faces looked exactly like the faces I had seen by the Kebar River. Each one went straight ahead.