The Babylonian Exile

Thou, O Jehovah, to the age remainest, Thy throne to generation and generation.

Why for ever dost Thou forget us? Thou forsakest us for length of days!

Turn us back, O Jehovah, unto Thee, And we turn back, renew our days as of old.

For hast Thou utterly rejected us? Thou hast been wroth against us--exceedingly?

And it cometh to pass, in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month , in the fifth of the month, and I am in the midst of the Removed by the river Chebar, the heavens have been opened, and I see visions of God.

In the fifth of the month--it is the fifth year of the removal of the king Jehoiachin--

hath the word of Jehovah certainly been unto Ezekiel son of Buzi the priest, in the land of the Chaldeans, by the river Chebar, and there is on him there a hand of Jehovah.

And I look, and lo, a tempestuous wind is coming from the north, a great cloud, and fire catching itself, and brightness to it round about, and out of its midst as the colour of copper, out of the midst of the fire.

And out of its midst is a likeness of four living creatures, and this is their appearance; a likeness of man is to them,

and four faces are to each, and four wings are to each of them,

and their feet are straight feet, and the sole of their feet is as a sole of a calf's foot, and they are sparkling as the colour of bright brass;

and hands of man under their wings--on their four sides, and their faces and their wings-- are to them four;

joining one unto another are their wings, they turn not round in their going, each straight forward they go.

As to the likeness of their faces, the face of a man, and the face of a lion, toward the right are to them four, and the face of an ox on the left are to them four, and the face of an eagle are to them four.

And their faces and their wings are separate from above, to each are two joining together, and two are covering their bodies.

And each straight forward they go, whither the spirit is to go, they go, they turn not round in their going.

As to the likeness of the living creatures, their appearances are as coals of fire--burning as the appearance of lamps; it is going up and down between the living creatures, and brightness is to the fire, and out of the fire is going forth lightning.

And the living creatures are running, and turning back, as the appearance of the flash.

And I see the living creatures, and lo, one wheel is in the earth, near the living creatures, at its four faces.

The appearance of the wheels and their works is as the colour of beryl, and one likeness is to them four, and their appearances and their works are as it were the wheel in the midst of the wheel.

On their four sides, in their going they go, they turn not round in their going.

As to their rings, they are both high and fearful, and their rings are full of eyes round about them four.

And in the going of the living creatures, the wheels go beside them, and in the living creatures being lifted up from off the earth, lifted up are the wheels.

Whither the spirit is to go, they go, thither the spirit is to go, and the wheels are lifted up over-against them, for a living spirit is in the wheels.

In their going, they go; and in their standing, they stand; and in their being lifted up from off the earth, lifted up are the wheels over-against them; for a living spirit is in the wheels.