Text -- Ezekiel 10:1-20 (NET)

God’s Glory Leaves the Temple

10:1 As I watched, I saw on the platform above the top of the cherubim something like a sapphire, resembling the shape of a throne, appearing above them. 10:2 The Lord said to the man dressed in linen, “Go between the wheelwork underneath the cherubim. Fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” He went as I watched. 10:3 (The cherubim were standing on the south side of the temple when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court.) 10:4 Then the glory of the Lord arose from the cherub and moved to the threshold of the temple. The temple was filled with the cloud while the court was filled with the brightness of the Lord’s glory. 10:5 The sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard from the outer court, like the sound of the sovereign God when he speaks. 10:6 When the Lord commanded the man dressed in linen, “Take fire from within the wheelwork, from among the cherubim,” the man went in and stood by one of the wheels. 10:7 Then one of the cherubim stretched out his hand toward the fire which was among the cherubim. He took some and put it into the hands of the man dressed in linen, who took it and left. 10:8 (The cherubim appeared to have the form of human hands under their wings.) 10:9 As I watched, I noticed four wheels by the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub; the wheels gleamed like jasper. 10:10 As for their appearance, all four of them looked the same, something like a wheel within a wheel. 10:11 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, 10:12 along with their entire bodies, their backs, their hands, and their wings. The wheels of the four of them were full of eyes all around. 10:13 As for their wheels, they were called “the wheelwork” as I listened. 10:14 Each of the cherubim had four faces: The first was the face of a cherub, the second that of a man, the third that of a lion, and the fourth that of an eagle. 10:15 The cherubim rose up; these were the living beings I saw at the Kebar River. 10:16 When the cherubim moved, the wheels moved beside them; when the cherubim spread their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels did not move from their side. 10:17 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. 10:18 Then the glory of the Lord moved away from the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. 10:19 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. 10:20 These were the living creatures which I saw at the Kebar River underneath the God of Israel; I knew that they were cherubim.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Eze 10:1

¹ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

² tn Or “like a dome.” See 1:22-26.

NET Notes: Eze 10:2

¹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn The Hebrew term often refers to chariot wheels (Isa 28:28; Ezek 23:24; 26:10).

³ tc The LXX, Syriac, Vulgate, and Targum mss read plural “cherubim” while the MT is singular here, “cherub.” The plural ending was probably omitted in copying the MT due to the similar beginning of the next word.

NET Notes: Eze 10:3

¹ tn Heb “right side.”

NET Notes: Eze 10:5

¹ tn The name (“El Shaddai”) has often been translated “God Almighty,” primarily because Jerome translated it omnipotens (“all powerful”) in the Latin Vulgate. There has been much debate over the meaning of the name. For discussion see W. F. Albright, “The Names Shaddai and Abram,” JBL 54 (1935): 173-210; R. Gordis, “The Biblical Root sdy-sd,” JTS 41 (1940): 34-43; and especially T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 69-72.

NET Notes: Eze 10:6

¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man dressed in linen) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Heb “the wheel.”

NET Notes: Eze 10:7

¹ tn Heb “the cherub.”

² tn The Hebrew text adds, “from among the cherubim.”

NET Notes: Eze 10:8

¹ tn The Hebrew term is normally used as an architectural term in describing the plan or pattern of the tabernacle or temple or a representation of it (see Exod 25:8; 1 Chr 28:11).

NET Notes: Eze 10:9

¹ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

² tn The MT repeats this phrase, a clear case of dittography.

³ tn Heb “Tarshish stone.” The meaning is uncertain. The term has also been translated “topaz” (NEB), “beryl” (KJV, NASB, NRSV), and “chrysolite” (RSV, NIV).

NET Notes: Eze 10:10

¹ tn Or “like a wheel at right angles to another wheel.” Some envision concentric wheels here, while others propose “a globe-like structure in which two wheels stand at right angles” (L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:33-34). See also 1:16.

NET Notes: Eze 10:11

¹ sn That is, the cherubim.

² tn Many interpreters assume that the human face of each cherub was the one that looked forward.

NET Notes: Eze 10:12

¹ tc The phrase “along with their entire bodies” is absent from the LXX and may be a gloss explaining the following words.

NET Notes: Eze 10:13

¹ tn Or “the whirling wheels.”

NET Notes: Eze 10:14

¹ tn Heb “each one”; the referent (the cherubim) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² sn The living creature described here is thus slightly different from the one described in Ezek 1:10, where a bull’s face appeared instead of a cherub’s. Note that some English versions harmonize the two descriptions and read the same here as in 1:10 (cf. NAB, NLT “an ox”; TEV, CEV “a bull”). This may be justified based on v. 22, which states the creatures’ appearance was the same.

NET Notes: Eze 10:15

¹ tn Heb “it was the living creature.”

NET Notes: Eze 10:16

¹ tn Heb “lifted.”

NET Notes: Eze 10:17

¹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the cherubim) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Heb “they”; the referent (the wheels) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the wheels) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Or “wind.”

⁵ tn Heb “living creature.”

⁶ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the wheels) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

NET Notes: Eze 10:19

¹ tn Heb “lifted.”

² tn Or “the ground” (NIV, NCV).

NET Notes: Eze 10:20

¹ tn Heb “That was the living creature.”