Ezekiel 1:26

1:26 Above the platform over their heads was something like a sapphire shaped like a throne. High above on the throne was a form that appeared to be a man.

Ezekiel 1:5

1:5 In the fire ¹  were what looked like ²  four living beings. ³  In their appearance they had human form, ⁴ 

Ezekiel 10:10

10:10 As for their appearance, all four of them looked the same, something like a wheel within a wheel. ⁵ 

Ezekiel 8:2

8:2 As I watched, I noticed ⁶  a form that appeared to be a man. ⁷  From his waist downward was something like fire, ⁸  and from his waist upward something like a brightness, ⁹  like an amber glow. ¹⁰ 

Ezekiel 10:1

God’s Glory Leaves the Temple

10:1 As I watched, I saw ¹¹  on the platform ¹²  above the top of the cherubim something like a sapphire, resembling the shape of a throne, appearing above them.

Ezekiel 23:15

23:15 wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, the image of Babylonians ¹³  whose native land is Chaldea.

Ezekiel 1:28

1:28 like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds after the rain. ¹⁴  This was the appearance of the surrounding brilliant light; it looked like the glory of the Lord. When I saw ¹⁵  it, I threw myself face down, and I heard a voice speaking.

¹ tc Heb “from its midst” (מִתּוֹכָהּ, mitokhah). The LXX reads ἐν τῷ μέσῳ (en tw mesw, “in the midst of it”). The LXX also reads ἐν for מִתּוֹךְ (mitokh) in v. 4. The translator of the LXX of Ezekiel either read בְּתוֹךְ (bÿtokh, “within”) in his Hebrew exemplar or could not imagine how מִתּוֹךְ could make sense and so chose to use ἐν. The Hebrew would be understood by adding “from its midst emerged the forms of four living beings.”

² tn Heb “form, figure, appearance.”

³ tn The Hebrew term is feminine plural yet thirty-three of the forty-five pronominal suffixes and verbal references which refer to the living beings in the chapter are masculine plural. The grammatical vacillation between masculine and feminine plurals suggests the difficulty Ezekiel had in penning these words as he was overcome by the vision of God. In ancient Near Eastern sculpture very similar images of part-human, part-animal creatures serve as throne and sky bearers. For a discussion of ancient Near Eastern parallels, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:26-31. Ezekiel’s vision is an example of contextualization, where God accommodates his self-revelation to cultural expectations and norms.

⁴ sn They had human form may mean they stood erect.

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.

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

² tc The MT reads “fire” rather than “man,” the reading of the LXX. The nouns are very similar in Hebrew.

³ tc The MT reads “what appeared to be his waist and downwards was fire.” The LXX omits “what appeared to be,” reading “from his waist to below was fire.” Suggesting that “like what appeared to be” belongs before “fire,” D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:277) points out the resulting poetic symmetry of form with the next line as followed in the translation here.

⁴ tc The LXX omits “like a brightness.”

⁵ tn See Ezek 1:4.

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.

¹ tn Heb “the sons of Babel.”

¹ sn Reference to the glowing substance and the brilliant light and storm phenomena in vv. 27-28a echoes in reverse order the occurrence of these phenomena in v. 4.

² tn The vision closes with the repetition of the verb “I saw” from the beginning of the vision in 1:4.