1 Kings 7:24-26

7:24 Under the rim all the way around it ¹  were round ornaments ²  arranged in settings 15 feet long. ³  The ornaments were in two rows and had been cast with “The Sea.” ⁴  7:25 “The Sea” stood on top of twelve bulls. Three faced northward, three westward, three southward, and three eastward. “The Sea” was placed on top of them, and they all faced outward. ⁵  7:26 It was four fingers thick and its rim was like that of a cup shaped like a lily blossom. It could hold about 12,000 gallons. ⁶ 

Ezekiel 1:10

1:10 Their faces had this appearance: Each of the four had the face of a man, with the face of a lion on the right, the face of an ox on the left and also the face of an eagle. ⁷ 

Ezekiel 10:14

10:14 Each of the cherubim ⁸  had four faces: The first was the face of a cherub, ⁹  the second that of a man, the third that of a lion, and the fourth that of an eagle.

Ezekiel 10:1

God’s Glory Leaves the Temple

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

Colossians 1:9-10

Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church

1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, ¹²  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ¹³  to fill ¹⁴  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 1:10 so that you may live ¹⁵  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ¹⁶  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

Revelation 4:7

4:7 The ¹⁷  first living creature was like a lion, the ¹⁸  second creature like an ox, the third creature had a face like a man’s, and the fourth creature looked like an eagle flying.

[7:24]  ¹ tn Heb “The Sea.” The proper noun has been replaced by the pronoun (“it”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[7:24]  ² tn Or “gourd-shaped ornaments.”

[7:24]  ³ tn Heb “ten cubits surrounding the sea all around.” The precise meaning of this description is uncertain.

[7:24]  ⁴ tn Heb “the gourd-shaped ornaments were in two rows, cast in its casting.”

[7:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “all their hindquarters were toward the inside.”

[7:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “two thousand baths” (a bath was a liquid measure roughly equivalent to six gallons).

[1:10]  ⁷ tc The MT has an additional word at the beginning of v. 11, וּפְנֵיהֶם (ufÿnehem, “and their faces”), which is missing from the LXX. As the rest of the verse only applies to wings, “their faces” would have to somehow be understood in the previous clause. But this would be very awkward and is doubly problematic since “their faces” are already introduced as the topic at the beginning of v. 10. The Hebrew scribe appears to have copied the phrase “and their faces and their wings” from v. 8, where it introduces the content of 9-11. Only “and (as for) their wings” belongs here.

[10:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “each one”; the referent (the cherubim) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:14]  ⁹ 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.

[10:1]  ¹⁰ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[10:1]  ¹¹ tn Or “like a dome.” See 1:22-26.

[1:9]  ¹² tn Or “heard about it”; Grk “heard.” There is no direct object stated in the Greek (direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context). A direct object is expected by an English reader, however, so most translations supply one. Here, however, it is not entirely clear what the author “heard”: a number of translations supply “it” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV; NAB “this”), but this could refer back either to (1) “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8, or (2) “your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints” (v. 4). In light of this uncertainty, other translations supply “about you” (TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT). This is preferred by the present translation since, while it does not resolve the ambiguity entirely, it does make it less easy for the English reader to limit the reference only to “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8.

[1:9]  ¹³ tn The term “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but the following reference to “the knowledge of his will” makes it clear that “God” is in view as the object of the “praying and asking,” and should therefore be included in the English translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ¹⁴ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated as substantival, indicating the content of the prayer and asking. The idea of purpose may also be present in this clause.

[1:10]  ¹⁵ tn The infinitive περιπατῆσαι (peripathsai, “to walk, to live, to live one’s life”) is best taken as an infinitive of purpose related to “praying” (προσευχόμενοι, proseucomenoi) and “asking” (αἰτούμενοι, aitoumenoi) in v. 9 and is thus translated as “that you may live.”

[1:10]  ¹⁶ tn BDAG 129 s.v. ἀρεσκεία states that ἀρεσκείαν (areskeian) refers to a “desire to please εἰς πᾶσαν ἀ. to please (the Lord) in all respects Col 1:10.”

[4:7]  ¹⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[4:7]  ¹⁸ tn Both here and before the phrase “the third,” καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.