Ezekiel 1:15-17

1:15 Then I looked, ¹  and I saw one wheel ²  on the ground ³  beside each of the four beings. 1:16 The appearance of the wheels and their construction ⁴  was like gleaming jasper, ⁵  and all four wheels looked alike. Their structure was like a wheel within a wheel. ⁶  1:17 When they moved they would go in any of the four directions they faced without turning as they moved.

[1:15]  ¹ tc The MT adds “at the living beings” which is absent from the LXX.

[1:15]  ² sn Another vision which includes wheels on thrones occurs in Dan 7:9. Ezek 10 contains a vision similar to this one.

[1:15]  ³ tn The Hebrew word may be translated either “earth” or “ground” in this context.

[1:16]  ⁴ tc This word is omitted from the LXX.

[1:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “Tarshish stone.” The meaning of this term is uncertain. The term has also been translated “topaz” (NEB); “beryl” (KJV, NASB, NRSV); or “chrysolite” (RSV, NIV).

[1:16]  ⁶ 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). The description given in v. 17 favors the latter idea.