Ezekiel 1:16-17

1:16 The appearance of the wheels and their construction ¹  was like gleaming jasper, ²  and all four wheels looked alike. Their structure was like a wheel within a wheel. ³  1:17 When they moved they would go in any of the four directions they faced without turning as they moved.

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

[1:16]  ² 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]  ³ 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.