Discovery BoxEzekiel 1:22-26
Context1:22 Over the heads of the living beings was something like a platform, 1 glittering awesomely like ice, 2 stretched out over their heads. 1:23 Under the platform their wings were stretched out, each toward the other. Each of the beings also had two wings covering 3 its body. 1:24 When they moved, I heard the sound of their wings – it was like the sound of rushing waters, or the voice of the Almighty, 4 or the tumult 5 of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.
1:25 Then there was a voice from above the platform over their heads when they stood still. 6 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.
Exodus 24:10
Context24:10 and they saw 7 the God of Israel. Under his feet 8 there was something like a pavement 9 made of sapphire, clear like the sky itself. 10
Revelation 4:2-3
Context4:2 Immediately I was in the Spirit, 11 and 12 a throne was standing 13 in heaven with someone seated on it! 4:3 And the one seated on it was like jasper 14 and carnelian 15 in appearance, and a rainbow looking like it was made of emerald 16 encircled the throne.
[1:22] 1 tn Or “like a dome” (NCV, NRSV, TEV).
[1:22] 2 tn Or “like crystal” (NRSV, NLT).
[1:23] 3 tc Heb “each had two wings covering and each had two wings covering,” a case of dittography. On the analogy of v. 11 and the support of the LXX, which reads the same for v. 11 and this verse, one should perhaps read “each had two wings touching another being and each had two wings covering.”
[1:24] 4 tn Heb “Shaddai” (probably meaning “one of the mountain”), a title that depicts God as the sovereign ruler of the world who dispenses justice. The Old Greek translation omitted the phrase “voice of the Almighty.”
[1:24] 5 tn The only other occurrence of the Hebrew word translated “tumult” is in Jer 11:16. It indicates a noise like that of the turmoil of a military camp or the sound of an army on the march.
[1:25] 6 tc The MT continues “when they stood still they lowered their wings,” an apparent dittography from the end of v. 24. The LXX commits haplography by homoioteleuton, leaving out vv. 25b and 26a by skipping from רֹאשָׁם (rosham) in v. 25 to רֹאשָׁם in v. 26.
[24:10] 7 sn S. R. Driver (Exodus, 254) wishes to safeguard the traditional idea that God could not be seen by reading “they saw the place where the God of Israel stood” so as not to say they saw God. But according to U. Cassuto there is not a great deal of difference between “and they saw the God” and “the
[24:10] 8 sn S. R. Driver suggests that they saw the divine Glory, not directly, but as they looked up from below, through what appeared to be a transparent blue sapphire pavement (Exodus, 254).
[24:10] 10 tn Heb “and like the body of heaven for clearness.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven” or “sky” depending on the context; here, where sapphire is mentioned (a blue stone) “sky” seems more appropriate, since the transparent blueness of the sapphire would appear like the blueness of the cloudless sky.
[4:2] 11 tn Or “in the spirit.” “Spirit” could refer either to the Holy Spirit or the human spirit, but in either case John was in “a state of spiritual exaltation best described as a trance” (R. H. Mounce, Revelation [NICNT], 75).
[4:2] 12 tn Grk “and behold.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) at the beginning of this statement has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).
[4:2] 13 tn BDAG 537 s.v. κεῖμαι 2 gives the translation “stand” for the term in this verse.
[4:3] 14 tn Grk “jasper stone.”
[4:3] 15 sn Carnelian was a semiprecious gemstone, usually red in color (L&N 2.36).
