Ezekiel 1:26-28

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. 1:27 I saw an amber glow ¹  like a fire enclosed all around ²  from his waist up. From his waist down I saw something that looked like fire. There was a brilliant light around it, 1:28 like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds after the rain. ³  This was the appearance of the surrounding brilliant light; it looked like the glory of the Lord. When I saw ⁴  it, I threw myself face down, and I heard a voice speaking.

[1:27]  ¹ tn See Ezek 1:4.

[1:27]  ² tc The LXX lacks this phrase. Its absence from the LXX may be explained as a case of haplography resulting from homoioteleuton, skipping from כְּמַרְאֵה (kÿmar’eh) to מִמַּרְאֵה (mimmar’eh). On the other hand, the LXX presents a much more balanced verse structure when it is recognized that the final words of this verse belong in the next sentence.

[1:28]  ³ 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.

[1:28]  ⁴ tn The vision closes with the repetition of the verb “I saw” from the beginning of the vision in 1:4.