Ezekiel 1:5

1:5 In the fire ¹  were what looked like ²  four living beings. ³  In their appearance they had human form, ⁴ 

Ezekiel 1:15

1:15 Then I looked, ⁵  and I saw one wheel ⁶  on the ground ⁷  beside each of the four beings.

Ezekiel 1:18

1:18 Their rims were high and awesome, ⁸  and the rims of all four wheels were full of eyes all around.

Ezekiel 10:10

10:10 As for their appearance, all four of them looked the same, something like a wheel within a wheel. ⁹ 

Ezekiel 10:12

10:12 along with their entire bodies, ¹⁰  their backs, their hands, and their wings. The wheels of the four of them were full of eyes all around.

Ezekiel 43:16

43:16 Now the altar hearth ¹¹  is a perfect square, 21 feet ¹²  long and 21 feet wide.

Ezekiel 46:23

46:23 There was a row of masonry around each of the four courts, and places for boiling offerings were made under the rows all around.

Ezekiel 48:30

48:30 “These are the exits of the city: On the north side, one and one-half miles ¹³  by measure,

[1:5]  ¹ tc Heb “from its midst” (מִתּוֹכָהּ, mitokhah). The LXX reads ἐν τῷ μέσῳ (en tw mesw, “in the midst of it”). The LXX also reads ἐν for מִתּוֹךְ (mitokh) in v. 4. The translator of the LXX of Ezekiel either read בְּתוֹךְ (bÿtokh, “within”) in his Hebrew exemplar or could not imagine how מִתּוֹךְ could make sense and so chose to use ἐν. The Hebrew would be understood by adding “from its midst emerged the forms of four living beings.”

[1:5]  ² tn Heb “form, figure, appearance.”

[1:5]  ³ tn The Hebrew term is feminine plural yet thirty-three of the forty-five pronominal suffixes and verbal references which refer to the living beings in the chapter are masculine plural. The grammatical vacillation between masculine and feminine plurals suggests the difficulty Ezekiel had in penning these words as he was overcome by the vision of God. In ancient Near Eastern sculpture very similar images of part-human, part-animal creatures serve as throne and sky bearers. For a discussion of ancient Near Eastern parallels, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:26-31. Ezekiel’s vision is an example of contextualization, where God accommodates his self-revelation to cultural expectations and norms.

[1:5]  ⁴ sn They had human form may mean they stood erect.

[1:15]  ⁵ tc The MT adds “at the living beings” which is absent from the LXX.

[1:15]  ⁶ sn Another vision which includes wheels on thrones occurs in Dan 7:9. Ezek 10 contains a vision similar to this one.

[1:15]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew word may be translated either “earth” or “ground” in this context.

[1:18]  ⁹ tc The MT reads וְיִרְאָה לָהֶם (vÿyir’ah lahem, “and fear belonged to them”). In a similar vision in 10:12 the wheels are described as having spokes (יִדֵיהֶם, yideyhem). That parallel would suggest יָדוֹת (yadot) here (written יָדֹת without the mater). By positing both a ד/ר (dalet/resh) confusion and a ת/ה (hey/khet) confusion the form was read as וְיָרֵה (vÿyareh) and was then misunderstood and subsequently written as וְיִרְאָה (vÿyir’ah) in the MT. The reading וְיִרְאָה does not seem to fit the context well, though in English it can be made to sound as if it does. See W. H. Brownlee, Ezekiel 1-19 (WBC), 8-9. The LXX reads καὶ εἶδον αὐτά (kai eidon auta, “and I saw”), which assumes וָאֵרֶא (va’ere’). The existing consonants of the MT may also be read as “it was visible to them.”

[10:10]  ¹³ 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). See also 1:16.

[10:12]  ¹⁷ tc The phrase “along with their entire bodies” is absent from the LXX and may be a gloss explaining the following words.

[43:16]  ²¹ tn The precise Hebrew word used here to refer to an “altar hearth” occurs only here in the OT.

[43:16]  ²² tn Heb “twelve cubits” (i.e., 6.3 meters; the phrase occurs twice in this verse).

[48:30]  ²⁵ tn Heb “four thousand five hundred cubits” (i.e., 2.36 kilometers); the phrase occurs again in vv. 32-34.