Ezekiel 1:4-21

4As I looked, I saw a stormy wind coming out of the north, a great cloud with fire flashing continually from it; and a brightness was around it, and in its core [there was] something like glowing [amber-colored] metal in the midst of the fire.

5Within it there were figures resembling four living beings. And this was their appearance: they had human form.

6Each one had four faces and four wings.

7Their legs were straight and the soles of their feet were like a calf’s hoof, and they sparkled and gleamed like shiny bronze.

8Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. As for the faces and wings of the four of them,

9their wings touched one another; their faces did not turn when they moved, each went straight forward.

10Regarding the form and appearance of their faces: they [each] had the face of a man [in front], and each had the face of a lion on the right side, and the face of an ox on the left side; all four also had the face of an eagle [at the back of their heads].

11Such were their faces. Their wings were stretched out upward; two [wings] of each one were touching another [the wings of the beings on either side of it], and [the remaining] two [wings of each being] were covering their bodies.

12And each went straight forward; wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go, without turning as they went.

13Among the living beings there was something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches moving back and forth among the living beings. The fire was bright, and lightning was flashing from the fire.

14And the living beings moved rapidly back and forth like flashes of lightning.

15Now as I looked at the living beings, I saw one wheel on the ground beside the living beings, for each of the four of them.

16Regarding the appearance of the wheels and their construction: they gleamed like chrysolite (beryl, olivine); and the four were made alike. Their appearance and construction were a wheel [set at a right angle] within a wheel.

17Whenever they moved, they went in any [one] of their four directions without turning as they moved.

18Regarding their rims: they were so high that they were awesome and dreadful, and the rims of all four of them were full of eyes all around.

19Whenever the living beings moved, the wheels moved with them; and when the living beings rose from the earth, the wheels rose also.

20Wherever the spirit went, the beings went in that direction. And the wheels rose along with them; for the spirit or life of the living beings was in the wheels.

21Whenever those went, these went; and whenever those came to a stop, these came to a stop; and whenever those rose from the earth, the wheels rose close beside them, for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.