Ezekiel 10 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
September 592 BC, within the same temple vision, roughly five years before the city's fall
Location
The Jerusalem temple, moving from the inner court to the threshold of the building and out to the east gate
Audience
Exiles in Babylonia who assumed God's presence was permanently tied to the temple building
Situation
Burning coals from among the wheeled creatures are scattered over the city, and God's glory lifts from above the winged guardians, moves to the temple threshold, and stops at the east gate. Ezekiel recognizes the creatures from his first vision by the river and identifies them as cherubim.
Key Background
Cherubim in the ancient Near East were composite guardian figures, often winged bulls or lions with human faces, carved at palace and temple entrances, and two gold ones stood over the ark in Israel's holiest room. Their function as the throne platform explains why God's departure is described as movement above them rather than a figure simply walking away. Scattering fire over a city was standard siege practice, so the image would have read to hearers as the opening act of a military destruction, delivered by the same beings who had guarded the sanctuary.
Then I looked — and there, above the over the heads of the something like a throne appeared above them.
He spoke to the man dressed in "Go in between the beneath the winged creatures. Fill your hands with from between them, and scatter them over the city." And I watched him go in.
The winged creatures were standing to the south of the temple when the man went in, and the filled the inner courtyard.
Then the of rose from above the winged creatures and moved to the threshold of the temple. The temple was filled with the cloud, and the courtyard blazed with the brightness of Yahweh's
The sound of the winged creatures' wings could be heard all the way to the outer courtyard — like the voice of God, the All when he speaks.
When he commanded the man dressed in linen, "Take fire from between the spinning wheels, from between the winged creatures," the man went in and stood beside one of the wheels.
Then one of the winged creatures reached out its hand toward the fire between them, lifted some out, and placed it into the hands of the man dressed in linen. He took it and walked out.
Beneath their wings, the winged creatures had what looked like
I looked, and there were four wheels beside the winged creatures — one wheel beside each creature. The wheels gleamed like the shimmer of stone.
All four looked the same — as if one wheel were nested inside another.
When they moved, they could go in any of the four directions without turning. Whichever way the lead creature faced, the others followed — they never turned as they moved.
Their entire bodies — their backs, their hands, their wings — and the wheels too, all four of them, were covered with all around.
I heard the wheels called "the — right as I was listening.
Each creature had the first was the face of a winged creature, the second the face of a human, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
Then the winged creatures rose. These were the same living beings I had seen by the
When the winged creatures moved, the wheels moved with them. When the creatures lifted their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels stayed right beside them — never separating.
When the creatures stood still, the wheels stood still. When they rose, the wheels rose with them — because the of the living beings was in the wheels.
Then the of Yahweh moved away from the threshold of the temple and came to rest above the winged creatures.
The winged creatures lifted their wings and rose from the ground right before my eyes. As they went out, the wheels went with them. They stopped at the entrance of the of Yahweh's temple, and the radiance of the God of Israel hovered above them.
These were the living beings I had seen beneath the God of Israel at the Kebar River. And I knew — they were winged creatures.
Each had four faces, each had four wings, and beneath their wings was the form of human hands.
Their faces looked exactly like the ones I had seen by the Kebar River — the same appearance, the same beings. Each one moved straight ahead, wherever it faced.