I am the priest, Ezekiel son of Buzzi. I was in exile by the Kebar Canal in Babylonia when the skies opened up, and I saw visions of God. This was on the fifth day of the fourth month of the thirtieth year. (This was the fifth year of King Jehoiachin's exile. The word of the Lord came to Ezekiel. The power of the Lord came over him at that place.)
I was watching a big storm come in from the north. It was a big cloud with a strong wind, and there was fire flashing from it. Light was shining out all around it. It looked like hot metal glowing in a fire.
Each living being had four faces. {In the front} they each had a man's face. There was a lion's face on the right side and a bull's face on the left side. There was an eagle's face on the back.
Their wings were spread out over them. With two of the wings each living being reached out to touch the one near it, and with the other two wings it covered its body.
That is what the living beings looked like. Inside the area between the living beings, there was something that looked like burning coals of fire. This fire was like small torches that kept moving around among the living beings. The fire glowed brightly and lightning flashed from it.
I was looking at the living beings when I noticed four wheels that touched the ground. There was one wheel by each living being. All of the wheels looked the same. The wheels looked as if they were made from a clear, yellow jewel. They looked like there was a wheel inside a wheel.
So if the living beings moved, the wheels moved. If the living beings stopped, the wheels stopped. If the wheels went into the air, the living beings went with them, because the spirit was in the wheels.
Under this bowl, each living being had wings reaching out to the one next to it. Two wings spread out one way and two wings spread out the other way, covering its body.
Then I heard the wings. Every time the living beings moved, their wings made a very loud noise like a lot of water rushing by. They were loud like {the Lord} All- Powerful. They were as loud as an army or a crowd of people. When the living beings stopped moving, they put their wings down by their side.
There was something that looked like a throne on top of the bowl. It was blue like sapphire. There was also something that looked like a man sitting on the throne.
I looked at him from his waist up. He looked like hot metal with fire all around him. I looked at him from his waist down. It looked like fire with a glow that was shining all around him.
The light shining around him was like a rainbow in a cloud. It was the Glory of the Lord. As soon as I saw that, I fell to the ground. I bowed with my face to the ground, and then I heard a voice speaking to me.