Ezekiel 1 - 6 — Legacy Standard Bible

The Vision of Four Living Creatures

1Now it happened in the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was by the ^ariver Chebar among the exiles, that the ^bheavens were opened, and I saw ¹^,^cvisions of God. ²(On the fifth of the month ¹in the ^afifth year of King Jehoiachin’s exile, ³the ^aword of ¹Yahweh came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, in the ^bland of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and there ^cthe hand of Yahweh came upon him.)

⁴Then I looked, and behold, a ^astorm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light all around it, and in its midst something like the gleam of ^bglowing metal in the midst of the fire. ⁵And within it there were figures with the likeness of ^afour living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the ^blikeness of a man. ⁶And each of them had ^afour faces and ^bfour wings. ⁷And their legs were straight, and ¹their feet were like a calf’s hoof, and they sparkled like the gleam of ^aburnished bronze. ⁸And under their wings on their ^afour sides were ^bhands of a man. As for the faces and wings of the four of them, ⁹their wings touched one another; their faces did ^anot turn as they went; each ^bwent straight forward. ¹⁰And as for the ^alikeness of their faces, each had the ^bface of a man; ¹all four had the face of a lion on the right and the face of a bull on the left, and ²all four had the face of an eagle. ¹¹And such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above; each had two touching another being, and ^atwo covering their bodies. ¹²And ^aeach went straight forward; ^bwherever the spirit was about to go, they would go, without turning as they went. ¹³¹As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of ^afire, ²like the appearance of torches going back and forth among the living creatures. The fire was bright, and lightning was ³flashing from the fire. ¹⁴And the living creatures ^aran to and fro with the appearance of ^blightning.

¹⁵Then I looked at the living creatures, and behold, there was one ^awheel on the earth beside the living creatures, ¹for each of the four of them. ¹⁶The ^aappearance of the wheels and their workmanship was like the gleam of ^bberyl, and all four of them had the same likeness, their appearance and workmanship being as if ¹one wheel were within another. ¹⁷Whenever they went, they went in any of their four ¹directions without ^aturning as they went. ¹⁸And as for their rims, they were lofty and awesome, and the rims of all four of them were ^afull of eyes all around. ¹⁹^aAnd when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them. And when the living creatures ^brose from the earth, the wheels rose also. ²⁰^aWherever the spirit was about to go, they would go in that direction, ¹where the spirit was about to go. And the wheels rose alongside of them; for the spirit of the living ²creatures was in the wheels. ²¹^aWhenever those went, these went; and whenever those stood still, these stood still. And whenever those rose from the earth, the wheels rose close beside them; for the spirit of the living ¹creatures was in the wheels.

The Vision of the Glory of Yahweh

²²Now ^aover the heads of the living ¹creatures there was something with the likeness of an expanse, like the awesome gleam of ²crystal, spread out over their heads above. ²³And underneath the expanse their wings were stretched out straight, one toward the other; each one also had ^atwo wings covering its body on the one side and on the other. ²⁴I also heard the sound of their wings like the ^asound of many waters as they went, like the ¹^,^bsound of ²the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the ^csound of an army camp; whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings. ²⁵And there came a sound from above the ^aexpanse that was over their heads; whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings.

²⁶Now ^aabove the expanse that was over their heads there was something in the ^blikeness of a throne, like ^csapphire stone in appearance; and upon the likeness of the throne, high up, was the likeness of one with the appearance of a ^dman. ²⁷Then I saw from the appearance of His loins and upward something ^alike the gleam of ¹glowing metal with the appearance of fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw something with the appearance of fire; and there was a radiance all around Him. ²⁸As the appearance of the ^arainbow ¹in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the radiance all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the ^bglory of Yahweh. And I saw this, and I ^cfell on my face and heard a sound of a voice speaking.

The Sending of Ezekiel

2Then He said to me, “Son of man, ^astand on your feet that I may speak with you!” ²And as He spoke to me, the ^aSpirit entered me and caused me to stand on my feet; and I heard Him speaking to me. ³Then He said to me, “Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to a rebellious people who have ^arebelled against Me; ^bthey and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day. ⁴“I am sending you to them who are ¹^,^astiff-²faced and strong-hearted children, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh.’ ⁵“As for them, ^awhether they listen or whether they refuse—for they are a rebellious house—they will ^bknow that a prophet has been among them. ⁶“Now as for you, son of man, ^ado not fear them and do not fear their words, though ^bthistles and briers are with you and you sit on scorpions; neither fear their words nor be dismayed at their presence, for they are a rebellious house. ⁷“But you shall ^aspeak My words to them ^bwhether they listen or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious.

⁸“Now as for you, son of man, listen to what I am speaking to you; do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and ^aeat what I am giving you.” ⁹Then I looked, and behold, a ^ahand was sent forth to me; and behold, a ¹^,^bscroll was in it. ¹⁰Then He spread it out before me, and it was written on the front and back, and written on it were lamentations, sighing, and ^awoe.

Ezekiel Sent to the House of Israel

3Then He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; ^aeat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” ²So I ^aopened my mouth, and He ¹fed me this scroll. ³And He said to me, “Son of man, ¹feed your stomach and ^afill your ²body with this scroll which I am giving you.” Then I ^bate it, and it was sweet as ^choney in my mouth.

⁴Then He said to me, “Son of man, go now, come to the house of Israel, and you shall speak with My words to them. ⁵“For ^ayou are not being sent to a people of ¹^,^bunintelligible lips or a difficult tongue, but to the house of Israel, ⁶nor to many peoples of ¹unintelligible lips or a difficult tongue, whose words you cannot ²understand. ³But I have sent you to them ⁴who should listen to you; ⁷yet the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, since they are ^anot willing to listen to Me. Surely the whole house of Israel is ¹stubborn with a strong forehead and stiff heart. ⁸“Behold, I have made your face as strong as their faces and your forehead as strong as their foreheads. ⁹“Like ¹diamond stronger than flint I have made your forehead. Do not be afraid of them or be dismayed before them, though they are a rebellious house.” ¹⁰Moreover, He said to me, “Son of man, take into your heart all My ^awords which I will speak to you and listen with your ears. ¹¹“And go now, come to the exiles, to the sons of your people, and you shall speak to them and say to them, whether they listen or whether they refuse, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh.’”

¹²Then the ^aSpirit lifted me up, and I heard a great ^brumbling sound behind me, “Blessed be the glory of Yahweh ¹in His place.” ¹³And I heard the sound of the wings of the living creatures touching one another and the sound of the ^awheels beside them, even a great rumbling sound. ¹⁴So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away; and I went embittered in the wrath of my spirit, and ^athe hand of Yahweh was strong on me. ¹⁵Then I came to the exiles who lived beside the river Chebar at Tel-abib, and I sat there ^aseven days where they were living, causing ¹consternation among them.

¹⁶^aNow it happened at the end of seven days, that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, ¹⁷“Son of man, I have given you as a ^awatchman to the house of Israel; so you will hear a word from My mouth, and you shall ^bwarn them from Me. ¹⁸“When I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his ^ablood I will require at your hand. ¹⁹“Yet if you have ^awarned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have ^bdelivered yourself. ²⁰“Again, ^awhen a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a ^bstumbling block before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. ²¹“However, if you have ^awarned ¹the righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; and you have delivered yourself.”

²²And the hand of Yahweh was on me there, and He said to me, “Get up, go out to the plain, and there I will ^aspeak to you.” ²³So I got up and went out to the plain; and behold, the ^aglory of Yahweh was standing there, like the glory which ^bI saw by the river Chebar, and I fell on my face. ²⁴The ^aSpirit then entered me and caused me to stand on my feet, and He spoke with me and said to me, “Go, shut yourself up in your house. ²⁵“Now as for you, son of man, they will ^aput ropes on you and bind you with them so that you cannot go out among them. ²⁶“Moreover, ^aI will make your tongue cling to ¹the roof of your mouth so that you will be mute and cannot be a man who reproves them, for they are a rebellious house. ²⁷“But ^awhen I speak to you, I will open your mouth, and you will say to them, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh.’ He who hears, let him hear; and he who refuses, let him refuse; ^bfor they are a rebellious house.

Ezekiel Bears Israel’s Iniquity

4“Now as for you, son of man, ^aget yourself a brick, set it before you, and inscribe a city on it, Jerusalem. ²“Then ^aset a siege against it, build a siege wall against it, ¹raise up a ramp against it, set up camps against it, and place battering rams against it all around. ³“Now as for you, get yourself an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city, and establish your face toward it so that ^ait is under siege, and besiege it. This is a ^bsign to the house of Israel.

⁴“Now as for you, lie down on your left side and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; you shall ^abear their iniquity for the number of days that you lie on it. ⁵“Now I have set a number of days for you corresponding to the years of their iniquity, 390 days; thus ^ayou shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. ⁶“And you shall complete these, and you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah; I have set it for you for forty days, a day for ^aeach year. ⁷“Then you shall establish your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared and ^aprophesy against it. ⁸“Now behold, I will ^aset ropes upon you so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have completed the days of your siege.

Making Unclean Bread

⁹“Now as for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and ^aspelt; set them in one vessel and make them into bread for yourself; you shall eat it according to the number of the days that you lie on your side, 390 days. ¹⁰“And your food which you eat shall be ¹^,^atwenty shekels a day by weight; you shall eat it from time to time. ¹¹“The water you drink shall be the sixth part of a ¹hin by measure; you shall drink it from time to time. ¹²“You shall eat it as a barley cake, having baked it in their sight over human ^adung.” ¹³Then Yahweh said, “Thus will the sons of Israel eat their bread ^aunclean among the nations where I will banish them.” ¹⁴But I said, “^aAh, Lord Yahweh! Behold, I have ^bnever been defiled; for from my youth until now I have never eaten what ^cdied of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has any ^doffensive meat ever entered my mouth.” ¹⁵Then He said to me, “See, I will set for you cow’s dung in place of human dung over which you will prepare your bread.” ¹⁶Moreover, He said to me, “Son of man, behold, I am going to ^abreak the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they will eat bread by ^bweight and with anxiety, and they will drink water by ^cmeasure and in desolation ¹⁷because bread and water will be lacking; and they will be in desolation with one another and ^arot away in their iniquity.

The Siege of Jerusalem

5“Now as for you, son of man, take a ^asharp sword; take and ¹use it as a barber’s razor on your head and beard. Then take ^bscales for weighing and divide ²the hair. ²“One-third you shall burn in the fire at the center of the city when the ^adays of the siege are fulfilled. Then you shall take one-third and strike it with the sword all around ¹the city, and one-third you shall scatter to the wind; and I will ^bunsheathe a sword behind them. ³“You shall also take a few in number from ¹them and bind them in the edges of your robes. ⁴“Take again some of them and throw them into the fire and burn them in the fire; from it a fire will ¹spread to all the house of Israel.

⁵“Thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘This is ^aJerusalem; I have set her at the ^bcenter of the nations, with lands all around her. ⁶‘But she has rebelled against My judgments more wickedly than the nations and against My statutes ^amore than the lands which are all around her; for they have ^brejected My judgments and have not walked ¹in My statutes.’ ⁷“Therefore, thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Because you have ^amore turmoil than the nations which are all around you and have not walked in My statutes, nor done My judgments, nor done the judgments of the nations which are all around you,’ ⁸therefore, thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Behold, I, even I, am ^aagainst you, and I will ^bexecute judgments among you in the sight of the nations. ⁹‘And I will do among you what I have ^anot done and the like of which I will never do again because of all your abominations. ¹⁰‘Therefore, ^afathers will eat their sons among you, and sons will eat their fathers; for I will execute judgments on you and ^bscatter all your remnant to every wind. ¹¹‘So as I live,’ declares Lord Yahweh, ‘surely, because you have ^adefiled My sanctuary with all your ^bdetestable idols and with all your abominations, therefore I will also withdraw, and My eye will have no pity, and I will not spare. ¹²‘One-third of you will die by the ^aplague or be consumed by the famine among you, one-third will fall by the sword around you, and one-third I will ^bscatter to every wind, and I will ^cunsheathe a sword behind them.

¹³‘Thus My anger will be spent, and I will cause My wrath against them to be at rest, and I will be ¹^,^aappeased; then they will know that I, Yahweh, have ^bspoken in My zeal when I have spent My wrath upon them. ¹⁴‘Moreover, I will make you a ¹ruin and a ^areproach among the nations which are all around you, in the sight of all who pass by. ¹⁵‘So ¹it will be a reproach, a reviling, a ^achastisement, and a desecration to the nations who are all around you when I ^bexecute judgments against you in anger, wrath, and wrathful reproofs. I, Yahweh, have spoken. ¹⁶‘When I send against them the ¹deadly arrows of famine which ²were for the destruction of those whom I will send to destroy you, then I will also intensify the famine upon you and break the staff of bread. ¹⁷‘Moreover, ^aI will send on you famine and wild beasts, and they will bereave you of children; ^bplague and bloodshed also will pass through you, and I will bring the sword on you. I, Yahweh, have spoken.’”

Yahweh Will Destroy Israel’s Pagan Altars

6And the word of Yahweh came to me saying, ²“Son of man, set your face toward the ^amountains of Israel, and prophesy against them ³and say, ‘Mountains of Israel, hear the word of Lord Yahweh! Thus says Lord Yahweh to the mountains, the hills, the ravines, and the valleys: “Behold, I Myself am going to bring a sword on you, and ^aI will destroy your high places. ⁴“So your ^aaltars will become desolate, and your incense altars will be broken; and I will make your slain fall in front of your idols. ⁵“I will also put the dead bodies of the sons of Israel in front of their idols; and I will scatter your ^abones all around your altars. ⁶“In all your places of habitation, ^acities will become waste, and the high places will be desolate, that your altars may become waste and ¹desolate, your ^bidols may be broken and cease, your incense altars may be cut in pieces, and your works may be blotted out. ⁷“The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am Yahweh.

⁸“However, I will leave a ^aremnant, for you will have those who ^bescaped the sword among the nations when you are scattered among the lands. ⁹“Then those of you who escape will ^aremember Me among the nations to which they will be carried captive, how I have ^bbeen broken over their adulterous hearts which turned away from Me, and by their eyes which played the harlot after their idols; and they will ^cloathe themselves to their own faces for the evils which they have done, for all their abominations. ¹⁰“Then they will know that I am Yahweh; I have not said in vain that I would do this calamitous evil against them.”’

¹¹“Thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Strike your hands together, ^astamp your foot and say, “^bAlas, because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, which will fall by the ^csword, by the famine, and by the plague! ¹²“He who is ^afar off will die by the plague, and he who is near will fall by the sword, and he who remains and is besieged will die by the famine. Thus will I ^bspend My wrath on them. ¹³“Then you will know that I am Yahweh when their ^aslain are among their idols all around their altars, on ^bevery high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, under every green tree, and under every leafy oak—the places where they ¹offered a soothing aroma to all their idols. ¹⁴“So throughout all their habitations I will ^astretch out My hand against them and make the land more desolate and desecrated than the wilderness toward Diblah; thus they will know that I am Yahweh.”’”