Ezekiel 1:20
New International Version
Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

New Living Translation
The spirit of the living beings was in the wheels. So wherever the spirit went, the wheels and the living beings also went.

English Standard Version
Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, and the wheels rose along with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

Berean Standard Bible
Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise alongside them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

King James Bible
Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

New King James Version
Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, because there the spirit went; and the wheels were lifted together with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

New American Standard Bible
Wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go in that direction. And the wheels rose just as they did; for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.

NASB 1995
Wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go in that direction. And the wheels rose close beside them; for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.

NASB 1977
Wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go in that direction. And the wheels rose close beside them; for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.

Legacy Standard Bible
Wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go in that direction, where the spirit was about to go. And the wheels rose alongside of them; for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

Amplified Bible
Wherever 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.

Christian Standard Bible
Wherever the Spirit wanted to go, the creatures went in the direction the Spirit was moving. The wheels rose alongside them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Wherever the Spirit wanted to go, the creatures went in the direction the Spirit was moving. The wheels rose alongside them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

American Standard Version
Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went; thither was the spirit to go: and the wheels were lifted up beside them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And to the place that The Spirit was going, they were going on, and the wheels were going up with them, because the living Spirit was in the wheels

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Wherever the cloud happened to be, there was the spirit ready to go: the wheels went and were lifted up with them; because the spirit of life was in the wheels.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Whithersoever the spirit went, thither as the spirit went the wheels also were lifted up withal, and followed it: for the spirit of life was in the wheels.

English Revised Version
Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went; thither was the spirit to go: and the wheels were lifted up beside them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Wherever their spirit wanted to go, the creatures went. The wheels rose with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

Good News Translation
The creatures went wherever they wished, and the wheels did exactly what the creatures did, because the creatures controlled them.

International Standard Version
Whatever direction these spirits went, the wheels would be lifted up along with them, because the wheels were alive.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Whithersoever the spirit was to go, as the spirit was to go thither, so they went; and the wheels were lifted up beside them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

Literal Standard Version
To where the Spirit is to go, they go, there the Spirit [is] to go, and the wheels are lifted up alongside them, for a living spirit [is] in the wheels.

Majority Standard Bible
Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise alongside them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

New American Bible
Wherever the spirit would go, they went. And they were raised up together with the living creatures, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

NET Bible
Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise up beside them because the spirit of the living being was in the wheel.

New Revised Standard Version
Wherever the spirit would go, they went, and the wheels rose along with them; for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

New Heart English Bible
They went in whichever direction the spirit would go, and the wheels rose alongside them because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

Webster's Bible Translation
Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

World English Bible
Wherever the spirit was to go, they went. The spirit was to go there. The wheels were lifted up beside them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

Young's Literal Translation
Whither the spirit is to go, they go, thither the spirit is to go, and the wheels are lifted up over-against them, for a living spirit is in the wheels.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Four Wheels
19So as the living creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them, and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose. 20Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise alongside them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. 21When the creatures moved, the wheels moved; when the creatures stood still, the wheels stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose alongside them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.…

Cross References
Ezekiel 1:12
Each creature went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they moved.

Ezekiel 1:21
When the creatures moved, the wheels moved; when the creatures stood still, the wheels stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose alongside them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.


Treasury of Scripture

Wherever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

the spirit

Ezekiel 1:12
And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.

1 Corinthians 14:32
And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.

for the

Ezekiel 10:17
When they stood, these stood; and when they were lifted up, these lifted up themselves also: for the spirit of the living creature was in them.

Zechariah 6:1-8
And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass…

of the living creature.

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Beings Close Creature Creatures Direction Lifted Over-Against Rise Rose Side Spirit Thither Wheels Wherever Whither Whithersoever
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Beings Close Creature Creatures Direction Lifted Over-Against Rise Rose Side Spirit Thither Wheels Wherever Whither Whithersoever
Ezekiel 1
1. The time of Ezekiel's prophecy at Chebar.
4. His vision of four cherubim;
15. of the four wheels;
26. and of the glory of God.














(20, 21) The spirit of the living creature--Not, as in the margin, "the spirit of life." The object of Ezekiel 1:19-21 is by every repetition and variety of expression to represent "the living creatures" and "the wheels" as one, animated by one spirit, and moved by one impulse. The word is the same throughout, and there was no "spirit of life" in the wheels independent of that of the living creatures. All formed together one strange, symbolic whole.

The mention in Ezekiel 1:19-21 of the wheels being "lifted up from the earth" simultaneously with the living creatures is not in opposition to the symbolism already explained, of the wheels resting upon the earth. That was to show that God's purposes are carried out as He wills in this world. This brings out, in addition, the perfect harmony of these purposes, whether relating to earth or to heaven.

Verse 20. - Whithersoever the spirit was to go, etc. The secret of the coincidence of the movements of the "living creatures" and of the "wheels" was found in the fact, which the prophet's intuition grasped, that the phenomena of life and law had one and the same originating source. For "the spirit of the living creature" (singular, because the four are regarded as one complex whole), the LXX., Vulgate, and Revised Version margin, give "the spirit of life," a rendering tenable in itself, but the contextual meaning of the word is in favour of the Authorized Version and the Revised Version text.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Wherever
עַ֣ל (‘al)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

the spirit
הָר֤וּחַ (hā·rū·aḥ)
Article | Noun - common singular
Strong's 7307: Wind, breath, exhalation, life, anger, unsubstantiality, a region of the sky, spirit

would go,
לָלֶ֙כֶת֙ (lā·le·ḵeṯ)
Preposition-l | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

they would go,
יֵלֵ֔כוּ (yê·lê·ḵū)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

and the wheels
וְהָאוֹפַנִּ֗ים (wə·hā·’ō·w·p̄an·nîm)
Conjunctive waw, Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 212: A wheel

would rise
יִנָּשְׂאוּ֙ (yin·nā·śə·’ū)
Verb - Nifal - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 5375: To lift, carry, take

alongside them,
לְעֻמָּתָ֔ם (lə·‘um·mā·ṯām)
Preposition-l | third person masculine plural
Strong's 5980: Society, near, beside, along with

because
כִּ֛י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

the spirit
ר֥וּחַ (rū·aḥ)
Noun - common singular construct
Strong's 7307: Wind, breath, exhalation, life, anger, unsubstantiality, a region of the sky, spirit

of the living creatures
הַחַיָּ֖ה (ha·ḥay·yāh)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 2416: Alive, raw, fresh, strong, life

was in the wheels.
בָּאוֹפַנִּֽים׃ (bā·’ō·w·p̄an·nîm)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 212: A wheel


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OT Prophets: Ezekiel 1:20 Wherever the spirit was to go they (Ezek. Eze Ezk)
Ezekiel 1:19
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