God’s Glory Exits the Temple

1And I looked, and behold, at the firmament that was over the head of the cherubim was like a stone of sapphire, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne, was seen above them. 2And He spoke to the man clothed in linen, and He said: “Go to the midst of the wheel, to beneath the cherub, and fill your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city!” And he went in before my eyes.

3And the cherubim were standing on the south side of the house, at the going in of the man, and the cloud filled the inner court. 4And the glory of YHWH went up from the cherub, over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of YHWH. 5And the voice of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of El-Shaddai† in His speaking.

6And it came to pass in His commanding the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubim,” that he went in and stood beside a wheel. 7And the cherub sent forth his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubim, and he took and put it into the hands of the one clothed in linen, and he took it and went out. 8(And was seen unto the cherubim the form of the hand of a man under their wings.)

9And I looked, and behold, four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside the one cherub, and one wheel beside the one cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like the eye of a stone of beryl. 10And their appearance was one likeness unto four of them, as if it were a wheel in the midst of the wheel. 11In their going toward four directions, they did go; they did not turn aside in their going; for the place where the head turned, toward it they would go; they did not turn aside In their going.

12And all of their body—their rims, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes all around, wheels as their four. 13The wheels, unto them it was called in my ears, “The whirling wheels.”

And four faces were unto each one: The face of the first was the face of a cherub, and the face of the second was the face of a man, and the face of the third a lion, and the face of the fourth an eagle.

15And the cherubim rose upward. This was the living creature that I saw by the River Chebar. 16And in the going of the cherubim, the wheels went beside them; and the cherubim, in the lifting up of their wings, rose up from the earth, and the wheels did not turn, also they were beside them. 17In their standing still and in their rising up they were raised up with them, for the spirit of the living creature was in them.

18And went out the glory of YHWH from upon the threshold of the house, and it stood over the cherubim. 19And the cherubim lifted up their wings, and they were raised up from the earth before my eyes; and in their going out, also were the wheels beside them. And they stood at the entrance of the gate of the house of YHWH in the east, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them from above.

20This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the River Kebar; and I knew that they were cherubim. 21Four—four faces were unto each one, and four wings unto each one, and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings. 22And the likeness of their faces, they were the faces that I had seen by the River Kebar, their appearances and themselves. Each one to straight ahead of its face they would go.