1 THEN I looked and behold, in the firmament that was over the heads of the cherubim there appeared above them something looking like a sapphire stone, in form resembling a throne.
2 And [the Lord] spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, Go in among the whirling wheels under the cherubim; fill your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim and scatter them over the city. And he went in before my eyes. 3 Now the cherubim stood on the south side of the house when the man went in; and the cloud [the Shekinah] filled the inner court. 4 Then the glory of the Lord mounted up from the cherubim to stand over the threshold of the [Lord's] house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord's glory. 5 And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even to the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when He speaks.
6 And when He commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim, [the man] went in and stood beside a wheel. 7 And a cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubim, and took some of it and put it into the hands of the man clothed in linen, who took it and went out. 8 And the cherubim seemed to have the form of a man's hand under their wings.
9 And I looked and behold, there were four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub and another wheel beside another cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like sparkling chrysolite. 10 And as for their appearance, they four looked alike, as if a wheel had been within a wheel. 11 When they went, they went in any one of the four directions [in which their four individual faces were turned]; they did not turn as they went, but to the place to which the front wheel faced the others followed; they turned not as they went. 12 And their whole body, their backs, their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that each had. 13 As regarding the wheels [attached to them], they were called in my hearing the whirling wheels. 14 And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of the cherub, the second the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
15 And the cherubim mounted upward. This is the [same] living creature [the four regarded as one] that I saw by the river Chebar [in Babylonia]. 16 And when the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the wheels did not turn from beside them. 17 When those stood still, these stood still; and when those mounted up, these [the wheels] mounted up also, for the spirit of life was in these [wheels].
18 Then the glory of the Lord [the Shekinah, cloud] went forth from above the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim. 19 And the cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight, and they went forth with the wheels beside them; and they stood at the entrance of the East Gate of the house of the Lord, and the glory of the God of Israel [the Shekinah, cloud] was over them.
20 This is the living creature [of four combined creatures] that I saw beneath the God of Israel by the river Chebar, and I knew that they were cherubim. 21 Each one had four faces and each one had four wings, and what looked like the hands of a man was under their wings. 22 And as for the likeness of their faces, they were the same faces which I saw by the river Chebar, with regard to their appearances and themselves; they went every one straight forward.