Ezekiel 1:4

1:4 As I watched, I noticed ¹  a windstorm ²  coming from the north – an enormous cloud, with lightning flashing, ³  such that bright light ⁴  rimmed it and came from ⁵  it like glowing amber ⁶  from the middle of a fire.

Ezekiel 8:2

8:2 As I watched, I noticed ⁷  a form that appeared to be a man. ⁸  From his waist downward was something like fire, ⁹  and from his waist upward something like a brightness, ¹⁰  like an amber glow. ¹¹ 

Ezekiel 10:2

10:2 The Lord ¹²  said to the man dressed in linen, “Go between the wheelwork ¹³  underneath the cherubim. ¹⁴  Fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” He went as I watched.

Ezekiel 23:11

23:11 “Her sister Oholibah watched this, ¹⁵  but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution were more numerous than those of her sister.

Ezekiel 44:4

44:4 Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. As I watched, I noticed ¹⁶  the glory of the Lord filling the Lord’s temple, and I threw myself face down.

---

¹ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

² sn Storms are often associated with appearances of God (see Nah 1:3; Ps 18:12). In some passages, the “storm” (סְעָרָה, sÿ’arah) may be a whirlwind (Job 38:1, 2 Kgs 2:1).

³ tn Heb “fire taking hold of itself,” perhaps repeatedly. The phrase occurs elsewhere only in Exod 9:24 in association with a hailstorm. The LXX interprets the phrase as fire flashing like lightning, but it is possibly a self-sustaining blaze of divine origin. The LXX also reverses the order of the descriptors, i.e., “light went around it and fire flashed like lightning within it.”

⁴ tn Or “radiance.” The term also occurs in 1:27b.

⁵ tc Or “was in it”; cf. LXX ἐν τῷ μέσῳ αὐτοῦ (en tw mesw autou, “in its midst”).

⁶ tn The LXX translates חַשְׁמַל (khashmal) with the word ἤλεκτρον (hlektron, “electrum”; so NAB), an alloy of silver and gold, perhaps envisioning a comparison to the glow of molten metal.

⁷ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb (so also throughout the chapter).

⁸ tc The MT reads “fire” rather than “man,” the reading of the LXX. The nouns are very similar in Hebrew.

⁹ tc The MT reads “what appeared to be his waist and downwards was fire.” The LXX omits “what appeared to be,” reading “from his waist to below was fire.” Suggesting that “like what appeared to be” belongs before “fire,” D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:277) points out the resulting poetic symmetry of form with the next line as followed in the translation here.

¹⁰ tc The LXX omits “like a brightness.”

¹¹ tn See Ezek 1:4.

¹² tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹³ tn The Hebrew term often refers to chariot wheels (Isa 28:28; Ezek 23:24; 26:10).

¹⁴ tc The LXX, Syriac, Vulgate, and Targum mss read plural “cherubim” while the MT is singular here, “cherub.” The plural ending was probably omitted in copying the MT due to the similar beginning of the next word.

¹⁵ tn The word “this” is not in the original text.

¹⁶ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.