Ezekiel 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.

Ex 19:16-18; Ex 24:16,17; De 4:11,12; 2Ch 5:13,14; 2Ch 6:1; 2Ch 7:1-3; Ps 18:11-13; Ps 50:3; Ps 97:2,3; Ps 104:3,4; Isa 19:1; Isa 21:1; Jer 1:13,14; Jer 4:6; Jer 6:1; Jer 23:19; Jer 25:9,32; Eze 1:27; Eze 8:2; Eze 10:2-4; Eze 10:8,9; Na 1:3-6; Hab 1:8,9; Hab 3:3-5; Heb 12:29; Re 1:15

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.