Remember, Lord, what has happened to us;
    look, and see our disgrace.(A)
Our inheritance(B) has been turned over to strangers,(C)
    our homes(D) to foreigners.(E)
We have become fatherless,
    our mothers are widows.(F)
We must buy the water we drink;(G)
    our wood can be had only at a price.(H)
Those who pursue us are at our heels;
    we are weary(I) and find no rest.(J)
We submitted to Egypt and Assyria(K)
    to get enough bread.
Our ancestors(L) sinned and are no more,
    and we bear their punishment.(M)
Slaves(N) rule over us,
    and there is no one to free us from their hands.(O)
We get our bread at the risk of our lives
    because of the sword in the desert.
10 Our skin is hot as an oven,
    feverish from hunger.(P)
11 Women have been violated(Q) in Zion,
    and virgins in the towns of Judah.
12 Princes have been hung up by their hands;
    elders(R) are shown no respect.(S)
13 Young men toil at the millstones;
    boys stagger under loads of wood.
14 The elders are gone from the city gate;
    the young men have stopped their music.(T)
15 Joy is gone from our hearts;
    our dancing has turned to mourning.(U)
16 The crown(V) has fallen from our head.(W)
    Woe to us, for we have sinned!(X)
17 Because of this our hearts(Y) are faint,(Z)
    because of these things our eyes(AA) grow dim(AB)
18 for Mount Zion,(AC) which lies desolate,(AD)
    with jackals prowling over it.

19 You, Lord, reign forever;(AE)
    your throne endures(AF) from generation to generation.
20 Why do you always forget us?(AG)
    Why do you forsake(AH) us so long?
21 Restore(AI) us to yourself, Lord, that we may return;
    renew our days as of old
22 unless you have utterly rejected us(AJ)
    and are angry with us beyond measure.(AK)

Ezekiel’s Inaugural Vision

In my thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles(AL) by the Kebar River,(AM) the heavens were opened(AN) and I saw visions(AO) of God.

On the fifth of the month—it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin(AP) the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel(AQ) the priest, the son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians.[a] There the hand of the Lord was on him.(AR)

I looked, and I saw a windstorm(AS) coming out of the north(AT)—an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal,(AU) and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures.(AV) In appearance their form was human,(AW) but each of them had four faces(AX) and four wings. Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze.(AY) Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands.(AZ) All four of them had faces and wings, and the wings of one touched the wings of another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved.(BA)

10 Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a human being, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle.(BB) 11 Such were their faces. They each had two wings(BC) spreading out upward, each wing touching that of the creature on either side; and each had two other wings covering its body. 12 Each one went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went.(BD) 13 The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals(BE) of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning(BF) flashed out of it. 14 The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning.(BG)

15 As I looked at the living creatures,(BH) I saw a wheel(BI) on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. 16 This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like topaz,(BJ) and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. 17 As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not change direction(BK) as the creatures went. 18 Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes(BL) all around.

19 When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose. 20 Wherever the spirit would go, they would go,(BM) and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. 21 When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.(BN)

22 Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked something like a vault,(BO) sparkling like crystal, and awesome. 23 Under the vault their wings were stretched out one toward the other, and each had two wings covering its body. 24 When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing(BP) waters, like the voice(BQ) of the Almighty,[b] like the tumult of an army.(BR) When they stood still, they lowered their wings.

25 Then there came a voice from above the vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. 26 Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne(BS) of lapis lazuli,(BT) and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man.(BU) 27 I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him.(BV) 28 Like the appearance of a rainbow(BW) in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.(BX)

This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory(BY) of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown,(BZ) and I heard the voice of one speaking.

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 1:3 Or Chaldeans
  2. Ezekiel 1:24 Hebrew Shaddai

Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach.

Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.

We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.

We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us.

Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest.

We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.

Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand.

We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.

10 Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.

11 They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.

12 Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured.

13 They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.

14 The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick.

15 The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.

16 The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!

17 For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim.

18 Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.

19 Thou, O Lord, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation.

20 Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?

21 Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.

22 But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us.

Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity,

The word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was there upon him.

And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.

Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.

And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.

And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.

And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.

Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.

10 As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.

11 Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.

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

13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.

14 And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

15 Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.

16 The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

17 When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went.

18 As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.

19 And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

20 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.

21 When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

22 And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.

23 And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.

24 And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings.

25 And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.

26 And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.

27 And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.

28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.