1  As I watched, I saw on the platform above the top of the cherubim something like a sapphire, resembling the shape of a throne, appearing above them. 2  The Lord said to the man dressed in linen, “Go between the wheelwork underneath the cherubim. Fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” He went as I watched.

3  (The cherubim were standing on the south side of the temple when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court.) 4  Then the glory of the Lord arose from the cherub and moved to the threshold of the temple. The temple was filled with the cloud while the court was filled with the brightness of the Lord’s glory. 5  The sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard from the outer court, like the sound of the sovereign God when he speaks.

6  When the Lord commanded the man dressed in linen, “Take fire from within the wheelwork, from among the cherubim,” the man went in and stood by one of the wheels. 7  Then one of the cherubim stretched out his hand toward the fire which was among the cherubim. He took some and put it into the hands of the man dressed in linen, who took it and left. 8  (The cherubim appeared to have the form of human hands under their wings.)

9  As I watched, I noticed four wheels by the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub; the wheels gleamed like jasper. 10  As for their appearance, all four of them looked the same, something like a wheel within a wheel. 11  When they moved, they would go in any of the four directions they faced without turning as they moved; in the direction the head would turn they would follow without turning as they moved, 12  along with their entire bodies, their backs, their hands, and their wings. The wheels of the four of them were full of eyes all around. 13  As for their wheels, they were called “the wheelwork” as I listened. 14  Each of the cherubim had four faces: The first was the face of a cherub, the second that of a man, the third that of a lion, and the fourth that of an eagle.

15  The cherubim rose up; these were the living beings I saw at the Kebar River. 16  When the cherubim moved, the wheels moved beside them; when the cherubim spread their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels did not move from their side. 17  When the cherubim stood still, the wheels stood still, and when they rose up, the wheels rose up with them, for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.

18  Then the glory of the Lord moved away from the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. 19  The cherubim spread their wings, and they rose up from the earth while I watched (when they went the wheels went alongside them). They stopped at the entrance to the east gate of the Lord’s temple as the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them.

20  These were the living creatures which I saw at the Kebar River underneath the God of Israel; I knew that they were cherubim. 21  Each had four faces; each had four wings and the form of human hands under the wings. 22  As for the form of their faces, they were the faces whose appearance I had seen at the Kebar River. Each one moved straight ahead.