10:1 Then I saw on the platform above the top of the cherubim something like a sapphire, resembling the form of a throne in appearance. 10:2 The Lord1 said to the man dressed in linen, “Go into the wheelwork2 underneath the cherubim,3 fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter them4 over the city.” He did so as I watched.
10:3 The cherubim were standing on the south side5 of the entrance to the temple, when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court. 10:4 The glory of the Lord rose up from the cherub and moved to the threshold of the temple. The temple was filled with the cloud and the court was filled with the brilliance of the Lord’s glory. 10:5 The sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard from the outer court, like the sound of the Sovereign God6 when he speaks.
10:6 When the Lord7 commanded the man dressed in linen, “Take fire from within the wheelwork, from among the cherubim,” the man8 went in and stood by one of the wheels. 10:7 Then one of the cherubim stretched out his hand9 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 went back out. 10:8 (The cherubim appeared to have what looked like human hands under their wings.)
10:9 As I looked, I saw four wheels by the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub; the wheels gleamed like chrysolite.10 10:10 As for their appearance, all four of them looked the same, something like a wheel within a wheel.11 10:11 When the cherubim12 moved, they went in any of the four directions without turning as they moved, for in the direction the head would turn they would follow,13 they would not turn as they moved. 10:12 Their entire bodies,14 their backs, their hands, and their wings were full of eyes all around, as were the wheels belonging to the four of them. 10:13 As for their wheels, they were called “the wheelwork”15 as I listened. 10:14 Each of the cherubim16 had four faces: the first was the face of a cherub,17 the second that of a man, the third that of a lion, and the fourth that of an eagle.
10:15 The cherubim rose up; these were the living beings18 I saw at the River Kebar. 10:16 When the cherubim moved, the wheels moved beside them; when the cherubim lifted their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels did not move from their side. 10:17 When the cherubim19 stood still, the wheels20 stood still, and when they rose up, the wheels21 rose up with them, for the spirit of the living beings22 was in the wheels.23
10:18 Then the glory of the Lord moved away from the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. 10:19 The cherubim lifted up their wings, and as I watched they rose up from the earth and the wheels went out 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.
10:20 These were the living creatures which I saw underneath the God of Israel at the Kebar River; I knew that they were cherubim. 10:21 Each had four faces, four wings, and what looked like human hands under the wings. 10:22 As for their faces, they looked just like those I had seen at the River Kebar. Each one moved straight ahead.
The Fall of Jerusalem