Ezekiel 1

A Vision of Living Beings
 ¹  On July 31 [1]  of my thirtieth year, [1]  while I was with the Judean exiles beside the Kebar River in Babylon, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.  ²  This happened during the fifth year of King Jehoiachin's captivity.  ³  (The LORD gave this message to Ezekiel son of Buzi, a priest, beside the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians, [3]  and he felt the hand of the LORD take hold of him.)
   ⁴  As I looked, I saw a great storm coming from the north, driving before it a huge cloud that flashed with lightning and shone with brilliant light. There was fire inside the cloud, and in the middle of the fire glowed something like gleaming amber. [4]   ⁵  From the center of the cloud came four living beings that looked human,  ⁶  except that each had four faces and four wings.  ⁷  Their legs were straight, and their feet had hooves like those of a calf and shone like burnished bronze.  ⁸  Under each of their four wings I could see human hands. So each of the four beings had four faces and four wings.  ⁹  The wings of each living being touched the wings of the beings beside it. Each one moved straight forward in any direction without turning around.
   ¹⁰  Each had a human face in the front, the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and the face of an eagle at the back.  ¹¹  Each had two pairs of outstretched wings—one pair stretched out to touch the wings of the living beings on either side of it, and the other pair covered its body.  ¹²  They went in whatever direction the spirit chose, and they moved straight forward in any direction without turning around.
   ¹³  The living beings looked like bright coals of fire or brilliant torches, and lightning seemed to flash back and forth among them.  ¹⁴  And the living beings darted to and fro like flashes of lightning.
   ¹⁵  As I looked at these beings, I saw four wheels touching the ground beside them, one wheel belonging to each.  ¹⁶  The wheels sparkled as if made of beryl. All four wheels looked alike and were made the same; each wheel had a second wheel turning crosswise within it.  ¹⁷  The beings could move in any of the four directions they faced, without turning as they moved.  ¹⁸  The rims of the four wheels were tall and frightening, and they were covered with eyes all around.
   ¹⁹  When the living beings moved, the wheels moved with them. When they flew upward, the wheels went up, too.  ²⁰  The spirit of the living beings was in the wheels. So wherever the spirit went, the wheels and the living beings also went.  ²¹  When the beings moved, the wheels moved. When the beings stopped, the wheels stopped. When the beings flew upward, the wheels rose up, for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.
   ²²  Spread out above them was a surface like the sky, glittering like crystal.  ²³  Beneath this surface the wings of each living being stretched out to touch the others' wings, and each had two wings covering its body.  ²⁴  As they flew, their wings sounded to me like waves crashing against the shore or like the voice of the Almighty [24]  or like the shouting of a mighty army. When they stopped, they let down their wings.  ²⁵  As they stood with wings lowered, a voice spoke from beyond the crystal surface above them.
   ²⁶  Above this surface was something that looked like a throne made of blue lapis lazuli. And on this throne high above was a figure whose appearance resembled a man.  ²⁷  From what appeared to be his waist up, he looked like gleaming amber, flickering like a fire. And from his waist down, he looked like a burning flame, shining with splendor.  ²⁸  All around him was a glowing halo, like a rainbow shining in the clouds on a rainy day. This is what the glory of the LORD looked like to me. When I saw it, I fell face down on the ground, and I heard someone's voice speaking to me.

Ezekiel 2

Ezekiel's Call and Commission
 ¹  "Stand up, son of man," said the voice. "I want to speak with you."  ²  The Spirit came into me as he spoke, and he set me on my feet. I listened carefully to his words.  ³  "Son of man," he said, "I am sending you to the nation of Israel, a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me. They and their ancestors have been rebelling against me to this very day.  ⁴  They are a stubborn and hard-hearted people. But I am sending you to say to them, `This is what the Sovereign LORD says!'  ⁵  And whether they listen or refuse to listen—for remember, they are rebels—at least they will know they have had a prophet among them.
   ⁶  "Son of man, do not fear them or their words. Don't be afraid even though their threats surround you like nettles and briers and stinging scorpions. Do not be dismayed by their dark scowls, even though they are rebels.  ⁷  You must give them my messages whether they listen or not. But they won't listen, for they are completely rebellious!  ⁸  Son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not join them in their rebellion. Open your mouth, and eat what I give you."
   ⁹  Then I looked and saw a hand reaching out to me. It held a scroll,  ¹⁰  which he unrolled. And I saw that both sides were covered with funeral songs, words of sorrow, and pronouncements of doom.

<<  1:1a Hebrew On the fifth day of the fourth month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. A number of dates in Ezekiel can be cross-checked with dates in surviving Babylonian records and related accurately to our modern calendar. This event occurred on July 31, 593 <%=ftSC%>B.C. 1:1b Or in the thirtieth year.
<<  1:3 Or Chaldeans.
<<  1:4 Or like burnished metal; also in 1:27.
<<  1:24 Hebrew Shaddai.

Hebrews 11 : 1-19

Great Examples of Faith
 ¹  Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.  ²  Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.
   ³  By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.
   ⁴  It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. Abel's offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man, and God showed his approval of his gifts. Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith.
   ⁵  It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—"he disappeared, because God took him." For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God.  ⁶  And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.    ⁷  It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith.
   ⁸  It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.  ⁹  And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise.  ¹⁰  Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.
   ¹¹  It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and was too old. She believed [11]  that God would keep his promise.  ¹²  And so a whole nation came from this one man who was as good as dead—a nation with so many people that, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, there is no way to count them.
   ¹³  All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth.  ¹⁴  Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own.  ¹⁵  If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back.  ¹⁶  But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
   ¹⁷  It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God's promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac,  ¹⁸  even though God had told him, "Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted." [18]   ¹⁹  Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.

<<  11:5 Gen 5:24.
<<  11:11 Or It was by faith that he [Abraham] was able to have a child, even though Sarah was barren and he was too old. He believed.
<<  11:18 Gen 21:12.