Ezekiel 1:6

Christian Standard Bible ®

but each of them had four faces and four wings.

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
Everyone had four faces, and everyone of them had four wings.

King James Version
And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.

English Standard Version
but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings.

New American Standard Bible
Each of them had four faces and four wings.

New Century Version
but each of them had four faces and four wings.

Amplified Bible
Each one had four faces and four wings.

World English Bible
Everyone had four faces, and everyone of them had four wings.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And euery one had foure faces, and euery one had foure wings.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Each of them had four faces and four wings.

Legacy Standard Bible
And each of them had four faces and four wings.

Berean Standard Bible
but each had four faces and four wings.

Contemporary English Version
except that each one had four faces and four wings.

Complete Jewish Bible
but each one had four faces and four wings.

Darby Translation
And every one had four faces, and every one of them had four wings.

Easy-to-Read Version
But each one of them had four faces and four wings.

George Lamsa Translation
And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.

Good News Translation
but each of them had four faces and four wings.

Lexham English Bible
and each had four faces, and each of them had four wings.

Literal Translation
and four faces were to each, and four wings to each of them,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
that euery one had foure faces and foure wynges.

American Standard Version
and every one had four faces, and every one of them had four wings.

Bible in Basic English
And every one had four faces, and every one of them had four wings.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And every one had four faces, and every one of them had four wings.

King James Version (1611)
And euery one had foure faces, and euery one had foure wings.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And euery one had foure faces, and euery one of them had foure wynges.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And each one had four faces, and each one had four wings.

English Revised Version
And every one had four faces, and every one of them had four wings.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And foure faces weren to oon, and foure wyngis weren to oon.

Update Bible Version
And every one had four faces, and every one of them had four wings.

Webster's Bible Translation
And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.

New English Translation
but each had four faces and four wings.

New King James Version
Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings.

New Living Translation
except that each had four faces and four wings.

New Life Bible
but each of them had four faces and four wings.

New Revised Standard
Each had four faces, and each of them had four wings.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
and four faces each, and four wings each, had they;

Douay-Rheims Bible
Every one had four faces, and every one four wings.

Revised Standard Version
but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings.

Young's Literal Translation
and four faces [are] to each, and four wings [are] to each of them,

Contextual Overview

⁴I looked, and there was a whirlwind coming from the north, a huge cloud with fire flashing back and forth and brilliant light all around it. In the center of the fire, there was a gleam like amber. ⁵The likeness of four living creatures came from it, and this was their appearance: They looked something like a human, ⁶but each of them had four faces and four wings. ⁷Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the hooves of a calf, sparkling like the gleam of polished bronze. ⁸They had human hands under their wings on their four sides. All four of them had faces and wings. ⁹Their wings were touching. The creatures did not turn as they moved; each one went straight ahead. ¹⁰Their faces looked something like the face of a human, and each of the four had the face of a lion on the right, the face of an ox on the left, and the face of an eagle. ¹¹That is what their faces were like. Their wings were spread upward; each had two wings touching that of another and two wings covering its body. ¹²Each creature went straight ahead. Wherever the Spirit wanted to go, they went without turning as they moved. ¹³The likeness of the living creatures was like the appearance of blazing coals of fire or like torches. Fire was moving back and forth between the living creatures; it was bright, with lightning coming out of it.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

And every one had four faces: These living creatures were probably hieroglyphical representations of the holy angels, the attendants on "the King of Glory," and the ministers of his providence. They were four, apparently to denote that they were employed in the four corners of the world; and they had the likeness of a man, to signify that they were intelligent and rational creatures. Ezekiel 1:10, Ezekiel 1:15, Ezekiel 10:10, Ezekiel 10:14, Ezekiel 10:21, Ezekiel 10:22, Revelation 4:7, Revelation 4:8

every one had four wings: Ezekiel 1:8-11, Exodus 25:20, 1 Kings 6:24-27, Isaiah 6:2

Cross-References

Genesis 1:5
God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” There was an evening, and there was a morning: one day.

Genesis 1:6
Then God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, separating water from water.”

Genesis 1:7
So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above the expanse. And it was so.

Genesis 1:8
God called the expanse “sky.” Evening came and then morning: the second day.

Genesis 1:11
Then God said, “Let the earth produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” And it was so.

Genesis 1:12
The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:13
Evening came and then morning: the third day.

Genesis 1:14
Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for seasons and for days and years.

Genesis 1:20
Then God said, “Let the water swarm with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.”

Genesis 1:22
God blessed them: “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters of the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And or but everyone had four faces,.... Which are described,

:-. The Targum multiplies the faces in a strange monstrous manner, paraphrasing the words thus,

"each had four faces, and there were four faces to everyone "of them", and every creature had sixteen faces; the number of the faces of the four creatures was sixty and four;''

and everyone had four wings; the seraphim in Isaiah 6:2; and the four beasts or living creatures in Revelation 4:8; had six wings; and so it seems that these had also, from Ezekiel 1:11; as will be seen there; nor is this any contradiction to the account here given, since it is not said they had only four wings. The Targum gives the same monstrous account of their wings as of their faces, saying,

"each had four wings, and there were four wings for everyone of them, sixteen wings to every face, and sixty four to every creature; and the number of the wings of the four living creatures were two hundred and fifty six.''

Jarchi is of the same opinion, and confirms it in his note on the text, which is this,

""four faces to one"; that is, to the face of a man only were four faces, and so, to the lion, to the eagle, and to the ox, lo, sixteen to a living creature, and so to every living creature; and four wings to everyone of the faces, lo, sixty and four wings to a living creatures and which, according to the Targum of Jonathan, amounts to two hundred and fifty six wings;''

what these wings signified, Ezekiel 1:11- :;

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

In the Revelation of John each “beast” has its own distinctive character, here each unites in itself the four characters; there each has six wings, like the Seraphim Isaiah 6:2, here only four.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ezekiel 1:6. Every one had four faces — There were four several figures of these living creatures, and each of these figures had four distinct faces: but as the face of the man was that which was presented to the prophet's view, so that he saw it more plainly than any of the others; hence it is said, Ezekiel 1:5, that each of these figures had the likeness of a man; and the whole of this compound image bore a general resemblance to the human figure.