Ezekiel 1:18

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Their rims were tall and awe-inspiring. Each of their four rims were full of eyes all around.

Hebrew Names Version
As for their rims, they were high and dreadful; and they four had their rims full of eyes round about.

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

English Standard Version
And their rims were tall and awesome, and the rims of all four were full of eyes all around.

New American Standard Bible
As for their rims, they were high and awesome, and the rims of all four of them were covered with eyes all around.

New Century Version
The rims of the wheels were high and frightening and were full of eyes all around.

Amplified Bible
Regarding their rims: they were so high that they were awesome and dreadful, and the rims of all four of them were full of eyes all around.

World English Bible
As for their rims, they were high and dreadful; and they four had their rims full of eyes round about.

Geneva Bible (1587)
They had also rings, and height, and were fearefull to beholde, and their rings were full of eyes, round about them foure.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
As for their rims they were lofty and awesome, and the rims of all four of them were full of eyes round about.

Legacy Standard Bible
And as for their rims, they were lofty and awesome, and the rims of all four of them were full of eyes all around.

Berean Standard Bible
Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around.

Contemporary English Version
The rims of the wheels were large and had eyes all the way around them.

Complete Jewish Bible
Their rims were tall and fearsome, because the rims of all four were full of eyes all around.

Darby Translation
As for their rims, they were high and dreadful; and they four had their rims full of eyes round about.

Easy-to-Read Version
The rims of the wheels were tall and frightening. There were eyes all over the rims of all four wheels.

George Lamsa Translation
As for their rims, they were high and they could see; for the rims were full of eyes round about them four.

Good News Translation
The rims of the wheels were covered with eyes.

Lexham English Bible
And their rims were high and awesome, and all four of their rims were full of eyes all around.

Literal Translation
And also their rims were high to them, even awesome to them. And their rims were full of eyes all around the four of them.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
They were large, greate and horrible to loke vpon. Their bodies were full off eyes rounde aboute them all foure. Whe the beestes wete, the wheles wente also with them:

American Standard Version
As for their rims, they were high and dreadful; and they four had their rims full of eyes round about.

Bible in Basic English
And I saw that they had edges, and their edges, even of the four, were full of eyes round about.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
As for their rings, they were high and they were dreadful; and they four had their rings full of eyes round about.

King James Version (1611)
As for their rings, they were so high, that they were dreadful, and their rings were full of eyes round about them foure.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
They had ringes, and heyght, and were feareful to beholde: & their ringes were full of eyes rounde about them foure.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
neither did their backs turn: and they were high: and I beheld them, and the backs of them four were full of eyes round about.

English Revised Version
As for their rings, they were high and dreadful; and they four had their rings full of eyes round about.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Also stature, and hiynesse, and orible biholdyng was to the wheelis; and al the bodi was ful of iyen in the cumpas of tho foure.

Update Bible Version
As for their rims, they were high and dreadful; and the four of them had their rims full of eyes round about.

Webster's Bible Translation
As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings [were] full of eyes around them four.

New English Translation
Their rims were high and awesome, and the rims of all four wheels were full of eyes all around.

New King James Version
As for their rims, they were so high they were awesome; and their rims were full of eyes, all around the four of them.

New Living Translation
The rims of the four wheels were tall and frightening, and they were covered with eyes all around.

New Life Bible
The wheels were so high that they caused fear. And all four of them were full of eyes all around.

New Revised Standard
Their rims were tall and awesome, for the rims of all four were full of eyes all around.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
As for their rings, they were so high that they were terrible, -and their rings full of eyes round about, had they four.

Douay-Rheims Bible
The wheels had also a size, and a height, and a dreadful appearance: and the whole body was full of eyes round about all the four.

Revised Standard Version
The four wheels had rims and they had spokes; and their rims were full of eyes round about.

Young's Literal Translation
As to their rings, they are both high and fearful, and their rings [are] full of eyes round about them four.

Contextual Overview

¹⁵As I watched the four creatures, I saw something that looked like a wheel on the ground beside each of the four-faced creatures. This is what the wheels looked like: They were identical wheels, sparkling like diamonds in the sun. It looked like they were wheels within wheels, like a gyroscope. ¹⁷They went in any one of the four directions they faced, but straight, not veering off. The rims were immense, circled with eyes. When the living creatures went, the wheels went; when the living creatures lifted off, the wheels lifted off. Wherever the spirit went, they went, the wheels sticking right with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. When the creatures went, the wheels went; when the creatures stopped, the wheels stopped; when the creatures lifted off, the wheels lifted off, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. ²²Over the heads of the living creatures was something like a dome, shimmering like a sky full of cut glass, vaulted over their heads. Under the dome one set of wings was extended toward the others, with another set of wings covering their bodies. When they moved I heard their wings—it was like the roar of a great waterfall, like the voice of The Strong God, like the noise of a battlefield. When they stopped, they folded their wings. ²⁵And then, as they stood with folded wings, there was a voice from above the dome over their heads. Above the dome there was something that looked like a throne, sky-blue like a sapphire, with a humanlike figure towering above the throne. From what I could see, from the waist up he looked like burnished bronze and from the waist down like a blazing fire. Brightness everywhere! The way a rainbow springs out of the sky on a rainy day—that's what it was like. It turned out to be the Glory of God ! When I saw all this, I fell to my knees, my face to the ground. Then I heard a voice.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

they were so: Job 37:22-24, Psalms 77:16-19, Psalms 97:2-5, Isaiah 55:9

rings: or, stakes

full: Ezekiel 10:12, Proverbs 15:3, Zechariah 4:10, Revelation 4:6, Revelation 4:8

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 7:33 - General Psalms 66:5 - terrible

Cross-References

Psalms 19:6
That's how God's Word vaults across the skies from sunrise to sunset, Melting ice, scorching deserts, warming hearts to faith.

Jeremiah 31:35
God 's Message, from the God who lights up the day with sun and brightens the night with moon and stars, Who whips the ocean into a billowy froth, whose name is God -of-the-Angel-Armies:

Gill's Notes on the Bible

As for their rings, they were so high, that they were dreadful,.... The circles and circumferences of them were "high": which may denote the visibility and extensiveness of the churches of Christ, especially in the latter day; when they shall be exalted above the mountains and hills, the kingdoms and states of this world; and there shall be such numerous additions to them, that the place will be too strait for the members of them to dwell in, Isaiah 2:2; and "they were dreadful"; terrible, as the churches of Christ will be to their enemies to look at, when they shall be in their exalted state,

Revelation 11:12; or the words may be rendered, "and they had fear" s; there was fear and reverence in them; the fear of God, and a reverential affection for him; they were waiting on him, and attending his worship with great reverence and godly fear:

and their rings [were] full of eyes round about them four; everyone of the four wheels, and each of their four semicircles, were full of eyes; expressive of the knowledge of the Gospel, and the truths of it, in church members; their continual looking to Christ for fresh supplies of grace and strength; and their constant watchfulness over each other.

s ויראה להם "et timor illis erat", Cocceius; "et timor ipis", Starckius; "and they were reverent", so Dr. Lightfoot, Prospect of the Temple, &c. c. 38. p. 2055.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Rings - The felloes (circumference) of the wheels: they were both high and terrible. The “eyes” may have been no more than dazzling spots adding to their brilliancy. But it seems more likely that they had a symbolic meaning expressing either the universal fulfillment of God’s will through His creation (2 Chronicles 16:9; compare Ezekiel 10:12), or the constant and unceasing praise which His works are ever rendering to Him Revelation 4:8. The power of nature is no blind force. it is employed in the service of God’s Providence, and the stamp of reason is impressed all over it. It is this very thing that makes the power of nature terrible to him who is at enmity with God.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ezekiel 1:18. As for their rings — The strakes which form the rim or periphery.

They were dreadful — They were exceedingly great in their diameter, so that it was tremendous to look from the part that touched the ground to that which was opposite above.

Were full of eyes — Does not this refer to the appearance of nails keeping on the spokes, or strakes or bands upon the rim?