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the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Read the Bible

New King James Version

Ezekiel 1:6

Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Angel (a Spirit);   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Cherubim;   Visions;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Beasts;   Cherub;   Ezekiel;   Seraphim;   Vision;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Angels;   Cherubim;   Ezekiel;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Angel;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Cherub;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Cherub (1);   Seraphim;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Angel;   Cherub, Cherubim;   Ezekiel;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Isaiah, Book of;   Seraphim;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Living Creatures;   Numbers as Symbols;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Cherub;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Face;   Wing;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Babylonish Captivity, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Angel;   Living Creature;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Angelology;   Cabala;   Cherub;   Gems;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
but each of them had four faces and four wings.
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 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

4 Then I looked, and behold, a whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire. 5 Also from within it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man. 6 Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings. 7 Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the soles of calves' feet. They sparkled like the color of burnished bronze. 8 The hands of a man were under their wings on their four sides; and each of the four had faces and wings. 9 Their wings touched one another. The creatures did not turn when they went, but each one went straight forward. 10 As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man; each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and each of the four had the face of an eagle. 11 Thus were their faces. Their wings stretched upward; two wings of each one touched one another, and two covered their bodies. 12 And each one went straight forward; they went wherever the spirit wanted to go, and they did not turn when they went. 13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches going back and forth among the living creatures. The fire was bright, and out of the fire went lightning.

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. So the evening and the morning were the first day.
Genesis 1:6
Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."
Genesis 1:7
Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.
Genesis 1:8
And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
Genesis 1:11
Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so.
Genesis 1:12
And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:13
So the evening and the morning were the third day.
Genesis 1:14
Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;
Genesis 1:20
Then God said, "Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens."
Genesis 1:22
And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let 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.


 
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