Ezekiel looked again, and above the heads of the cherubim, in the expanse, he saw what looked like a sapphire throne. This was not a new vision but the same living creatures he had seen by the Kebar River, now identified plainly as cherubim. The throne above them signaled the Lord’s presence, but the scene was already charged with impending movement.
A man clothed in linen stood nearby. The Lord spoke directly to him: go between the whirling wheels under the cherub, fill both hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city. The man went in, and Ezekiel watched as the cherub stretched out a hand from among the cherubim, took fire, and placed it into the linen-clad man’s hands. The man took the coals and went out. No explanation was given for what the coals would do to the city, but the command was precise and the execution immediate.
As the man entered, the cherubim stood on the right side of the house, and the cloud filled the inner court. The glory of the Lord mounted up from the cherub and stood over the threshold of the house. The house itself filled with cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord’s glory. The sound of the cherubim’s wings carried all the way to the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.
Ezekiel noted the details of the wheels again. Four wheels stood beside the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub. Their appearance was like beryl stone, and all four had the same likeness—a wheel within a wheel. They moved in four directions without turning; wherever the head looked, they followed. The wheels, like the cherubim themselves, were full of eyes all around—their bodies, backs, hands, and wings. Ezekiel heard them called the whirling wheels.
Each cherub had four faces: the face of a cherub, the face of a man, the face of a lion, and the face of an eagle. Under their wings appeared the form of a man’s hand. This was the same living creature Ezekiel had seen by the river Chebar, and he knew now that they were cherubim.
When the cherubim moved, the wheels moved with them. When the cherubim lifted their wings to rise from the earth, the wheels did not turn aside. When the cherubim stood still, the wheels stood still. When they mounted up, the wheels mounted up with them, because the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
Then the glory of the Lord went out from over the threshold of the house and stood over the cherubim. The cherubim lifted their wings and mounted up from the earth in Ezekiel’s sight, the wheels beside them. They stopped at the door of the east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.
The chapter ends with Ezekiel confirming that these were the same living creatures he had seen by the river Chebar. Their faces and forms matched, and they went straight forward. The glory had moved from the threshold to the cherubim, and from the cherubim to the east gate. The departure had begun, but it was not yet complete.