Ezekiel 1
Ezekiel’s Vision of God and the Four Creatures
1 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was in the midst of the captivity by the River Chebar, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.†
2 On the fifth day of the month, in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity,
3 the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was upon me.†
4 I looked, and behold, a sweeping wind came from the north, and a great cloud was in it, with a surrounding brightness and fire flashing forth from it. In its midst was something like the appearance of amber in the middle of the fire, and a brightness in it.
5 In the midst, there was as it were the likeness of four living creatures. This was their appearance, and the likeness of a man upon them.†
6 Each had four faces, and each had four wings.
7 Their legs were straight, and their feet were winged. There were sparks like gleaming brass, and their wings were light.
8 The hand of a man was underneath their wings on their four sides.
9 The faces of those four did not turn as they proceeded, and they went with each face opposite the other.
10 This was the likeness of their faces: the face of a man, the face of a lion on the right side of the foursome, the face of an ox on the left, and the face of an eagle.†
11 Their wings were spread out above them. Each had two wings joined together, and two wings covered up their bodies.
12 Each went straight forward wherever the spirit was going, and did not turn back.
13 In the midst of the living creatures there was an appearance as of burning coals of fire, as an appearance of lamps turning among the living creatures. There was the brightness of fire, and out of the fire lightning came forth.†
14 I looked and behold, there was one wheel on the earth next to each living creature with its four faces.†
15 The appearance of the wheels was like the appearance of beryl, and each of the four had one likeness; and their work was as it were a wheel within a wheel.
16 They went on their four sides, and did not turn when they went.
17 Neither did their backs turn, and they were high. I saw them, and the backs of all four were full of eyes all around.
18 When the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.
19 Wherever the cloud happened to be, there was the spirit ready to go. The living creatures went, and the wheels went with them, for the spirit of life was in the wheels.
20 When the living creatures went, the wheels went; when the living creatures came to a stop, the wheels stopped; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up with them, for the spirit of life was in the wheels.
21 The likeness above the heads of the living creatures was like a firmament, like the appearance of crystal, spread out over their wings above.
22 Their wings were outspread underneath the firmament, clapping their wings one to the other, two wings joined to each, and two wings covering up their bodies.†
23 I heard the sound of their wings when they went, like the sound of much water; and when they stood still, their wings rested.
24 Then behold, a voice came from above the firmament, above their head.
25 There was as it were the appearance of a sapphire stone, and the likeness of a throne upon it. Upon the likeness of the throne there was as it were the appearance of a man above.†
26 Then I saw as it were the outward appearance of amber from the appearance of the waist and upward. From the appearance of the waist and downward I saw as it were the appearance of fire with brightness round about.
27 Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the condition of the surrounding brightness.†
Ezekiel Called as a Prophet to Israel
This was the vision of the likeness of the Lord’s glory. I saw it, and I fell down on my face, and heard the voice of One speaking.
Psalms 107
1 The ode of a psalm; by David. †
2 My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready; I will sing and give praise in my glory.
3 Awaken, lute and harp; I shall awaken early in the morning.
4 I will give thanks to You among the peoples, O Lord, And I will sing to You among the Gentiles;
5 For great is Your mercy above the heavens, And Your truth even to the clouds.
6 Be exalted above the heavens, O God, And Your glory above all the earth.
7 That Your beloved ones may be delivered, Save with Your right hand, and hear me.
8 God spoke in His place, “I shall be exalted, and I will divide Shechem, And measure out the valley of tents;
9 Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine; And Ephraim is the strength of My head; Judah is My king.
10 Moab is the cauldron of My hope; I will stretch out My shoe over Edom; Foreign tribes were subjected to Me.”
11 Who will bring me into a fortified city? Who will lead me as far as Edom?
12 Will not You, O God, who drove us away? And will You not go out with our armies, O God?
13 Give us help from affliction, For the salvation of man is worthless.
14 In God we shall do a mighty thing, And He shall despise our enemies.
Proverbs of Solomon 23
33 When your eyes behold a strange woman, Then your mouth will speak twisted things;
34 And you will lie down as in the heart of the sea And as a pilot in a great storm;
35 And you will say, “They beat me, but I did not suffer, And they mocked me, but I knew it not;
36 When will it be morning, That I may go seek those with whom I may company?”
Hebrews 8
The Old Worship, an Earthly Shadow
1 Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,†
2 a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.
3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer.
4 For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law;
5 who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”
6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.†
The Old Covenant Pleads for a New One
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.
8 Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—
9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.
12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
13 In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.