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The Vision of the Chariot
1 In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the River Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.(A) 2 On the fifth day of the month (it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin),(B) 3 the word of the Lord came to the priest Ezekiel son of Buzi in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Chebar, and the hand of the Lord was on him there.
4 As I looked, a stormy wind came out of the north: a great cloud with brightness around it and fire flashing forth continually and in the middle of the fire something like gleaming amber.(C) 5 In the middle of it was something like four living creatures. This was their appearance: they were of human form.(D) 6 Each had four faces, and each of them had four wings.(E) 7 Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf’s foot, and they sparkled like burnished bronze.(F) 8 Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus:(G) 9 their wings touched one another; each of them moved straight ahead, without turning as they moved. 10 As for the appearance of their faces: the four had the face of a human being, the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and the face of an eagle;(H) 11 such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above; each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies.(I) 12 Each moved straight ahead; wherever the spirit would go, they went, without turning as they went. 13 In the middle of[a] the living creatures there was something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches moving to and fro among the living creatures; the fire was bright, and lightning issued from the fire.(J) 14 The living creatures darted to and fro, like a flash of lightning.(K)
15 As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them.[b](L) 16 As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like the gleaming of beryl, and the four had the same form, their construction being something like a wheel within a wheel.(M) 17 When they moved, they moved in any of the four directions without veering as they moved.(N) 18 Their rims were tall and awesome, for the rims of all four were full of eyes all around.(O) 19 When the living creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them, and when the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose.(P) 20 Wherever the spirit would go, they went, and the wheels rose along with them, for a living spirit was in the wheels.(Q) 21 When they moved, the others moved; when they stopped, the others stopped; and when they rose from the earth, the wheels rose along with them, for a living spirit was in the wheels.(R)
22 Over the heads of the living creatures there was something like a dome, shining like crystal,[c] spread out above their heads.(S) 23 Under the dome their wings were stretched out straight, one toward another, and each of the creatures had two wings covering its body. 24 When they moved, I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of mighty waters, like the thunder of the Almighty,[d] a sound of tumult like the sound of an army; when they stopped, they let down their wings.(T) 25 And there came a voice from above the dome over their heads; when they stopped, they let down their wings.
26 And above the dome over their heads there was something like a throne, in appearance like sapphire,[e] and seated above the likeness of the throne was something that seemed like a human form.(U) 27 Upward from what appeared like the loins I saw something like gleaming amber, something that looked like fire enclosed all around, and downward from what looked like the loins I saw something that looked like fire, and there was a splendor all around.(V) 28 Like the bow in a cloud on a rainy day, such was the appearance of the splendor all around. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.
When I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of someone speaking.(W)
The Vision of the Scroll
2 He said to me: “O mortal,[f] stand up on your feet, and I will speak with you.”(X) 2 And when he spoke to me, a spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.(Y) 3 He said to me, “Mortal, I am sending you to the people of Israel, to a nation[g] of rebels who have rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have transgressed against me to this very day.(Z) 4 The descendants are impudent and stubborn. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’(AA) 5 Whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house), they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.(AB) 6 And you, O mortal, do not be afraid of them, and do not be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns surround you and you live among scorpions; do not be afraid of their words, and do not be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.(AC) 7 You shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house.(AD)
8 “But you, mortal, hear what I say to you; do not be rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.”(AE) 9 I looked, and a hand was stretched out to me, and a written scroll was in it.(AF) 10 He spread it before me; it had writing on the front and on the back, and written on it were words of lamentation and mourning and woe.
3 He said to me, “O mortal, eat what is offered to you; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.”(AG) 2 So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. 3 He said to me, “Mortal, eat this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” Then I ate it, and in my mouth it was as sweet as honey.(AH)
4 He said to me, “Mortal, go to the house of Israel and speak my very words to them. 5 For you are not sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language but to the house of Israel, 6 not to many peoples of obscure speech and difficult language whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you.(AI) 7 But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me, because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart.(AJ) 8 See, I have made your face hard against their faces and your forehead hard against their foreheads. 9 Like the hardest stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not fear them or be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.”(AK) 10 He said to me, “Mortal, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart and hear with your ears; 11 then go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them. Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ whether they hear or refuse to hear.”(AL)
Ezekiel at the River Chebar
12 Then the spirit lifted me up, and as the glory of the Lord rose[h] from its place, I heard behind me the sound of loud rumbling;(AM) 13 it was the sound of the wings of the living creatures brushing against one another and the sound of the wheels beside them that sounded like a loud rumbling. 14 The spirit lifted me up and bore me away; I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of the Lord being strong upon me.(AN) 15 I came to the exiles at Tel-abib, who lived by the River Chebar.[i] And I sat there among them, stunned, for seven days.(AO)
Moses a Servant, Christ a Son
3 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, partners in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession,(A) 2 who was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses also “was faithful in all[a] God’s[b] house.” 3 Yet Jesus[c] is worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.(B) 4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.)(C) 5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s[d] house as a servant, to testify to the things that would be spoken later.(D) 6 Christ, however, was faithful over God’s[e] house as a son, and we are his house if we hold firm[f] the boldness and the pride inspired by hope.(E)
Warning against Unbelief
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today, if you hear his voice,(F)
8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
as on the day of testing in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors put me to the test,[g]
though they had seen my works 10 for forty years.
Therefore I was angry with that generation,
and I said, ‘They always go astray in their hearts,
and they have not known my ways.’
11 As in my anger I swore,
‘They will not enter my rest.’ ”
12 Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”(G)
16 Now who were they who heard and rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses?(H) 17 And with whom was he angry forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?(I) 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who were disobedient?(J) 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.(K)
Psalm 104
God the Creator and Provider
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul.
O Lord my God, you are very great.
You are clothed with honor and majesty,(A)
2 wrapped in light as with a garment.
You stretch out the heavens like a tent;(B)
3 you set the beams of your[a] chambers on the waters;
you make the clouds your[b] chariot;
you ride on the wings of the wind;(C)
4 you make the winds your[c] messengers,
fire and flame your[d] ministers.(D)
5 You set the earth on its foundations,
so that it shall never be shaken.(E)
6 You cover it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.(F)
7 At your rebuke they flee;
at the sound of your thunder they take to flight.
8 They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys,
to the place that you appointed for them.(G)
9 You set a boundary that they may not pass,
so that they might not again cover the earth.(H)
10 You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
they flow between the hills,(I)
11 giving drink to every wild animal;
the wild asses quench their thirst.(J)
12 By the streams[e] the birds of the air have their habitation;
they sing among the branches.(K)
13 From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.(L)
14 You cause the grass to grow for the cattle
and plants for people to cultivate,
to bring forth food from the earth(M)
15 and wine to gladden the human heart,
oil to make the face shine
and bread to strengthen the human heart.(N)
16 The trees of the field[f] are watered abundantly,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17 In them the birds build their nests;
the stork has its home in the fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the rocks are a refuge for the coneys.(O)
19 You have made the moon to mark the seasons;
the sun knows its time for setting.(P)
20 You make darkness, and it is night,
when all the animals of the forest come creeping out.(Q)
21 The young lions roar for their prey,
seeking their food from God.(R)
22 When the sun rises, they withdraw
and lie down in their dens.
23 People go out to their work
and to their labor until the evening.(S)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.