1tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
2tn Or “like a dome.” See 1:22-26.
3tnHeb “and he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4tn The Hebrew term often refers to chariot wheels (Isa 28:28; Ezek 23:24; 26:10).
5tc The LXX, Syriac, Vulgate, and Targum mss read plural “cherubim” while the MT is singular here, “cherub.” The plural ending was probably omitted in copying the MT due to the similar beginning of the next word.
6tnHeb “right side.”
7tn The name (“El Shaddai”) has often been translated “God Almighty,” primarily because Jerome translated it omnipotens (“all powerful”) in the Latin Vulgate. There has been much debate over the meaning of the name. For discussion see W. F. Albright, “The Names Shaddai and Abram,” JBL 54 (1935): 173-210; R. Gordis, “The Biblical Root sdy-sd,” JTS 41 (1940): 34-43; and especially T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 69-72.
8tnHeb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9tnHeb “he”; the referent (the man dressed in linen) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
10tnHeb “the wheel.”
11tnHeb “the cherub.”
12tn The Hebrew text adds, “from among the cherubim.”
13tn The Hebrew term is normally used as an architectural term in describing the plan or pattern of the tabernacle or temple or a representation of it (see Exod 25:8; 1 Chr 28:11).
14tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
15tn The MT repeats this phrase, a clear case of dittography.
16tnHeb “Tarshish stone.” The meaning is uncertain. The term has also been translated “topaz” (NEB), “beryl” (KJV, NASB, NRSV), and “chrysolite” (RSV, NIV).
17tn Or “like a wheel at right angles to another wheel.” Some envision concentric wheels here, while others propose “a globe-like structure in which two wheels stand at right angles” (L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:33-34). See also 1:16.
18sn That is, the cherubim.
19tn Many interpreters assume that the human face of each cherub was the one that looked forward.
20tc The phrase “along with their entire bodies” is absent from the LXX and may be a gloss explaining the following words.
21tn Or “the whirling wheels.”
22tnHeb “each one”; the referent (the cherubim) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
23sn The living creature described here is thus slightly different from the one described in Ezek 1:10, where a bull’s face appeared instead of a cherub’s. Note that some English versions harmonize the two descriptions and read the same here as in 1:10 (cf. NAB, NLT “an ox”; TEV, CEV “a bull”). This may be justified based on v. 22, which states the creatures’ appearance was the same.
24tnHeb “it was the living creature.”
25tnHeb “lifted.”
26tnHeb “they”; the referent (the cherubim) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
27tnHeb “they”; the referent (the wheels) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
28tnHeb “they”; the referent (the wheels) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
29tn Or “wind.”
30tnHeb “living creature.”
31tnHeb “them”; the referent (the wheels) has been specified in the translation for clarity.