The Glory of the Lord Departs the Temple

I looked,
and I saw the likeness of a throne of sapphire (lapis lazuli)
above the expanse
that was over the heads of the cherubim.
The Lord said to the man clothed in linen,
"Go in among the wheels beneath the cherubim.
Fill your hands with burning coals
from among the cherubim
and scatter them over the city."
And as I watched, he went in.

Now the cherubim were standing
on the south side of the temple
when the man went in,
and a cloud filled the inner court.
Then the glory of the Lord
rose from above the cherubim
and moved to the threshold of the temple.
The cloud filled the temple,
and the court was full
of the radiance of the glory of the Lord.
The sound of the wings of the cherubim
could be heard as far away as the outer court,
like the voice of God Almighty when He speaks.

When the Lord commanded the man in linen,
"Take fire from among the wheels,
from among the cherubim,"
the man went in and stood beside a wheel.
Then one of the cherubim reached out his hand
to the fire that was among them.
He took up some of it
and put it into the hands of the man in linen,
who took it and went out.
(Under the wings of the cherubim
could be seen what looked like the hands of a man.)

I looked, and I saw beside the cherubim four wheels,
one beside each of the cherubim;
the wheels sparkled like chrysolite.
As for their appearance,
the four of them looked alike;
each was like a wheel intersecting a wheel.
As they moved,
they would go in any one
of the four directions the cherubim faced;
the wheels did not turn about as the cherubim went.
the cherubim went
in whatever direction the head faced,
without turning as they went.
Their entire bodies,
including their backs, their hands and their wings,
were completely full of eyes,
as were their four wheels.
I heard the wheels being called "the whirling wheels."
Each of the cherubim had four faces:
One face was that of a cherub,
the second the face of a man,
the third the face of a lion,
and the fourth the face of an eagle.

Then the cherubim rose upward.
These were the living creatures
I had seen by the Kebar River.
When the cherubim moved,
the wheels beside them moved;
and when the cherubim spread their wings
to rise from the ground,
the wheels did not leave their side.
When the cherubim stood still,
they also stood still;
and when the cherubim rose,
they rose with them,
because the spirit of the living creatures was in them.

Then the glory of the Lord
departed from over the threshold of the temple
and stopped above the cherubim.
While I watched,
the cherubim spread their wings
and rose from the ground,
and as they went,
the wheels went with them.
They stopped at the entrance
to the east gate of the Lord's house,
and the glory of the God of Israel
was above them.

These were the living creatures
I had seen beneath the God of Israel
by the Kebar River,
and I realized that they were cherubim.
Each had four faces and four wings,
and under their wings
was what looked like the hands of a man.
Their faces had the same appearance
as those I had seen by the Kebar River.
Each one went straight ahead.

(Ezekiel 10)