Lamentations 5 - Ezekiel 1
Names of God Bible
A Prayer of the Prophet
5 “Remember, O Yahweh, what has happened to us.
Take a look at our disgrace!
2 “The land we inherited has been turned over to strangers.
Our homes have been turned over to foreigners.
3 We are orphans without a father.
Our mothers are like widows.
4 We have to pay to drink our own water.
We have to pay to chop our own wood.
5 Our enemies are breathing down our necks.
We are worn out and not permitted to rest.
6 We had to beg Egypt and Assyria for food.[a]
7 Our ancestors sinned.
Now they are gone,
but we have to take the punishment for their wickedness.
8 Slaves rule us.
There is no one to rescue us from them.
9 To get our food, we have to risk our lives
in the heat[b] of the desert.
10 Our skin is as hot as an oven from the burning heat of starvation.
11 Women in Zion are raped, so are the girls in the cities of Judah.
12 Our leaders are hung by their hands.
Our older leaders are shown no respect.
13 Our young men work at the mill,
and our boys stagger under loads of wood.
14 Our older leaders have stopped meeting at the city gate,
and our young men no longer play their music.
15 There is no joy left in our hearts.
Our dancing has turned into mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head.
Because we have sinned, it has been disastrous for us.
17 This is why we feel sick.
This is why our eyes see less and less.
18 Foxes roam around on Mount Zion, which lies in ruins.
19 “But you, O Yahweh, sit enthroned forever,
and your reign continues throughout every generation.
20 Why have you completely forgotten us?
Why have you abandoned us for such a long time?
21 O Yahweh, bring us back to you, and we’ll come back.
Give us back the life we had long ago,
22 unless you have completely rejected us
and are very angry with us.”
Ezekiel Sees the Lord’s Throne
1 On the fifth day of the fourth month in the thirtieth year, while I was living among the exiles by the Chebar River, the sky opened, and I saw visions from Elohim. 2 On the fifth day of the month, during the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiakin, 3 Yahweh spoke his word to the priest Ezekiel, son of Buzi, in Babylon by the Chebar River. The power of Yahweh came over Ezekiel.
4 As I looked, I saw a storm coming from the north. There was an immense cloud with flashing lightning surrounded by a bright light. The middle of the lightning looked like glowing metal. 5 In the center of the cloud I saw what looked like four living creatures. They were shaped like humans, 6 but each of them had four faces and four wings. 7 Their legs were straight, their feet were like those of calves, and they glittered like polished bronze. 8 They had human hands under their wings on each of their four sides. All four of them had faces and wings. 9 Their wings touched each other. The creatures went straight ahead, and they did not turn as they moved.
10 Their faces looked like this: From the front, each creature had the face of a human. From the right, each one had the face of a lion. From the left, each one had the face of a bull. And from the back, each one had the face of an eagle. 11 That is what their faces looked like. Their wings were spread out, pointing upward. Each creature had two wings with which they touched each other. The other two wings covered their bodies. 12 Each of the creatures went straight ahead. They went wherever their spirit wanted to go, and they didn’t turn as they moved. 13 The living creatures looked like burning coals and torches. Fire moved back and forth between the living creatures. The fire was bright, and lightning came out of the fire. 14 The living creatures ran back and forth like lightning.
15 As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each of them. 16 This is how the wheels looked and how they were made: They looked like beryl. All four wheels looked the same. They looked like a wheel within a wheel. 17 Whenever they moved, they moved in any of the four directions without turning as they moved. 18 The rims of the wheels were large and frightening. They were covered with eyes.
19 When the living creatures moved, the wheels moved with them. When the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose. 20 Wherever their spirit wanted to go, the creatures went. The wheels rose with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. 21 So whenever the creatures moved, the wheels moved. Whenever the creatures stood still, the wheels stood still. And whenever the creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
22 Something like a dome was spread over the heads of the living creatures. It looked like dazzling crystal. 23 Under the dome, each creature had two wings that were stretched out straight, touching one another. Each creature had two wings that covered its body. 24 When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings. The sound was like the noise of rushing water, like the thunder of Shadday, like the commotion in an army camp. When the creatures stood still, they lowered their wings.
25 A voice came from above the dome over their heads as they stood still with their wings lowered. 26 Above the dome over their heads was something that looked like a throne made of sapphire. On the throne was a figure that looked like a human. 27 Then I saw what he looked like from the waist up. He looked like glowing bronze with fire all around it. From the waist down, he looked like fire. A bright light surrounded him. 28 The brightness all around him looked like a rainbow in the clouds. It was like Yahweh’s glory. When I saw it, I immediately bowed down, and I heard someone speaking.
Footnotes
- Lamentations 5:6 Or “We made a pledge to Egypt and Assyria in order to get enough food.”
- Lamentations 5:9 Hebrew meaning of “in the heat” uncertain.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.
