1And while I was still reciting the song, the mouth of the fire which was on the surface rose up on high.
2And I heard a voice like the roaring of the sea, nor did it cease on account of the rich abundance of the fire.
3And as the fire raised itself up, ascending into the heights, I saw under the fire a throne of fire9,
4and round about it the watchfulness of many eyes, even the all-seeing ones reciting their song,
5and under the throne four fiery Living Ones singing, and their appearance was one, and each one had four faces.
6And such was the appearance of their countenance, that each one had one face of a lion, one of a man, one of an ox and one of an eagle,
7and because of their four faces upon their bodies, they had sixteen faces , and each had three pairs of wings, from their shoulders, from their sides, and from their loins.
8With the wings from the shoulders they covered their faces and with the wings from their loins they covered their feet,
9while the two middle wings were spread out for flying straight forward.10
10And it came to pass that when they had ended their singing they looked at one another and threatened one another.11
11And it came to pass that when the angel who was with me saw that they were threatening each other,
12he left me and went speedly near them and turned the countenance of each one away from the countenance immediately facing him,
13in order that they might not look upon each other.
14And he began to teach them the song of peace which has its origin in the ETERNAL One.
15And as I stood alone and looked, I saw behind the Living Ones a chariot with fiery wheels,
16each wheel full of eyes round about, and over the wheels was the throne which I had seen,
17and which was covered with fire, and the fire encircled it round about.
18And lo! An indescribable fire contained a mighty fiery host, and I heard its holy voice like the voice of a man. 12 Show notes 1 The Divine Presence is revealed by the element of fire (Ex 3, 2 ; Deut 4, 36 ; Ps. 78, 14) and GOD Himself is spoken of as “a consuming fire” (Deut. 4, 24 ; 9, 3). The fiery chariot which bore the Divine Presence is like in Ezek. 1, 4 (“a great cloud with a fire infolding itself”)2 Rev 1, 15 (Dan. 10, 6). This feature is part of the supernatural colouring so characteristic of Apocalyptic events. The heavenly light is of dazzling brilliance, the divine voice is like thunder (cf. 2 Enoch 34, 7: “like great thunder with continual agitation of the clouds”). Also like Is 17, 12 3 As the orthodox tradition teaches (and still followed today by muslims in prayer) the divine honour paid to GOD alone and to none other, in his highest form by prosternation 4 The opening lines of the Jewish medieval hymn: “Adon ’ôlǎm” “LORD of the world He reigned alone, while yet creation was unformed,” and for “self-originated” the phrase “beginningless” (belî re’shîth) applied to GOD in the same context. The divine name Shaddai was traditionally explained as “the self-sufficient” (she-dai hu lô) 5 This Divine attribute explained in Deut. 5, 10 is the “lover of men” the “ compassionate” and contains a short summary of the divine attributes based upon Ex. 34, 6-7, a passage much used in Biblical literatur e (*Wisdom 15,* 1). These attributes are predicable especially of the Tetragrammaton, which connotes more particularly the elements of mercy and compassion, while “*Elohâm”* denotes multiplied power (the Almighty), and is associated with the idea of justice and fixed law. “*El”* is part of “*Elohâm* and” denotes simply power6 The use of Sabaoth (sometimes transliterated as Zebaiot) alone as a design ation of GOD is un usual but not un exampled; cf. Ex. rabba 3, 6 : “The Holy One, blessed be He, said: Dost thou seek to know my Name? I am called according to my deeds. I am called at various times by the names ’El Shaddai, Sabaoth, Elohim, Jahveh. When I judge the creatures I am named Elohim, and when I wage war against the wicked I am called Sabaoth, and when I suspend (the punishment) of man’s sins I am called El Shaddai, and when I compassionate my world I am called Jahveh, because Jahveh means nought else but the attribute of compassion, as it is said (E x. 34,. 6) “Jahveh, Jahveh a GOD full of compassion”7 El is a Name used as a substitution for the Tetragrammaton, to not mention the Holy four letters8 Like the description in Dan. 10, 6 (“and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire”) and Ezek. 1, 13-149 Like in Enoch 20, 3 the vision of GOD’s throne of glory was the central point of the mystical experience 10 Like in Rev. 9, 8 (based on Is. 6, 2) and Ezek. 1, 6 the four “living creatures” have each four wings11 The celestial creatures (hǎ-'elyônîm) are not perfect, they have rivalry between them, even if for a just cause, serving the CREATOR at their best. In Jewish literature that dealt with the theme of the Divine Chariot and the Throne (Merkaba) these creatures that guard the Chariot are represented as ferocious and warlike, armed with fiery weapons 12 All this final part report words found in Ezek. Chapter 1