Bible Strands
Ezekiel 1:4
I looked and saw a whirlwind coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing back and forth and brilliant light all around it. In the center of the fire was a gleam like amber,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Ezekiel, identified as a priest and son of Buzi, receives a direct vision while in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Kebar after the LORD’s hand rests upon him.
The words — The Hebrew text highlights ר֫וּחַ סְעָרָה (ruach se'arah), literally "a wind of storm," alongside עָנָן ('anan), "a cloud," to describe the atmospheric phenomenon Ezekiel observes.
The thread — The vision’s amber gleam and surrounding fire connect to Ezekiel 1:27 and Ezekiel 8:2, while the storm motif echoes Jeremiah 23:19.
Why it lands — The passage demands recognition of a divine manifestation that originates from the north, combining turbulent weather with intense light to frame what Ezekiel will subsequently describe.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 1:27 From what seemed to be His waist up, I saw a gleam like amber, with what looked like fire within it all around. And from what seemed to be His waist down, I saw what looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded Him.
- Ezekiel 8:2 Then I looked and saw a figure like that of a man. From His waist down His appearance was like fire, and from His waist up He was as bright as the gleam of amber.
- Jeremiah 23:19 Behold, the storm of the LORD has gone out with fury, a whirlwind swirling down upon the heads of the wicked.
- Exodus 19:16 On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning. A thick cloud was upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the ram’s horn went out, so that all the people in the camp trembled.
- Isaiah 21:1 This is the burden against the Desert by the Sea: Like whirlwinds sweeping through the Negev, an invader comes from the desert, from a land of terror.
- Jeremiah 1:13 Again the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “What do you see?” “I see a boiling pot,” I replied, “and it is tilting toward us from the north.”
- Jeremiah 25:32 This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Behold! Disaster is spreading from nation to nation; a mighty storm is rising from the ends of the earth.”
- Exodus 24:16 and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered it, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud.
- Deuteronomy 4:11 You came near and stood at the base of the mountain, a mountain blazing with fire to the heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness.
- 2 Chronicles 5:13 The trumpeters and singers joined together to praise and thank the LORD with one voice. They lifted up their voices, accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and musical instruments, in praise to the LORD: “For He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.” And the temple, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud