Bible Strands
Ezekiel 1:8
Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four living creatures had faces and wings,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Ezekiel records a vision of four living creatures, detailing their physical arrangement as he observes them in the prophetic revelation.
The words — The text highlights מִתַּחַת (mi./Ta.chat) meaning "under" and אָדָם ('a.Dam) meaning "human," specifying that the creatures possess hands located beneath their wings on all four sides.
The thread — This structural detail reappears in Ezekiel 10:21, while the creatures' non-pivoting movement is noted in Ezekiel 1:17.
Why it lands — The passage demands recognition of the creatures' hybrid anatomy and their capacity for direct, unhesitating motion. It requires the reader to track the precise physical layout of the vision without allegorizing the details prematurely.
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 they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 10:21 Each had four faces and four wings, with what looked like human hands under their wings.
- Isaiah 6:6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
- Ezekiel 1:17 As they moved, they went in any of the four directions, without pivoting as they moved.
- Ezekiel 8:3 He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and carried me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes jealousy was seated.
- Ezekiel 10:2 And the LORD said to the man clothed in linen, “Go inside the wheelwork 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.
- Ezekiel 10:7 Then one of the cherubim reached out his hand and took some of the fire that was among them. And he put it into the hands of the man clothed in linen, who received it and went out.
- Ezekiel 10:11 When they moved, they would go in any of the four directions, without turning as they moved. For wherever the head faced, the cherubim would go in that direction, without turning as they moved.
- Ezekiel 10:18 Then the glory of the LORD moved away from the threshold of the temple and stood above the cherubim.