Haftarah For The First Day Of Shavuot

And it was in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day ofthe Ezek. month: I was out in the exile, by the river Kevar, and the heavens opened ras up and I saw visions of God; on the fifth day of the month — it was the fifth year of the exile of king Jehoiachin. And so it was: the word of the LORD came to Ezekiel, the son of Buzi, the priest, in the land of Kasdim, by the river Kevar; the hand of the LORD was upon him there. And I saw: behold, a storm-wind came from the north, a great cloud and a flaring fire with a bright glow about it, and inside it, within the fire, a semblance of amber; and within that was the form of four living beings — this was their appearance: they had the form of a man, and each one had four faces, and each of these had four wings; and their legs were straight-standing, and their feet were like a calf’s hoof, and they gleamed with a semblance of burnished copper; they had man’s hands beneath their wings, on their four sides, and the four of them had wings and faces. Their wings were joined to each other; they did not turn when they moved: each one moved in the direction of its face. And their faces were in the form of the face of a man, with the face of a lion on the right of the four, the face of an ox on the left of the four, and the face of an eagle. Their faces, and their wings were separate above: each one had two joining it to the other, and two covering its body; each one moved in the direction of its face — wherever the spirit wished to move, they moved — they did not turn when they moved; and the form of the living beings, their appear ance, was like coals burning, like the appearance of torch-flames, it passed among the living beings; the fire had a bright glow, and lightning flashed out from the fire. And the living beings ran forward and back, like the appearance of darting-flames. And I saw the living beings — and behold, a wheel was on the ground with the living beings with the four faces. And the appearance of the wheels and their action had a semblance of topaz, and there was one form to each of the four; their appearance and their actions were as though one wheel were inside the other. When they moved, they moved on each of their four sides; they did not turn as they moved. Their rims were high, fearful; and the rims of all four of them were covered with eyes, all around. And when the living beings moved, the wheels moved with them; and wherever the spirit wished to move, they moved, there where the spirit