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Ezekiel 10:21

in Ezekiel 10

Each had four faces and four wings, with what looked like human hands under their wings.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Every one had four faces, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.

KJV

Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.

This verse in Ezekiel 10

Commentary

8 notes on this verse
Every one had four faces apiece,.... Every one of the four living creatures, or cherubim, had four faces; which were the face of a man, of a lion, of an ox, and of an eagle, Eze 1:10; and everyone four wings: the Septuagint version reads eight wings; and the Syriac version "six"; so many in all indeed they had; see Gill on Eze 1:23; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings; See Gill on Eze 10:8.

This site's exposition

I knew that they were cherubim

on Ezekiel 10:20-22

“These were the living creatures I had seen beneath the God of Israel by the River Kebar, and I knew that they were cherubim.” Chapter 1 described them only by likeness and appearance, and chapter 10 names them as the cherubim who guarded Eden and stood over the ark.

This site's exposition

Each had four faces and four wings

Each cherub has four faces and four wings, and hands like human hands under the wings. John Gill lists the faces from 1:10 as those of a man, a lion, an ox and an eagle. Verse 14 names the first face as that of a cherub.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers2 voices

A commentator

Pseudo-Macarius

FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES 1:9 · Written before 534.

proposed

Here God truly mounts and guides the soul. He always obtains the victory skillfully directing and leading with expertise the chariot of the soul to a heavenly mind forever. God does not wage war against wickedness, but since he possesses all power and authority of …

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

proposed

(v. 18 seqq.) And the glory of the Lord went forth from the threshold of the Temple and stood over the Cherubim. And the Cherubim lifted up their wings and were exalted from the ground before me. And as they went, the wheels also followed them. And it stood at the entrance of the gate of the house of the Lord, which faces east, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. It is the creature that I saw beneath the God of Israel, by the river Chebar, and I understood that they were Cherubim.

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

4 Then the glory of the L ORD went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the L ORD 's glory. 5 And the sound of the cherubims' wings was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when he speaketh.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:94%@v4-5

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

), and yet in one thing there seems to be a material difference, that that which was there was the face of an ox, and was on the left side ( ch. i. 10 ), is here the face of a cherub, and is the first face (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

The repetition is in order that the people about to live without the temple might have, instead, the knowledge of the temple mysteries, thus preparing them for a future restoration of the covenant. So perverse were they that they would say, "Ezekiel fancies he saw what has no existence." He, therefore, repeats it over and over again.

The words behind it

12 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • אַרְבָּעָ֨הfour

    ʾarbaahH702 →318 times

  • אַרְבָּעָ֤הfour

    ʾarbaahH702 →318 times

  • פָנִים֙faces

    fanimH6440 →2123 times

  • לְאֶחָ֔ד[belonged] to one

    leechadH259 →971 times

  • וְאַרְבַּ֥עand four

    vearba'H702 →318 times

  • כְּנָפַ֖יִםwings

    kenafayimH3671 →109 times

  • לְאֶחָ֑ד[belonged] to one

    leechadH259 →971 times

  • וּדְמוּת֙and [the] likeness of

    udemutH1823 →25 times

  • יְדֵ֣י[the] hands of

    yedeiH3027 →1618 times

  • אָדָ֔םa human

    ʾadamH120 →551 times

  • תַּ֖חַת[were] under

    tachatH8478 →505 times

  • כַּנְפֵיהֶֽם׃wings their

    kanfeihemH3671 →109 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Revelation 4:7

    The first living creature was like a lion, the second like a calf, the third had a face like a man, and the fourth was like an eagle in flight.

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 10:14

      Each of the cherubim had four faces: the first face was that of a cherub, the second that of a man, the third that of a lion, and the fourth that of an eagle.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Ezekiel 1:10

      The form of their faces was that of a man, and each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side,…

    • Daniel 7:4

      The first beast was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted up from the ground and made to…

    • Ezekiel 1:8

      Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four living creatures had faces and wings,

    • Revelation 4:6

      And before the throne was something like a sea of glass, as clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, covered with eyes in front and back.

  • Through

    Ezekiel 10:14

    Each of the cherubim had four faces: the first face was that of a cherub, the second that of a man, the third that of a lion, and the fourth that of an eagle.

    it leads to

    • Revelation 4:7

      The first living creature was like a lion, the second like a calf, the third had a face like a man, and the fourth was like an eagle in flight.

    • 1 Kings 7:36

      He engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and panels, wherever each had space, with wreaths all around.

    • 1 Kings 7:29

      and on the panels between the uprights were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the uprights was a pedestal above, and below the lions and oxen were wreaths of beveled work.

Where this verse is studied

About Ezekiel

Ezekiel’s Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Ezekiel’s Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Calvin, Commentaries on the First Twenty Chapters of the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Pseudo-Macarius, FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES 1:9.