Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four living creatures had faces and wings,
Parallel translations
- WEB They had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and the four of them had their faces and their wings thus:
- KJV And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.
- NKJV The hands of a man were under their wings on their four sides; and each of the four had faces and wings.
- NASB Under their wings on their four sides were human hands. As for the faces and wings of the four of them,
- NLT Under each of their four wings I could see human hands. So each of the four beings had four faces and four wings.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Human hands are seen under their wings on all four sides. This shows the creatures are equipped to act and serve, not merely to fly.
Overview
The hands beneath the wings indicate capability for purposeful work in every direction. Combining wings with hands joins heavenly mobility to skilled action. The fourfold symmetry again stresses readiness to do God's bidding anywhere. These details build a picture of intelligent beings wholly devoted to executing the will of God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ezek 10:21Each had four faces and four wings, with what looked like human hands under their wings.
- Ezek 10:18Then the glory of the LORD moved away from the threshold of the temple and stood above the cherubim.
- Ezek 8:3He 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.
- Ezek 10:11When 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.
- Ezek 1:17As they moved, they went in any of the four directions, without pivoting as they moved.
- Ezek 10:2And 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.
- Isa 6:6Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
- Ezek 10:7–8Then 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.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 1:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.