an edge or extremity · noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
joined
חֹֽבְרֹ֛תchoe.Rot
H2266
to join (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal active participle, feminine plural absolute
one
אִשָּׁ֥ה'i.Shah
H802
a woman · noun, common feminine singular absolute
another
אֲחוֹתָ֖הּ'a.cho.Tah
H269
a sister (used very widely (like brother) · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
turned
יִסַּ֣בּוּyi.Sa.bu
H5437
to revolve · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
went
יָלַךְyâlak
H3212
to walk (literally or figuratively)
went
יָלַךְyâlak
H3212
to walk (literally or figuratively)
one
אִ֛ישׁ'ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
straight
עֵ֥בֶר'E.ver
H5676
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct
forward
פָּנָ֖יוpa.Nav
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezekiel 10:22 And the likeness of their faces was the same faces which I saw by the river of Chebar, their appearances and themselves: they went every one…
2 Chronicles 3:11-12 And the wings of the cherubims were twenty cubits long: one wing of the one cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house: and t…
Proverbs 4:25-27 Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
Ezekiel 1:11-12 Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodie…
Ezekiel 10:11 When they went, they went upon their four sides; they turned not as they went, but to the place whither the head looked they followed it; th…
Luke 9:51 And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,
Luke 9:62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among yo…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 1:4-14
The visions of God which Ezekiel here saw were very glorious, and had more particulars than those which other prophets saw. It is the scope and intention of these vision, 1. To possess the prophet's mind with very great, and high, and honourable thoughts of that God by whom he was commissioned and for whom he was employed. It is the likeness of the glory of the Lord that he sees (Eze 1:28), and hence he may infer that it is his honour to serve him, for he is one whom angels serve. He may serve him with safety, for he has power sufficient to bear him out in his work. It is at his peril to draw back from his service, for he has power to pursue him, as he did Jonah. So great a God as this must…
they--had no occasion to turn themselves round when changing their direction, for they had a face (Eze 1:6) looking to each of the four quarters of heaven. They made no mistakes; and their work needed not be gone over again. Their wings were joined above in pairs (see Eze 1:11).
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 1:9
Their wings were joined one to another - When their wings were extended, they formed a sort of canopy level with their own heads or shoulders; and on this canopy was the throne, and the "likeness of the man" upon it, Eze 1:26.
They turned not when they went - The wings did not flap in flying, or move in the manner of oars, or of the hands of a man in swimming, in order to their passing through the air; as they glided in reference to their feet, so they soared in reference to their wings.
John Gill on Ezekiel 1:9
Their wings were joined one to another,.... "A woman to her sister" (n), in the Hebrew; denoting the concord, harmony, and agreement of Gospel ministers, and their affection to one another; they preach the same Gospel; administer the same ordinances; do the same work of the Lord; have the same zeal for the glory of God; the same love for Christ, and affection for the souls of men; are of the same mind and judgment, and help each other in the service of the Lord; and especially so it will be in the latter day glory, when the watchmen shall see eye to eye, Isaiah 52:8;
they turned not when they went; they went everyone straight forward; they go not into the path of error and immorality; they…
The Church Fathers
(Verses 8, 9) And they had four wings, and their wings were joined one to another. They did not turn back when they walked, but each one moved forward before its face. The Gospels are joined to each other and cling together, and they fly to and fro throughout the whole world, running here and there, without end to their flight, never surpassing or receding, but always proceeding to further things. And both Paul and Virgil say: Forgetting the things that are past, and reaching forth towards those things that are still to come.
"And they had faces and wings on four sides, and their wings were joined one to another." They have faces and wings in four directions, because in preaching throughout all regions of the world they demonstrate whatever they perceive concerning the humanity and whatever concerning the divinity of our Redeemer. For when they preach the incarnate God everywhere, they display their face in the four parts of the world. And when they announce that He is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit, they fly everywhere with the wing of contemplation. Their wings are joined one to another, because all their virtue and all their wisdom, by which they transcend other men through the flight of their contemplation, is mutually joined together in peace and unanimity. Hence it is written: The wisdom that is from above is first indeed pure, then peaceable. Hence also Truth says to these same preachers of His: Have salt in yourselves, and have peace among you. Therefore the wing of the living creatures is joined one to another, because the virtue and wisdom of the holy preachers is mutually united together in the peace of charity and concord. But the wing of one would be divided from another if, in that by which each one soars into wisdom, he refused to have peace with another. "They did not turn back when they went, but each one walked straight before its face." The feathered creatures, namely the holy preachers, when they advance, by no means turn back, because they pass from earthly actions to spiritual things in such a way that they are in no way turned back again to those things which they left behind. For to advance is, as it were, for them to go along a certain path, always moving in mind toward better things. On the contrary, it is said of the reprobate that they turned back in heart to Egypt. And Truth says through Himself: No one putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. For to put one's hand to the plow is, as it were, to open up the soil of one's heart through a certain plowshare of compunction for bringing forth fruit. But he looks back after the plow who, after the beginnings of good work, returns to the evils which he left behind. Because this by no means happens to God's elect, it is rightly now said through the prophet: They did not turn back when they advanced. He indicates why they do not turn back when he adds: "Each one…
Dictionary and topics
Cherubim · Form and appearance of — Form and appearance of
Visions · Mentioned in scripture: To Ezekiel (See chapters 10, 40-48 of Ezekiel) — Mentioned in scripture: To Ezekiel (See chapters 10, 40-48 of Ezekiel)
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Ezekiel 1:9
9. Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.
9. Societae erant quaeque ad aliam alarum: [29] ipsorum animalium non revertebantur in gradiendo: [30] vir, [31] versus faciem suam ex opposite [32] incedebant.
He says the wings were conjoined, which he soon more clearly explains: for he will say that the wings were joined together, and that two were so extended that they clothed or ruled the whole body: but here he touches shortly upon what he will soon treat more at length. Their wings then were so joined together that one touched the other: and afterwards he adds, they so went forward that they did not return; a…
Description of the theophany seen by the spirit of the prophet. - Eze 1:4. And I saw, and, lo, a tempestuous wind came from the north, a great cloud, and a fire rolled together like a ball, and the brightness of light round about it, and out of its midst, as the appearance of glowing metal from the midst of the fire. - The description begins with a general outline of the phenomenon, as the same presented itself to the spiritual eye of the prophet on its approach from the north. A tempestuous wind brings hither from the north a great cloud, the centre of which appears as a lump of fire, which throws around the cloud the brightness of light, and presents in its midst the appearance of glowing…
At the center of the fiery cloud were four living beings, each having four faces and four wings. Four is a number of completeness; these composite creatures summed up the created order.
Rashi on Ezekiel 1:9
Their wings joined one to the other Each one’s wing was spread out to the side of the other one’s wing this way [lit. to here] and that way [lit. to here] until they join and touch each other, thereby covering their faces, for the wings are spread out over the face.
they did not turn when they walked If they wished to walk in any desired direction, they did not need to turn their faces because they have faces on every side; therefore each one went in the direction of his facein the direction of the face on that side where they desired to go, they would go.