Ezekiel 10:12

And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
body	בְּשָׂרָם֙ be.sa.Ram	H1320	flesh (from its freshness) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
backs	וְגַבֵּהֶ֔ם ve.ga.be.Hem	H1354	the back (as rounded) · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
hands	וִֽידֵיהֶ֖ם vi.dei.Hem	H3027	a hand (the open one (indicating power · conjunction + noun, common both genders dual construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
wings	וְכַנְפֵיהֶ֑ם ve.khan.fei.Hem	H3671	an edge or extremity · conjunction + noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
wheels	וְהָאֽוֹפַנִּ֗ים ve.ha.'o.fa.Nim	H212	a wheel · conjunction + definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
full	מְלֵאִ֤ים me.le.'Im	H4392	full (literally or figuratively) or filling (literally) · adjective, masculine plural absolute
eyes	עֵינַ֙יִם֙ 'ei.Na.yim	H5869	an eye (literally or figuratively) · noun, common feminine dual absolute
about	סָבִ֔יב sa.Viv	H5439	(as noun) a circle · noun, common both genders singular absolute
wheels	אוֹפַנֵּיהֶֽם 'o.fa.nei.Hem	H212	a wheel · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
four	לְאַרְבַּעְתָּ֖ם le.'ar.ba'.Tam	H702	four · preposition + cardinal number, feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural

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 1:18 As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.
Revelation 4:6 And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beas…
Revelation 4:8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy,…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 10:8–end

We have here a further account of the vision of God's glory which Ezekiel saw, here intended to introduce that direful omen of the departure of that glory from them, which would open the door for ruin to break in. I. Ezekiel sees the glory of God shining in the sanctuary, as he had seen it by the river of Chebar, and gives an account of it, that those who had by their wickedness provoked God to depart from them might know what they had lost and might lament after the Lord, groaning out their Ichabod, Where is the glory? Ezekiel here sees the operations of divine Providence in the government of the lower world, and the affairs of it, represented by the four wheels; and the perfections of the…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ezekiel 10:12

body--literally, "flesh," because a body consists of flesh. wheels . . . full of eyes--The description (Eze 1:18) attributes eyes to the "wheels" alone; here there is added, on closer observation, that the cherubim themselves had them. The "eyes" imply that God, by His wisdom, beautifully reconciles seeming contrarieties (compare Ch2 16:9; Pro 15:3; Zac 4:10).

Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 10:10

A wheel had been in the midst of a wheel - It is difficult to comprehend this description. It is generally supposed to mean one wheel within another, cutting each other at right angles. This, in my opinion, will not account for the motions attributed to these wheels; nor can I see how, on this supposition, they could have any motion; for if one was moved on its axis, the other must be dragged contrary to its axis. I have conjectured it rather to mean a wheel within a wheel, or a wheel with two rims, working on the same axis. See on Eze 1:16-18 (note). It is however no matter of faith; and the reader may judge as he thinks proper. For other matters relative to this chariot, wheels, cherubim,…

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John Gill on Ezekiel 10:12

And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings,.... This is to be understood not of the wheels, to whom body or flesh, backs, hands, and wings, do not belong, but of the cherubim; and the sense is, that as the wheels were alike, and had one and the same form and appearance, so had the cherubim; they were exactly alike in their body, backs, hands, and wings; denoting the agreement between Gospel ministers, in their doctrine, work, and conversation: and the wheels were full of eyes round about; that is, the rings or circles of the wheels, as in Ezekiel 1:18; signifying that churches consisted of enlightened persons, who had a sight of their sin and danger, and looked…

The Church Fathers

Wherefore those who are over others are to be admonished, that through earnestness of circumspection they have eyes watchful within and round about, and strive to become living creatures of heaven. For the living creatures of heaven are described as full of eyes round about and within. And so it is meet that those who are over others should have eyes within and round about, so as both in themselves to study to please the inward judge, and also, affording outwardly examples of life, to detect the things that should be corrected in others. Subjects are to be admonished that they judge not rashly the lives of their superiors, if perchance they see them act blamably in anything, lest whence they rightly find fault with evil they thence be sunk by the impulse of elation to lower depths. They are to be admonished that, when they consider the faults of their superiors, they grow not too bold against them, but, if any of their deeds are exceedingly bad, so judge of them within themselves that, constrained by the fear of God, they still refuse not to bear the yoke of reverence under them.
— Gregory the Dialogist, Pastoral Rule, Part 3, Chapter 4

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Wheel · SYMBOLI — SYMBOLI

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 10:12

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 10:8–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ezekiel 10:12

Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 10:10

John Gill on Ezekiel 10:12

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Ezekiel 10:12

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 10:8–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ezekiel 10:12

Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 10:10

John Gill on Ezekiel 10:12

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Ezekiel 10:11-12

Keil & Delitzsch on Ezekiel 10:9–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Ezekiel 10:12

Rashi on Ezekiel 10:12