Verse Lens · Context pointer
Ezekiel 1:13 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 13. 13As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
Ezekiel's first-person vision report states or reports “As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like…” at Ezekiel 1:13 as a specific part of “Storm, Fire, and Four Living Creatures Approach.”
Read It With
- Ezekiel 1:4–14
Read Ezekiel 1:13 with 1:4–14. By itself, “As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like…” can be detached from the speaker, addressee, date, exilic horizon, visionary movement, or outcome that gives it force. The complete unit establishes: A storm cloud from the north opens into fire, brightness, amber, and four living creatures whose faces, wings, hands, feet, and straight movement convey living, coordinated mobility.
Why It Needs Context
Keep the line with Ezekiel 1:4–14. Ezekiel's first-person vision report states or reports “As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like…” at Ezekiel 1:13 as a specific part of “Storm, Fire, and Four Living Creatures Approach.” The literary form and this limit govern it: The imagery does not authorize alien, machine, occult, or psychiatric diagnosis, and no modern illustration can claim exact visual certainty.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Ezekiel 1:4–14 — Storm, Fire, and Four Living Creatures ApproachSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? probable
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Ezekiel 1:4–14, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Ezekiel
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a critical apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ezek.xml, OSIS 1:4–14
Open the fixed Hebrew Ezekiel file ↗