Ezekiel 1:8

Each living creature appears to have had four hands or arms, cf. ch. Ezekiel 10:21. The last words of Ezekiel 1:8 must be joined with Ezekiel 1:9: "and their faces and their wings, of them four their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went, they went every one straightforward." The meaning is that as each creature with his outstretched wings formed one side of the square his wings touched or were joined to those of two other creatures, one on his right and another on his left. The words "they turned not" refer to the faces. The above sentence is very awkward, and the whole is given by LXX. in a much shorter form: Ezekiel 1:8 and the faces of them four Ezekiel 1:9 turned not when they went, they went every one straightforward. The clauses in Ezekiel 1:9 (Heb.) correspond respectively to Ezekiel 1:11.