They moved as one; below and alongside each there was a wheel rimmed with eyes, and above them was a shining expanse. As the creatures; wings slackened and the apparition came to a halt, the prophet looked up and saw a sapphire throne upon which a human figure sat, glowing, ringed by a rainbow. It was the throne of God. The order of the narrative is the order of the prophet's perception: sights, then sounds; the lower part of the vision, then the upper; the movement of the apparition, then the halting. (These remarks do not apply to 1,8b-12, which are dislocated.) Though unparalleled in its bold portrayal of divinity, the vision is also traditional; Psalms 18,8-14 (parallel in 2 Sm 22) is a similar storm appearance; the composite creatures are found in Isaiah 6 and attested in Mesopotamian and Syrian religious symbolism.
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