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Ezekiel’s Wheel

Biblical
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Ezekiel’s Wheel is a visionary image of living creatures and wheels within wheels.

Detailed Definition
In Ezekiel’s vision, immense wheels move with the living creatures, covered in eyes and aligned with a radiant divine presence. The image resists ordinary perspective, making motion, surveillance, and holiness inseparable. Poets invoke Ezekiel’s Wheel to suggest machinery beyond comprehension, history turning under unseen power, or a universe whose many directions remain mysteriously coordinated.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Ezekiel’s Wheel turns through the storm, bright with impossible eyes” adapts the prophet’s vision into an image of cosmic motion; A poet may use Ezekiel’s Wheel to suggest a universe that is mysterious, living, and difficult to interpret; “Beside the factory, Ezekiel’s Wheel becomes a machine of prophecy” places a biblical symbol in a modern landscape; The wheel’s movement can symbolize transformation, divine presence, or visionary imagination.
Additional Notes
Ezekiel’s Wheel comes from Ezekiel 1, where the prophet sees living creatures beside enormous wheels that appear to move in every direction. The phrase “wheel within a wheel” emphasizes the vision’s strangeness and mobility, while the whole scene expresses divine glory and sovereignty. The text does not simply describe a mechanical object. In poetry and popular usage, the image often suggests mystery, cosmic order, vision, and God’s presence beyond ordinary limits.
Also Known As
Wheels Within Wheels Wheel Within a Wheel
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