“As Gabriel
Was speaking
To me,
I fell into a trance,
Face to the ground.
Then he touched me.
He set me
On my feet.”
Daniel continued his first person singular recounting of this story. As the archangel Gabriel was speaking to him, he fell into a trance or deep sleep with his face to the ground. Then Gabriel touched him, as if to wake him. Then Gabriel put him on his feet.
“The Spirit
Lifted me up.
He took me away.
I went in bitterness
In the heat
Of my spirit.
The hand
Of Yahweh
Was strong upon me.
I came
To the exiles
At Tel-abib.
They lived
By the river Chebar.
I sat there
Among them,
Stunned,
For seven days.”
Ezekiel continued his first person recounting of what happened to him after he saw this colorful vision. The same Spirit of Yahweh or the Holy Spirit lifted up Ezekiel and took him away. Ezekiel went in bitterness of spirit, because the hand of Yahweh was strongly on him. Thus he went to the exiles at Tel-abib, by the river Chebar, near Nippur, not far from the Chebar canal. There Ezekiel sat among these exiles for about a week stunned, in a state of shock.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 