And as for their appearances, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel.

And as to their appearance, all four were alike: as if a wheel were in the midst of a wheel.

And as for their appearance, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel were in the midst of a wheel.

As to their appearances, one likeness is to them four, as it were the wheel in the midst of the wheel.

And as for their appearances, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in the middle of a wheel.

In form the four of them were all the same, they seemed like a wheel inside a wheel.

As for their appearance, the four of them had the same likeness, like a wheel within a wheel.

And in their appearance, each one of the four were similar, as if a wheel were in the midst of a wheel.

Et aspectus eorum similitudo una, [218] ipsis quatuor, quemadmodum si rota esset in medio rotae.

We have also explained this part. He says that all had the same aspect, not because God always governs events in an equable manner, for experience opposes this. But he means that the appearance was the same, because the variety which causes darkness to our eyes, does not remove the perpetual and well-arranged tenor of the works of God. Hence there is one appearance to the four wheels, because all God's works agree among themselves; and although their wonderful variety draws our eyes this way and that, yet he knows how to direct to his own purposes things which appear so dissipated. There is again a kind of concession, when he says, that wheel was in the midst of wheel For we see things so mutually involved, that no distinction occurs to us when we consider God's works by our own carnal sense. If we wish, therefore, to judge concerning God's works, wheel will be in the midst of wheel; that is, there will be wonderful perplexity, and this will hold us so bound together, that our minds cannot extricate themselves. This, therefore, is the concession, that. wheel was in the midst of wheel; but the common error is corrected directly afterwards, when the Prophet adds that the wheels were full of eyes It follows then --

A wheel had been in the midst of a wheel - It is difficult to comprehend this description. It is generally supposed to mean one wheel within another, cutting each other at right angles. This, in my opinion, will not account for the motions attributed to these wheels; nor can I see how, on this supposition, they could have any motion; for if one was moved on its axis, the other must be dragged contrary to its axis. I have conjectured it rather to mean a wheel within a wheel, or a wheel with two rims, working on the same axis. See on Ezekiel 1:16-18 (note). It is however no matter of faith; and the reader may judge as he thinks proper. For other matters relative to this chariot, wheels, cherubim, wings, etc., I must refer to the notes on the first chapter. And perhaps from the whole of this vision and its difficulties, he will see the propriety of the council of rabbins ordering Rabbi Ananias three hundred barrels of oil to light his lamp during the time it would be necessary for him to employ in explaining this one vision.

And as for their appearances, they four had one likeness,.... They were exactly like one another; they were all composed of the same matter, had all the colour of a beryl stone, were all in the same form of a wheel; and in matter, form, and shape, entirely tallied and agreed one with another, as true Gospel churches do: See Gill on Ezekiel 1:16;
as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel: not included in one another, but were formed in a cross or transverse way; See Gill on Ezekiel 1:16.

four had one likeness--In the wonderful variety of God's works there is the greatest harmony:--
"In human works, though labored on with pain,
One thousand movements scarce one purpose gain;
In God's one single doth its end produce,
Yet serves to second, too, some other use.
(See on Ezekiel 1:16).
wheel . . . in . . . a wheel--cutting one another at fight angles, so that the whole might move in any of the four directions or quarters of the world. God's doings, however involved they seem to us, cohere, so that lower causes subserve the higher.

They - The wheels. This intimates the references of providence to each other, and their dependences on each other: and the joint tendency of all to one common end, while their motions appear to us intricate and perplexed, yea, seemingly contrary.