And when the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them: This sentence is the same as the first one in 1.19 (see the comments there), except that cherubim has replaced “living creatures.”

And when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth: This clause adds a detail that was not explicit in chapter 1, namely, that the creatures lifted up their wings (“spread their wings” in New International Version) when they rose from the ground. All Ezekiel told us in chapter 1 was that they “let down their wings” when they stopped (see 1.24-25).

The wheels did not turn from beside them: This clause also is slightly different from the account in chapter 1. It is just another way of saying the wheels moved together with the living creatures when they moved. Although they were not actually connected, they always moved in unison. This clause may be rendered “the wheels did not roll away from their side” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “the wheels did not leave their place beside them” (New Century Version).

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .