Ezekiel 44; Ezekiel 45

Ezekiel 44

1 The man then brought me back toward the sanctuary's outer gate that faced east, and it was closed.

2 The Lord said to me: "This gate will remain closed. It will not be opened, and no one will enter through it, because the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered through it. Therefore it will remain closed.

3 The prince himself will sit in the gateway to eat a meal before the Lord. He must enter by way of the portico of the gate and go out the same way."

4 Then the man brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. I looked, and the glory of the Lord filled His temple. And I fell facedown.

5 The Lord said to me: "Son of man, pay attention; look with your eyes and listen with your ears to everything I tell you about all the statutes and laws of the Lord's temple. Take careful note of the entrance of the temple along with all the exits of the sanctuary.

6 "Say to the rebellious people, the house of Israel: This is what the Lord God says: [I have had] enough of all your abominations, house of Israel.

7 When you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in both heart and flesh, to occupy My sanctuary, you defiled My temple while you offered My food-the fat and the blood. You broke My covenant with all your abominations.

8 You have not kept charge of My holy things but have appointed [others] to keep charge of My sanctuary for you.

9 "This is what the Lord God says: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, may enter My sanctuary, not even a foreigner who is among the Israelites.

10 Surely the Levites who wandered away from Me when Israel went astray, and who strayed from Me after their idols, will bear the consequences of their sin.

11 Yet they will occupy My sanctuary, serving as guards at the temple gates and ministering at the temple. They will slaughter the burnt offerings and [other] sacrifices for the people and will stand before them to serve them.

12 Because they ministered to the house of Israel before their idols and became a sinful stumbling block to them, therefore I swore an oath against them"-[this is] the declaration of the Lord God -"that they would bear the consequences of their sin.

13 They must not approach Me to serve Me as priests or come near any of My holy things or the most holy things. They will bear their disgrace and the consequences of the abominations they committed.

14 Yet I will make them responsible for the duties of the temple-for all its work and everything done in it.

15 "But the Levitical priests descended from Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from Me, will approach Me to serve Me. They will stand before Me to offer Me fat and blood." [This is] the declaration of the Lord God .

16 "They are the ones who may enter My sanctuary and draw near to My table to serve Me. They will keep My mandate.

17 When they enter the gates of the inner court they must wear linen garments; they must not have on them anything made of wool when they minister at the gates of the inner court and within [it].

18 They must wear linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments around their waists. They are not to put on [anything that makes them] sweat.

19 Before they go out to the outer court, to the people, they must take off the clothes they have been ministering in, leave them in the holy chambers, and dress in other clothes so that they do not transmit holiness to the people through their clothes.

20 "They may not shave their heads or let their hair grow long, but must carefully trim their hair.

21 No priest may drink wine before he enters the inner court.

22 He is not to marry a widow or a divorced woman, but must marry a virgin from the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.

23 They must teach My people the difference between the holy and the common, and explain to them the difference between the clean and the unclean.

24 "In a dispute, they will officiate as judges and decide the case according to My ordinances. They must observe My laws and statutes regarding all My appointed festivals, and keep My Sabbaths holy.

25 A priest may not come [near] a dead person so that he becomes defiled. However, he may defile himself for a father, a mother, a son, a daughter, a brother, or an unmarried sister.

26 After he is cleansed, he is to count off seven days for himself.

27 On the day he goes into the sanctuary, into the inner court to minister in the sanctuary, he must present his sin offering." [This is] the declaration of the Lord God .

28 "This will be their inheritance: I am their inheritance. You are to give them no possession in Israel: I am their possession.

29 They will eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the restitution offering. Everything in Israel that is permanently dedicated [to the Lord] will belong to them.

30 The best of all the firstfruits of every kind and contribution of every kind from all your gifts will belong to the priests. You are to give your first batch of dough to the priest so that a blessing may rest on your homes.

31 The priests may not eat any bird or animal that died naturally or was mauled by wild beasts.

Ezekiel 45

1 "When you divide the land by lot as an inheritance, you must set aside a donation to the Lord, a holy portion of the land, eight and one-third [miles] long and six and two-thirds [miles] wide. This entire tract of land will be holy.

2 In this area there will be a square [section] for the sanctuary, 875 by 875 [feet], with 87 and a half feet of open space all around it.

3 From this holy portion, you will measure off an area eight and one-third [miles] long and three and one-third [miles] wide, in which the sanctuary, the most holy place, will stand.

4 It will be a holy area of the land to be used by the priests who minister in the sanctuary, who draw near to serve the Lord. It will be a place for their houses, as well as a holy area for the sanctuary.

5 There will be [another area] eight and one-third [miles] long and three and one-third [miles] wide for the Levites who minister in the temple; it will be their possession for towns to live in.

6 "As the property of the city, you must set aside an area one and two-thirds [of a mile] wide and eight and one-third [miles] long, adjacent to the holy donation [of land]. It will be for the whole house of Israel.

7 And the prince will have the area on each side of the holy donation [of land] and the city's property, adjacent to the holy donation and the city's property, stretching to the west on the west side and to the east on the east side. [Its] length will correspond to one of the [tribal] portions from the western boundary to the eastern boundary.

8 This will be his land as a possession in Israel. My princes will no longer oppress My people but give the [rest of the] land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

9 "This is what the Lord God says: You have gone too far, princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression and do what is just and right. Put an end to your evictions of My people." [This is] the declaration of the Lord God .

10 "You must have honest balances, an honest dry measure, and an honest liquid measure.

11 The dry measure and the liquid measure will be uniform, with the liquid measure containing five and a half gallons and the dry measure [holding] half a bushel. Their measurement will be one-tenth of the standard larger capacity measure.

12 The shekel will weigh 20 gerahs. Your mina will equal 60 shekels.

13 "This is the contribution you are to offer: Three quarts from five bushels of wheat and three quarts from five bushels of barley.

14 The quota of oil in liquid measures will be one percent of every cor. [The cor equals] 10 liquid measures [or] one standard larger capacity measure, since 10 liquid measures equal one standard larger capacity measure.

15 And [the quota] from the flock is one animal out of every 200 from the well-watered pastures of Israel. [These are] for the grain offerings, burnt offerings, and fellowship offerings, to make atonement for the people." [This is] the declaration of the Lord God .

16 "All the people of the land must take part in this contribution for the prince in Israel.

17 Then the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings for the festivals, New Moons, and Sabbaths-for all the appointed times of the house of Israel-will be the prince's responsibility. He will provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and fellowship offerings to make atonement on behalf of the house of Israel.

18 "This is what the Lord God says: In the first [month], on the first [day] of the month, you are to take a young, unblemished bull and purify the sanctuary.

19 The priest must take some of the blood from the sin offering and apply [it] to the temple doorposts, the four corners of the altar's ledge, and the doorposts of the gate to the inner court.

20 You must do the same thing on the seventh [day] of the month for everyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance. In this way you will make atonement for the temple.

21 "In the first [month], on the fourteenth day of the month, you are to celebrate the Passover, a festival of seven days [during which] unleavened bread will be eaten.

22 On that day the prince will provide a bull as a sin offering on behalf of himself and all the people of the land.

23 During the seven days of the festival, he will provide seven bulls and seven rams without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord on each of the seven days, along with a male goat each day for a sin offering.

24 He will also provide a grain offering of half a bushel per bull and half a bushel per ram, along with a gallon of oil for every half bushel.

25 At the festival [that begins] on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, he will provide the same things for seven days-the same sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, and oil.