Ezekiel 43; Ezekiel 44; Ezekiel 45

Ezekiel 43

1 The man took me to the gate that faces east,

2 and there I saw coming from the east the dazzling light of the presence of the God of Israel. God's voice sounded like the roar of the sea, and the earth shone with the dazzling light.

3 This vision was like the one I had seen when God came to destroy Jerusalem, and the one I saw by the Chebar River. Then I threw myself face downward on the ground.

4 The dazzling light passed through the east gate and went into the Temple.

5 The Lord's spirit lifted me up and took me into the inner courtyard, where I saw that the Temple was filled with the glory of the Lord.

6 The man stood beside me there, and I heard the Lord speak to me out of the Temple:

7 "Mortal man, here is my throne. I will live here among the people of Israel and rule them forever. Neither the people of Israel nor their kings will ever again disgrace my holy name by worshiping other gods or by burying the corpses of their dead kings.

8 The kings built the doorsills and doorposts of their palace right against the doorsills and doorposts of my Temple, so that there was only a wall between us. They disgraced my holy name by all the disgusting things they did, and so in my anger I destroyed them.

9 Now they must stop worshiping other gods and remove the corpses of their kings. If they do, I will live among them forever."

10 And the Lord continued, "Mortal man, tell the people of Israel about the Temple, and let them study its plan. Make them ashamed of their sinful actions.

11 Then if they are ashamed of what they have done, explain the plan of the Temple to them: its design, its entrances and exits, its shape, the arrangement of everything, and all its rules and regulations. Write all this down for them so that they can see how everything is arranged and can carry out all the rules.

12 This is the law of the Temple: All the area surrounding it on the top of the mountain is sacred and holy."

13 These are the measurements of the altar, using the same unit of measure as in measuring the Temple. All around the base of the altar there was a gutter 20 inches deep and 20 inches wide, with a rim at the outside edge 10 inches high.

14 The lowest section of the altar, from the top of the base, was 4 feet high. The next section was set back from the edge 20 inches all around, and was 7 feet high. The section after that was also set back from the edge 20 inches all around.

15 This top section, on which the sacrifices were burned, was also 7 feet high. The projections on the four corners were higher than the rest of the top.

16 The top of the altar was a square, 20 feet on each side.

17 The middle section was also a square, 24 feet on each side, with a rim at the outside edge 10 inches high. (The gutter was 20 inches wide.) The steps going up the altar were on the east side.

18 The Sovereign Lord said to me, "Mortal man, listen to what I tell you. When the altar is built, you are to dedicate it by burning sacrifices on it and by sprinkling on it the blood of the animals that were sacrificed.

19 Those priests belonging to the tribe of Levi who are descended from Zadok are the only ones who are to come into my presence to serve me. I, the Sovereign Lord, command this. You will give them a young bull to offer as a sacrifice for sin.

20 You are to take some of its blood and put it on the projections on the top corners of the altar, on the corners of the middle section of the altar, and all around its edges. In this way you will purify the altar and consecrate it.

21 You are to take the bull that is offered as a sacrifice for sin and burn it at the specified place outside the Temple area.

22 The next day you are to take a male goat without any defects and offer it as a sacrifice for sin. Purify the altar with its blood the same way you did with the bull.

23 When you have finished doing that, take a young bull and a young ram, both of them without any defects,

24 and bring them to me. The priests will sprinkle salt on them and burn them as an offering to me.

25 Each day for seven days you are to offer a goat, a bull, and a ram as sacrifices for sin. All of them must be without any defects.

26 For seven days the priests are to consecrate the altar and make it ready for use.

27 When the week is over, the priests are to begin offering on the altar the burnt offerings and the fellowship offerings of the people. Then I will be pleased with all of you. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken."

Ezekiel 44

1 The man led me to the outer gate at the east side of the Temple area. The gate was closed,

2 and the Lord said to me, "This gate will stay closed and will never be opened. No human being is allowed to use it, because I, the Lord God of Israel, have entered through it. It is to remain closed.

3 The ruling prince, however, may go there to eat a holy meal in my presence. He is to enter and leave the gateway through the entrance room at the inner end."

4 Then the man took me through the north gate to the front of the Temple. As I looked, I saw that the Temple of the Lord was filled with the dazzling light of his presence. I threw myself face downward on the ground,

5 and the Lord said to me, "Mortal man, pay attention to everything you see and hear. I am going to tell you the rules and regulations for the Temple. Note carefully which persons are allowed to go in and out of the Temple, and which persons are not allowed.

6 "Tell those rebellious people of Israel that I, the Sovereign Lord, will no longer tolerate the disgusting things that they have been doing.

7 They have profaned my Temple by letting uncircumcised foreigners, people who do not obey me, enter the Temple when the fat and the blood of the sacrifices are being offered to me. So my people have broken my covenant by all the disgusting things they have done.

8 They have not taken charge of the sacred rituals in my Temple, but instead have put foreigners in charge.

9 "I, the Sovereign Lord, declare that no uncircumcised foreigner, no one who disobeys me, will enter my Temple, not even a foreigner who lives among the people of Israel."

10 The Lord said to me, "I am punishing those Levites who, together with the rest of the people of Israel, deserted me and worshiped idols.

11 They may serve me in the Temple by taking charge of the gates and by performing the work of the Temple. They may kill the animals which the people offer for burnt offerings and for sacrifices, and they are to be on duty to serve the people.

12 But because they conducted the worship of idols for the people of Israel and in this way led the people into sin, I, the Sovereign Lord, solemnly swear that they must be punished.

13 They are not to serve me as priests or to go near anything that is holy to me or to enter the Most Holy Place. This is the punishment for the disgusting things they have done.

14 I am assigning to them the menial work that is to be done in the Temple."

15 The Sovereign Lord said, "Those priests belonging to the tribe of Levi who are descended from Zadok, however, continued to serve me faithfully in the Temple when the rest of the people of Israel turned away from me. So now they are the ones who are to serve me and come into my presence to offer me the fat and the blood of the sacrifices.

16 They alone will enter my Temple, serve at my altar, and conduct the Temple worship.

17 When they enter the gateway to the inner courtyard of the Temple, they are to put on linen clothing. They must not wear anything made of wool when they are on duty in the inner courtyard or in the Temple.

18 So that they won't perspire, they are to wear linen turbans and linen trousers, but no belt.

19 Before they go to the outer courtyard where the people are, they must first take off the clothes they wore on duty in the Temple and leave them in the holy rooms. They are to put on other clothing in order to keep their sacred clothing from harming the people.

20 "Priests must neither shave their heads nor let their hair grow long. They are to keep it a proper length.

21 Priests must not drink any wine before going into the inner courtyard.

22 No priest may marry a divorced woman; he is to marry only an Israelite virgin or the widow of another priest.

23 "The priests are to teach my people the difference between what is holy and what is not, and between what is ritually clean and what is not.

24 When a legal dispute arises, the priests are to decide the case according to my laws. They are to keep the religious festivals according to my rules and regulations, and they are to keep the Sabbaths holy.

25 "A priest is not to become ritually unclean by touching a corpse, unless it is one of his parents, one of his children or a brother or an unmarried sister.

26 After he has become clean again, he must wait seven days

27 and then go into the inner courtyard of the Temple and offer a sacrifice for his purification, so that he can serve in the Temple again. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.

28 "The priests have the priesthood as their share of what I have given Israel to be handed down from one generation to another. They are not to hold property in Israel; I am all they need.

29 The grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the repayment offerings will be the priests' food, and they are to receive everything in Israel that is set apart for me.

30 The priests are to have the best of all the first harvest and of everything else that is offered to me. Each time the people bake bread, they are to give the priests the first loaf as an offering, and my blessing will rest on their homes.

31 The priests must not eat any bird or animal that dies a natural death or is killed by another animal."

Ezekiel 45

1 When the land is divided to give each tribe a share, one part is to be dedicated to the Lord. It is to be 10 miles long by 8 miles wide. The entire area will be holy.

2 In this area there is to be a square plot of land for the Temple, 840 feet on each side, entirely surrounded by an open space 84 feet wide.

3 Half of this area, a section 10 miles by 4 miles, is to be measured off; it will contain the Temple, the holiest place of all.

4 It will be a holy part of the country, set aside for the priests who serve the Lord in his Temple. It will contain their houses and the section of land for the Temple.

5 The other half of the area is to be set aside as the possession of the Levites, who do the work in the Temple. There will be towns there for them to live in.

6 Next to the holy area, another section, 10 miles long and 2 miles wide, is to be set aside for a city where any of the people of Israel may live.

7 Land is also to be set aside for the ruling prince. From the west boundary of the holy area it will extend west to the Mediterranean Sea; and from the east boundary it will extend to the eastern border of the country, so that its length will be the same as the length of one of the areas allotted to the tribes of Israel.

8 This area will be the share the ruling prince will have in the land of Israel, so that he will no longer oppress the people, but will let the rest of the country belong to the tribes of Israel.

9 The Sovereign Lord said, "You have sinned too long, you rulers of Israel! Stop your violence and oppression. Do what is right and just. You must never again drive my people off their land. I, the Sovereign Lord, am telling you this.

10 "Everyone must use honest weights and measures:

11 "The [ephah ]for dry measure is to be equal to the [bath ]for liquid measure. The standard is the [homer.] The resulting measures are as follows: 1 [homer ]= 10 [ephahs ]= 10 [baths]

12 "Your weights are to be as follows: 20 [gerahs ]= 1 [shekel] 60 [shekels ]= 1 [mina]

13 "This is the basis on which you are to make your offerings: Wheat: 1/60th of your harvest Barley: 1/60th of your harvest Olive oil: 1/100th of the yield of your trees (Measure it by the [bath]: 10 [baths ]= 1 [homer ]= 1 [kor].) Sheep: 1 sheep out of every 200 from the meadows of Israel "You are to bring grain offerings, animals to be burned whole, and animals for fellowship offerings, so that your sins will be forgiven. I, the Sovereign Lord, command it.

16 "All the people of the land must take these offerings to the ruling prince of Israel.

17 It will be his duty to provide the animals to be burned whole, the grain offerings, and the wine offerings for the whole nation of Israel at the New Moon Festivals, the Sabbaths, and the other festivals. He is to provide the sin offerings, the grain offerings, the offerings to be burned whole, and the fellowship offerings, to take away the sins of the people of Israel."

18 The Sovereign Lord said, "On the first day of the first month you are to sacrifice a bull without any defects and purify the Temple.

19 The priest will take some of the blood of this sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the Temple, on the four corners of the altar, and on the posts of the gateways to the inner courtyard.

20 On the seventh day of the month you are to do the same thing on behalf of anyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance. In this way you will keep the Temple holy.

21 "On the fourteenth day of the first month you will begin the celebration of the Passover Festival. For seven days everyone will eat bread made without yeast.

22 On the first day of the festival the ruling prince must offer a bull as a sacrifice for his sins and for those of all the people.

23 On each of the seven days of the festival he is to sacrifice to the Lord seven bulls and seven rams without any defects and burn them whole. He is also to sacrifice a male goat each day as a sin offering.

24 For each bull and each ram that is sacrificed, there is to be an offering of half a bushel of grain and three quarts of olive oil.

25 "For the Festival of Shelters, which begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the prince will offer on each of the seven days the same sacrifice for sin, the same offerings to be burned whole, and the same offerings of grain and olive oil."