16
"'This is what the Almighty LORD says: Suppose the prince offers one of his sons a gift from his property. The gift will belong to his descendants because it is their inheritance.
17
But suppose the prince offers a gift from his property to one of his servants. The gift will belong to the servant only until the year of freedom. Then the gift will go back to the prince. Only his sons can inherit his property.
18
The prince must not take any of the people's property. He must not force them to give up their property. He must give his own property as an inheritance to his sons so that none of my people will be separated from their property.'"
19
The man brought me through a passage beside the gateway to the side rooms that faced north. These rooms were reserved for the priests. He showed me a place on the west side of the rooms.
20
He said to me, "This is the place where the priests must boil the meat for the guilt offering and the offering for sin. This is the place where they must bake grain offerings so that they don't have to bring the offerings into the outer courtyard. This way they won't transfer holiness to the people."
21
Then the man led me to the outer courtyard and took me past the four corners of the courtyard. I saw that in each corner of the courtyard there was a smaller courtyard.
22
The smaller courtyards that were in each of the four corners of the courtyard were 60 feet long and 45 feet wide. All four of the smaller courtyards in the corners of the courtyard were the same size.
23
Around each of the four courtyards were stone walls, and these walls were equipped with fireplaces.
24
Then the man said to me, "These are the kitchens where the temple servants must boil the people's sacrifices."