Ezekiel 45; Ezekiel 46; 1 John 2

1 "'Divide the land by drawing lots for the property you will inherit. Set aside an area 43,750 feet long and 35,000 feet wide for the LORD. The entire area will be holy.

2 An area of 875 feet square will be for the holy place with an open area 87½ feet wide.

3 Measure off an area 43,750 feet long and 17,500 feet wide. The holy place, that is, the most holy place, will be in this area.

4 This holy part of the land will belong to the priests who serve in the holy place, the priests who come near to serve the LORD. They will use this place for their homes, and it will be the location for the holy place.

5 An area 43,750 feet long and 17,500 feet wide will belong to the Levites who serve in the temple. It will be given to them so that they have cities to live in.

6 "'You must designate an area 8,750 feet wide and 43,750 feet long as the city's property. It will be located alongside the holy area. It will belong to all the people of Israel.

7 "'The prince will have all the land on both sides of the holy area and on both sides of the property belonging to the city. From the western boundary of the holy area, his land will extend to the Mediterranean Sea. From the eastern boundary of the holy area, his land will extend to the eastern border [of the country]. His territory will be as large as the territory of one of the tribes.

8 This land will belong to the prince in Israel. Then my princes will no longer oppress my people. They will give land to each tribe of the nation of Israel.

9 "'This is what the Almighty LORD says: I've had enough of you, you princes of Israel. Stop your violence and looting, and do what is fair and right. Stop evicting my people, declares the Almighty LORD.

10 You must have honest scales and honest dry and liquid measures.

11 The dry and liquid measures must always be the same: The ephah and the bath should hold the same as one-tenth of a homer. The homer must be the standard measure.

12 One shekel must weigh 20 gerahs. One mina must weigh 60 shekels.

13 "'This is the contribution you must give to the LORD: seventeen percent of your wheat and seventeen percent of your barley.

14 You must give one percent of your olive oil using the standard measure.

15 You must take one sheep out of every 200 from the well-watered pastures of Israel. You must sacrifice them with grain offerings, burnt offerings, and fellowship offerings to make peace with the LORD, declares the Almighty LORD.

16 All the common people must give this contribution to the prince in Israel.

17 Then the prince is responsible to provide burnt offerings, grain offerings, and wine offerings at the annual festivals, the New Moon Festivals, the weekly days of worship, and all the other appointed festivals of the nation of Israel. He must prepare offerings for sin, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and fellowship offerings to make peace with the LORD for the nation of Israel.

18 "'This is what the Almighty LORD says: On the first day of the first month, take a young bull that has no defects and remove sin from the holy place.

19 The priest must take some blood from the offering for sin and put it on the doorposts of the temple, on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the doorposts of the gateways of the inner courtyard.

20 You must do the same on the seventh day of the month for everyone who unintentionally does something wrong and is unaware of it. So you must make peace with the LORD for the temple.

21 "'On the fourteenth day of the first month, you will celebrate the Passover, a festival lasting seven days when unleavened bread is eaten.

22 At that time the prince must prepare for himself and for all the common people a young bull as an offering for sin.

23 Every day during the seven days of the festival, he must prepare burnt offerings for the LORD: seven young bulls that have no defects, seven rams that have no defects, and one male goat as an offering for sin.

24 He must also give as a grain offering a half-bushel for each young bull and a half-bushel for each ram. He must also give one gallon of olive oil for every half-bushel of grain.

25 On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, at the Festival of Booths, he must do the same as on those seven days. He must prepare the same offerings for sin, burnt offerings, grain offerings, and olive oil.

1 "'This is what the Almighty LORD says: The east gate of the inner courtyard must be closed during the six working days, but it must be opened on the weekly day of worship. It must also be opened on the New Moon Festival.

2 The prince must enter from the outside through the entrance hall of the gateway. He must stand by the doorposts of the gateway. Then the priests must prepare the prince's burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He must worship at the entrance of the gateway and then leave. The gate must not be closed until evening.

3 The common people must worship at the door of the gateway in the presence of the LORD on the weekly days of worship and on New Moon Festivals.

4 The prince must offer to the LORD six lambs that have no defects and one ram that has no defects as a burnt offering on the day of worship.

5 The grain offering that is to be brought with the ram must be a half-bushel, and the grain offering that is to be brought with the lambs must be whatever the prince can bring. One gallon of olive oil must be brought with each half-bushel of grain.

6 On the first day of the month, the burnt offering must be one young bull, six lambs, and one ram--all animals that have no defects.

7 With each young bull and each ram the offering must include a half-bushel of grain, and with each lamb the offering must be whatever the prince wants to bring. One gallon of olive oil must be offered with each half-bushel of grain.

8 When the prince enters, he must enter through the entrance hall of the gateway. He must enter and leave the same way.

9 "'The people will enter the LORD's presence at the time of the appointed festivals. Those entering through the north gate to worship must leave through the south gate. Those entering through the south gate must leave through the north gate. They must not leave through the same gate they entered. They must leave through the opposite gate.

10 The prince must be among them. When they enter, he must enter. When they leave, he must leave.

11 "'On festival days and at appointed festivals, a grain offering of a half-bushel must be brought with each young bull, and a half-bushel must be brought with each ram. But with the lambs, the prince may bring whatever he wants to bring. One gallon of olive oil must be brought with each half-bushel of grain.

12 When the prince prepares a freewill burnt offering, either a burnt offering or a fellowship offering to the LORD, the east gate must be opened for him. He must sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings as he does on the day of worship. When he leaves, the gate must be shut after him.

13 "'Prepare a year-old lamb that has no defects every day as a burnt offering to the LORD. Do this every morning.

14 Also, prepare a grain offering with it every morning: three-and-a-third quarts of grain and one-and-a-third quarts of olive oil to moisten the flour. It will be a grain offering dedicated to the LORD. These rules are to be followed always.

15 Prepare the lamb, the grain offering, and the olive oil every morning as a daily burnt offering.

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."

1 My dear children, I'm writing this to you so that you will not sin. Yet, if anyone does sin, we have Jesus Christ, who has God's full approval. He speaks on our behalf when we come into the presence of the Father.

2 He is the payment for our sins, and not only for our sins, but also for the sins of the whole world.

3 We are sure that we know Christ if we obey his commandments.

4 The person who says, "I know him," but doesn't obey his commandments is a liar. The truth isn't in that person.

5 But whoever obeys what Christ says is the kind of person in whom God's love is perfected. That's how we know we are in Christ.

6 Those who say that they live in him must live the same way he lived.

7 Dear friends, it's not as though I'm writing to give you a new commandment. Rather, I'm giving you an old commandment that you've had from the beginning. It's the old commandment you've already heard.

8 On the other hand, I'm writing to give you a new commandment. It's a truth that exists in Christ and in you: The darkness is fading, and the true light is already shining.

9 Those who say that they are in the light but hate other believers are still in the dark.

10 Those who love other believers live in the light. Nothing will destroy the faith of those who live in the light.

11 Those who hate other believers are in the dark and live in the dark. They don't know where they're going, because they can't see in the dark.

12 I'm writing to you, dear children, because your sins are forgiven through Christ.

13 I'm writing to you, fathers, because you know Christ who has existed from the beginning. I'm writing to you, young people, because you have won the victory over the evil one.

14 I've written to you, children, because you know the Father. I've written to you, fathers, because you know Christ, who has existed from the beginning. I've written to you, young people, because you are strong and God's word lives in you. You have won the victory over the evil one.

15 Don't love the world and what it offers. Those who love the world don't have the Father's love in them.

16 Not everything that the world offers--physical gratification, greed, and extravagant lifestyles--comes from the Father. It comes from the world, and

17 the world and its evil desires are passing away. But the person who does what God wants lives forever.

18 Children, it's the end of time. You've heard that an antichrist is coming. Certainly, many antichrists are already here. That's how we know it's the end of time.

19 They left us. However, they were never really part of us. If they had been, they would have stayed with us. But by leaving they made it clear that none of them were part of us.

20 The Holy One has anointed you, so all of you have knowledge.

21 I'm writing to you because you know the truth, not because you don't know the truth. You know that no lie ever comes from the truth.

22 Who is a liar? Who else but the person who rejects Jesus as the Messiah? The person who rejects the Father and the Son is an antichrist.

23 Everyone who rejects the Son doesn't have the Father either. The person who acknowledges the Son also has the Father.

24 Make sure that the message you heard from the beginning lives in you. If that message lives in you, you will also live in the Son and in the Father.

25 Christ has given us the promise of eternal life.

26 I'm writing to you about those who are trying to deceive you.

27 The anointing you received from Christ lives in you. You don't need anyone to teach you something else. Instead, Christ's anointing teaches you about everything. His anointing is true and contains no lie. So live in Christ as he taught you to do.

28 Now, dear children, live in Christ. Then, when he appears we will have confidence, and when he comes we won't turn from him in shame.

29 If you know that Christ has God's approval, you also know that everyone who does what God approves of has been born from God.