Ezekiel 41-44

Common English Bible

41 He brought me to the main hall, and he measured the arches. They were nine feet deep on both sides, so that was also the depth of the tent. ² The entrance was fifteen feet wide, and the facades on either side of the entrance were seven and a half feet. When he measured its length, it was sixty feet, and its width was thirty feet. ³ Then he went into the inner room, and he measured the arches on both sides of the entrance; they were each three feet. The entrance was nine feet wide, and its depth was ten and a half feet. ⁴ When he measured the length of the inner room, it was thirty feet, and the width of the side adjoining the main hall was also thirty feet. He said to me, “This is the most holy place.”

⁵ When he measured the wall of the temple, it was nine feet, and the side chambers that went all the way around the temple were six feet. ⁶ Now these side chambers adjoined each other, thirty chambers in three stories. The side chambers had a ledge in the temple wall all the way around to serve as supports, but these supports were not inserted into the temple wall itself. ⁷ A wide ramp ascended stage by stage to the side chambers all the way around the temple. In this way, the ascent stage by stage all around the temple added to the temple’s width. One ascended from the foundation to the top by way of the middle story. ⁸ Then I looked at the temple: Its roof all around rested on the side chambers. Each raised section was ten and a half feet, and the indentations between them were nine feet.^{[a] 9} The width of the outer wall of the side chambers was seven and a half feet. The space left free between the temple’s side chambers and ¹⁰ the other chambers was thirty feet wide all the way around the temple. ¹¹ There were two entrances from the side chambers to the free space, one facing north, the other facing south. And the width of the place that was left free was seven and a half feet all the way around. ¹² The structure facing the yard on the west was one hundred five feet wide. The structure’s wall was seven and a half feet wide all the way around, and its length was one hundred thirty-five feet.

¹³ Then he measured the temple. It was one hundred fifty feet long. The yard, the structure, and its walls were also one hundred fifty feet. ¹⁴ The area in front of the house and the yard to the east was one hundred fifty feet also. ¹⁵ Then he measured the length of the structure along the side of the yard, including its promenades on both sides: one hundred fifty feet.

Now the interior of the main hall as well as the porches in the courtyard ¹⁶ were paneled all around, including the ceilings,^[b] closed windows, and its three courses of promenades that adjoined the ceiling. From the ground up to the windows was covered. ¹⁷ Above the entrance, from the interior to the exterior of the temple, and on every interior and exterior wall, ¹⁸ there were carved winged creatures and palm trees. The palm trees were positioned between the winged creatures, and each winged creature had two faces. ¹⁹ A human face turned toward one palm tree, and the face of a lion turned toward another. They were carved on the temple all the way around. ²⁰ From the ground to above the entrance, the walls of the main hall were carved with winged creatures and palm trees. ²¹ In the main hall itself, there were square doorposts in front of the holy place, where there was the appearance of ²² the altar. It was four and a half feet high and three feet wide. It was made of wood, and its corners, base, and sides were also wood. He said to me, “This is the table that stands before the Lord.”

²³ The main hall and the holy place each had two doors, ²⁴ and each door had two turning panels, two for one door and two for the other. ²⁵ Like the walls, the doors of the main hall were carved with winged creatures and palm trees. A single luxuriant^[c] tree stood outside, in front of the porch, ²⁶ while closed windows and palm trees decorated both sides of the facade of the porch, the temple’s side chambers, and the beams.

Chambers and promenades

42 Then he led me north to the outer courtyard and brought me into the set of chambers opposite the yard and the structure to the north. ² The length of the facade at the north entrance was one hundred fifty feet, its depth seventy-five feet. ³ It was next to the twenty chambers that belonged to the inner courtyard and next to the pavement of the outer courtyard, and it had three courses of promenades. ⁴ In front of the chambers there was a passage fifteen feet wide, and to the inside, a passage eighteen inches wide. The entrance to the chambers was on the north. ⁵ The upper chambers were smaller, because the promenades took up more space from them than from the first and second stories. ⁶ This was because the promenades were arranged in three levels, but they didn’t have columns like those in the courtyards. For this reason, the top story was narrower than the first and second stories. ⁷ A stone wall ran parallel to the chambers facing the outer courtyard. It was seventy-five feet long, ⁸ the same length, seventy-five feet, as the chambers facing the outer courtyard. Those facing the temple were one hundred fifty feet. ^9-10 These chambers were entered from the outer courtyard at the end of the courtyard wall, because the entrance was at the end of the chambers at the east. South of the yard and the building, there were more chambers with a passage ¹¹ in front of them. The design of the chambers resembled the ones to the north in length and width, as well as in all their exits. The arrangement of the entrances ¹² to the chambers on the south side was identical as well. One entered from the east at the beginning of the corresponding wall.

¹³ Then he said to me, “The north and south chambers that face the building and the yard are the holy chambers where the priests eat the offerings that have been brought to the Lord. They are most holy. Here they will place the most holy things, the grain offering, the purification offering, and the compensation offering. The place is holy. ¹⁴ When the priests enter, they won’t go out of the sanctuary to the outer courtyard. There they will place the priestly vests that they wore when they were ministering, because these garments are also holy. They will put on other garments when they go out to the people’s area.”

¹⁵ When he finished making the interior measurements of the temple, he led me out toward the east gate, and he measured all the way around. ¹⁶ He used the same measuring rod on all four sides. He measured the east side, seven hundred fifty feet; ¹⁷ the north side, seven hundred fifty feet; and ¹⁸ the south side, seven hundred fifty feet. ¹⁹ He turned to the west side, seven hundred fifty feet. ²⁰ On all four sides he measured the wall all the way around. Its length was seven hundred fifty feet, and its width seven hundred fifty feet. So he made a division between the holy and the ordinary.

Return of the divine glory

43 Then he led me to the east gate, ² where the glory of Israel’s God was coming in from the east. Its sound was like the sound of a mighty flood, and the earth was lit up with his glory. ³ What appeared when I looked was like what I had seen when he^[d] came to destroy the city, and also like what I saw at the Chebar River, and I fell on my face. ⁴ Then the Lord’s glory came into the temple by way of the east gate. ⁵ A wind picked me up and brought me to the inner courtyard, and there the Lord’s glory filled the temple. ⁶ A man was standing next to me, but the voice that I heard came from inside the temple. ⁷ He said to me, Human one, this is the place for my throne and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will dwell among the Israelites forever. The house of Israel will never again defile my holy name, neither they nor their kings, with their disloyalties^[e] and with their kings’ corpses at the shrines. ⁸ When they set their plazas^[f] with mine and their doorposts next to mine, the wall was between us. They defiled my holy name with their detestable practices, so I consumed them in my anger. ⁹ Now let them remove their disloyalties and their kings’ corpses from me, and I will dwell among them forever.

¹⁰ You, human one, describe the temple to the house of Israel. Let them be humiliated because of their guilt when they think about its design. ¹¹ When they feel humiliated by all that they have done, make known to them the shape of the temple and its adornment, its exits and its entrances, its entire plan and all of its regulations.^[g] Write them down in their sight so that they may observe all of its entire plan and all its regulations and perform them.

¹² These are the instructions for the temple: the top of the mountain, as well as its boundaries all around, are most holy. These are the instructions for the temple.

The altar

¹³ These are the dimensions of the altar, according to a twenty-one-inch unit of measure.^[h] The base is twenty-one inches high and twenty-one inches wide, with an outer curb measuring one and a half inches all around. This is the altar’s height. ¹⁴ From the base at ground level to the lower ledge is forty-two inches; the lower ledge is twenty-one inches wide. The distance from the lower to the upper ledge is seven feet; the upper ledge is twenty-one inches wide. ¹⁵ The hearth is seven feet high, with four horns projecting upward from the hearth. ¹⁶ The hearth is twenty-one feet square; each side is equal to the others. ¹⁷ The ledge around the hearth is twenty-four and a half feet long by twenty-four and a half feet wide, a square. Its outer rim is ten and a half inches, and its base all around is twenty-one inches. Its ramp faces east.

Purification of the altar

¹⁸ He said to me, Human one, the Lord God proclaims: These are the regulations established for the altar on the day when it is prepared for making entirely burned offerings and dashing blood on it. ¹⁹ You will provide a young bull as a purification offering to the levitical priests who are descendants of Zadok, the ones who may draw near to minster to me. This is what the Lord God says. ²⁰ You will take some of its blood and set it on the four horns of the altar and on the four sides of the ledge and on the curb all around. So you will purify it and purge it. ²¹ Then you will take the bull selected as the purification offering, and the priests will burn it in a designated place of the temple outside of the sanctuary. ²² On the second day, you will present a flawless male goat as a purification offering. The priests will purify the altar just as they purified the altar with the bull. ²³ When you have completed the purification, you will present a flawless bull from the herd and a flawless ram from the flock. ²⁴ You will present them to the Lord. The priests will throw salt on them and offer them as entirely burned offerings to the Lord. ²⁵ Daily, for seven days, you will present a male goat for a purification offering. You will also present a bull from the herd and a ram from the flock, both flawless. ²⁶ For seven days the priests will purge the altar in order to purify it and to dedicate it. ²⁷ When the seven days are completed, the priests will offer your entirely burned offerings and your well-being sacrifices on the altar from the eighth day on, and I will accept you with pleasure. This is what the Lord God says.

The closed gate

44 He brought me back to the outer sanctuary gate that faces east. It was closed. ² The Lord said to me, This gate remains closed. It shouldn’t be opened. No one should come in through it because the Lord, Israel’s God, has entered through it. It will remain closed. ³ As for the prince, he may sit in it to eat bread in the Lord’s presence. He may come in and go out by way of the gate’s porch.

Foreigners, Levites, Zadokites

⁴ Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. I looked, and suddenly the Lord’s glory filled the Lord’s temple, and I fell on my face. ⁵ Then the Lord said to me: Human one, pay close attention! Use your eyes and ears and listen to all that I say to you concerning the regulations of the Lord’s temple and all its instructions. Pay close attention to the access to the temple through all the sanctuary portals.^{[i] 6} Speak to the rebels, to the house of Israel, The Lord God proclaims: Enough of your detestable practices, house of Israel! ⁷ You made my temple unclean because you brought into my sanctuary foreigners who were physically and spiritually uncircumcised. When you offered my food of fat and blood to me, you^[j] broke my covenant with all your detestable practices. ⁸ You didn’t keep charge of my holy things. On the contrary, you appointed them^[k] to keep charge in my sanctuary for you.

⁹ The Lord God proclaims: Foreigners who are spiritually and physically uncircumcised must not enter my sanctuary; that is, all foreigners among the Israelites. ¹⁰ But the Levites, who went far from me when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, will bear their guilt. ¹¹ They will keep charge in my sanctuary, and they will oversee the temple gates and keep charge of the temple. They will slaughter the entirely burned offerings and the sacrifices for the people, and they will stand before them to minister to them. ¹² Because they ministered to them before their idols, they brought about the downfall of the house of Israel. For that reason I made a solemn pledge against them—this is what the Lord God says—and they will bear their guilt. ¹³ They won’t approach me to officiate for me as priests or approach any of my holy things or the most holy place. Though they will bear their humiliation and the consequences of their detestable practices, ¹⁴ I will appoint them to keep charge of the temple, all its work, and all that is done in it.

¹⁵ As for the priests of the levitical family of Zadok who did keep charge of my sanctuary when the Israelites strayed away from me, they will draw near to me to serve me. They will stand in my presence to present fat and blood to me. This is what the Lord God says. ¹⁶ They will come into my sanctuary, and they will approach my table to minister to me. They will keep my charge. ¹⁷ When they come through the gates to the inner courtyard, they will wear linen garments. They won’t wear any wool when they minister at the gates of the inner courtyard or in the temple. ¹⁸ They will have linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments around their waists. They won’t wear anything that makes them sweat. ¹⁹ When they go out to the outer courtyard to the people, they will remove the garments in which they were ministering. They will lay them aside in the holy chambers and wear other clothing. They must not transfer holiness to the people through their clothing. ²⁰ They must neither shave their heads nor let their hair grow long, but they will trim the hair on their heads. ²¹ None of the priests should drink wine when they come into the inner courtyard. ²² They must not marry widows or divorced women, but only Israelite virgins. Priests may, however, marry the widows of other priests. ²³ They must teach my people the difference between the holy and the ordinary, and show them the difference between clean and unclean. ²⁴ They must execute judgments according to my case laws in cases of civil conflict. They must observe my instructions and my regulations regarding all my festivals. They must keep my sabbaths holy. ²⁵ In order to avoid uncleanness, they must not approach the dead. They may, however, become unclean for their father or mother, son or daughter, brother or unmarried sister. ²⁶ Once the priest is clean again, he must count off seven days. ²⁷ On the day that he comes into the holy place, the inner courtyard, to minister in the holy place, he will present his purification offering. This is what the Lord God says. ²⁸ As for their inheritance, I am their inheritance. They won’t be given family property in Israel; I am their family property. ²⁹ They will eat the grain offerings, the purification offerings, and the compensation offerings. Every dedicated thing in Israel belongs to them. ³⁰ The best of the early produce of every kind, and every contribution, all of them, belong to the priests. You will give the best of your bread dough to the priest so that a blessing may come to rest on your household. ³¹ The priests must not eat any bird or animal that dies naturally or is torn apart by prey.