Ezekiel 43-46

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

The Divine Glory Returns to the Temple

43 Then he brought me to the gate, the gate facing east.^{(A) 2} And there the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east; the sound was like the sound of mighty waters, and the earth shone with his glory.^{(B) 3} The^[a] vision I saw was like the vision that I had seen when he came to destroy the city and^[b] like the vision that I had seen by the River Chebar, and I fell upon my face.^{(C) 4} As the glory of the Lord entered the temple by the gate facing east,^{(D) 5} the spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.^(E)

⁶ While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me out of the temple.^{(F) 7} He said to me: “Mortal, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will reside among the people of Israel forever. The house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their prostitution and by sacrificing to their kings^[c] at their death.^{[d](G) 8} When they placed their threshold by my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them, they were defiling my holy name by their abominations that they committed; therefore I have consumed them in my anger.^{(H) 9} Now let them put away their idolatry and sacrifices to their kings^[e] far from me, and I will reside among them forever.^(I)

¹⁰ “As for you, mortal, describe the temple to the house of Israel, and let them measure the pattern, and let them be ashamed of their iniquities.^{(J) 11} When they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the plan of the temple, its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, and its whole form—all its ordinances and its entire plan and all its laws; and write it down in their sight so that they may observe and follow the entire plan and all its ordinances.^{(K) 12} This is the law of the temple: the whole territory on the top of the mountain all around shall be most holy. This is the law of the temple.^(L)

The Altar

¹³ “These are the dimensions of the altar by long cubits in which each is a cubit and a handbreadth: its base shall be one cubit high^[f] and one cubit wide, with a rim of one span around its edge. This shall be the height of the altar:^{(M) 14} from the base on the ground to the lower ledge, two cubits, with a width of one cubit, and from the lower ledge to the upper ledge, four cubits, with a width of one cubit,^{(N) 15} and the altar hearth, four cubits, and from the altar hearth projecting upward, four horns.^{(O) 16} The altar hearth shall be square, twelve cubits long by twelve wide.^{(P) 17} The ledge also shall be square, fourteen cubits long by fourteen wide, with a rim around it half a cubit high, and its surrounding base, one cubit. Its steps shall face east.”^(Q)

¹⁸ Then he said to me: “Mortal, thus says the Lord God: These are the ordinances for the altar: On the day when it is erected for offering burnt offerings upon it and for dashing blood against it,^{(R) 19} you shall give to the Levitical priests of the family of Zadok, who draw near to me to minister to me, says the Lord God, a bull of the herd for a purification offering.^{(S) 20} And you shall take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar and on the four corners of the ledge and upon the rim all around; thus you shall purify it and make atonement for it. ²¹ You shall also take the bull of the purification offering, and it shall be burnt in the appointed place belonging to the temple, outside the sacred area.^(T)

²² “On the second day you shall offer a male goat without blemish for a purification offering, and the altar shall be purified, as it was purified with the bull. ²³ When you have finished purifying it, you shall offer a bull of the herd without blemish and a ram from the flock without blemish.^{(U) 24} You shall present them before the Lord, and the priests shall throw salt on them and offer them up as a burnt offering to the Lord.^{(V) 25} For seven days you shall provide daily a goat for a purification offering; also a bull of the herd and a ram from the flock, without blemish, shall be provided.^{(W) 26} Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and cleanse it and so consecrate it. ²⁷ When these days are over, then from the eighth day onward the priests shall offer upon the altar your burnt offerings and your offerings of well-being, and I will accept you, says the Lord God.”^(X)

The Closed Gate

44 Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary that faces east, and it was shut. ² The Lord said to me: “This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it shall remain shut. ³ Only the prince, because he is a prince, may sit in it to eat food before the Lord; he shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate and shall go out by the same way.”^(Y)

Admission to the Temple

⁴ Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple, and I looked, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord, and I fell upon my face.^{(Z) 5} The Lord said to me: “Mortal, mark well, look closely, and listen attentively to all that I shall tell you concerning all the ordinances of the temple of the Lord and all its laws, and mark well the entrances^[g] to the temple and all the exits of the sanctuary.^{(AA) 6} Say to the rebellious house,^[h] to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: O house of Israel, let there be an end to all your abominations^{(AB) 7} in admitting foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary, profaning my temple when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. You^[i] have broken my covenant with all your abominations.^{(AC) 8} And you have not kept charge of my sacred offerings, but you have appointed foreigners^[j] to act for you in keeping my charge in my sanctuary.

⁹ “Thus says the Lord God: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, shall enter my sanctuary. ¹⁰ But the Levites who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols when Israel went astray, shall bear their punishment.^{(AD) 11} They shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple and serving in the temple; they shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall attend on them and serve them.^{(AE) 12} Because they ministered to them before their idols and made the house of Israel stumble into iniquity, therefore I have sworn concerning them, says the Lord God, that they shall bear their punishment.^{(AF) 13} They shall not come near to me, to serve me as priest, nor come near any of my sacred offerings, the things that are most sacred, but they shall bear their shame and the consequences of the abominations that they have committed.^{(AG) 14} Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the temple, to do all its chores, all that is to be done in it.^(AH)

The Levitical Priests

¹⁵ “But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me, and they shall attend me to offer me the fat and the blood, says the Lord God.^{(AI) 16} It is they who shall enter my sanctuary; it is they who shall approach my table to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge. ¹⁷ When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen vestments; they shall have nothing of wool on them while they minister at the gates of the inner court and within the temple.^{(AJ) 18} They shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments on their loins; they shall not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat.^{(AK) 19} When they go out into the outer court to the people, they shall remove the vestments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments, so that they may not communicate holiness to the people with their vestments.^{(AL) 20} They shall not shave their heads or let their locks grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads. ²¹ No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court.^{(AM) 22} They shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman but only a virgin of the stock of the house of Israel or a widow who is the widow of a priest.^{(AN) 23} They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.^{(AO) 24} In a dispute they shall act as judges, and they shall decide it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes regarding all my appointed festivals, and they shall keep my Sabbaths holy.^{(AP) 25} They shall not defile themselves by going near a dead person; for father or mother, however, and for son or daughter and for brother or unmarried sister they may defile themselves.^{(AQ) 26} After he has become clean, they shall count seven days for him.^{(AR) 27} On the day that he goes into the holy place, into the inner court, to minister in the holy place, he shall offer his purification offering, says the Lord God.

²⁸ “This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance, and you shall give them no holding in Israel; I am their holding.^{(AS) 29} They shall eat the grain offering, the purification offering, and the guilt offering, and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs.^{(AT) 30} The first of all the first fruits of all kinds and every offering of all kinds from all your offerings shall belong to the priests; you shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, in order that a blessing may rest on your house.^{(AU) 31} The priests shall not eat of anything, whether bird or animal, that died of itself or was torn by animals.^(AV)

The Holy District

45 “When you allot the land as an inheritance, you shall set aside for the Lord a portion of the land as a holy district, twenty-five thousand cubits long and twenty^[k] thousand cubits wide; it shall be holy throughout its entire extent. ² Of this, a square plot of five hundred by five hundred cubits shall be for the sanctuary, with fifty cubits for an open space around it. ³ In the holy district you shall measure off a section twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand wide, in which shall be the sanctuary, the most holy place. ⁴ It shall be a holy portion of the land; it shall be for the priests who minister in the sanctuary and approach the Lord to minister to him, and it shall be both a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary.^{(AW) 5} Another section, twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand cubits wide, shall be for the Levites who minister at the temple, as their holding for cities to live in.^[l](AX)

⁶ “Alongside the portion set apart as the holy district you shall assign as a holding for the city an area five thousand cubits wide and twenty-five thousand cubits long; it shall belong to the whole house of Israel.^(AY)

⁷ “And to the prince shall belong the land on both sides of the holy district and the holding of the city, alongside the holy district and the holding of the city, on the west and on the east, corresponding in length to one of the tribal portions and extending from the western to the eastern boundary^{(AZ) 8} of the land. It is to be his property in Israel. And my princes shall no longer oppress my people, but they shall let the house of Israel have the land according to their tribes.^(BA)

⁹ “Thus says the Lord God: Enough, O princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression, and do what is just and right. Cease your evictions of my people, says the Lord God.^(BB)

Weights and Measures

¹⁰ “You shall have honest balances, an honest ephah, and an honest bath.^{[m](BC) 11} The ephah and the bath shall be of the same measure, the bath containing one-tenth of a homer and the ephah one-tenth of a homer; the homer shall be the standard measure. ¹² The shekel shall be twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels shall make a mina for you.^(BD)

Offerings

¹³ “This is the offering that you shall make: one-sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat, and one-sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley, ¹⁴ and as the fixed portion of oil^[n] one-tenth of a bath^[o] from each cor (the cor,^[p] like the homer, contains ten baths), ¹⁵ and one sheep from every flock of two hundred from the pastures of Israel. This is the offering for grain offerings, burnt offerings, and offerings of well-being, to make atonement for them, says the Lord God.^{(BE) 16} All the people of the land shall join in making this offering in Israel through the prince. ¹⁷ This shall be the obligation of the prince regarding the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the festivals, the new moons, and the Sabbaths, all the appointed festivals of the house of Israel: he shall provide the purification offerings, the grain offerings, the burnt offerings, and the offerings of well-being, to make atonement for the house of Israel.^(BF)

Festivals

¹⁸ “Thus says the Lord God: In the first month, on the first day of the month, you shall take a bull of the herd without blemish and purify the sanctuary.^{(BG) 19} The priest shall take some of the blood of the purification offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and the posts of the gate of the inner court.^{(BH) 20} You shall do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who has sinned through error or ignorance; so you shall make atonement for the temple.^(BI)

²¹ “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall celebrate the Festival of the Passover, and for seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten.^{(BJ) 22} On that day the prince shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a bull for a purification offering.^{(BK) 23} And during the seven days of the festival he shall provide as a burnt offering to the Lord seven bulls and seven rams without blemish, on each of the seven days, and a male goat daily for a purification offering.^{(BL) 24} He shall provide as a grain offering an ephah for each bull, an ephah for each ram, and a hin of oil to each ephah. ²⁵ In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month and for the seven days of the festival, he shall make the same provision for purification offerings, burnt offerings, and grain offerings and for the oil.^(BM)

Miscellaneous Regulations

46 “Thus says the Lord God: The gate of the inner court that faces east shall remain closed on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened.^{(BN) 2} The prince shall enter by the vestibule of the gate from outside and shall take his stand by the post of the gate. The priests shall offer his burnt offering and his offerings of well-being, and he shall bow down at the entryway of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be closed until evening.^{(BO) 3} The people of the land shall bow down at the entrance of that gate before the Lord on the Sabbaths and on the new moons.^{(BP) 4} The burnt offering that the prince offers to the Lord on the Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish,^{(BQ) 5} and the grain offering with the ram shall be an ephah, and the grain offering with the lambs shall be as much as he wishes to give, together with a hin of oil to each ephah.^{(BR) 6} On the day of the new moon he shall offer a bull of the herd without blemish and six lambs and a ram, which shall be without blemish;^{(BS) 7} as a grain offering he shall provide an ephah with the bull and an ephah with the ram and with the lambs as much as he wishes, together with a hin of oil to each ephah.^{(BT) 8} When the prince enters, he shall come in by the vestibule of the gate, and he shall go out by the same way.^(BU)

⁹ “When the people of the land come before the Lord at the appointed festivals, whoever enters by the north gate to worship shall go out by the south gate, and whoever enters by the south gate shall go out by the north gate: they shall not return by way of the gate by which they entered but shall go out straight ahead.^{(BV) 10} When they come in, the prince shall come in with them, and when they go out, he shall go out.

¹¹ “At the festivals and the appointed seasons the grain offering with a bull shall be an ephah and with a ram an ephah and with the lambs as much as one wishes to give, together with a hin of oil to an ephah.^{(BW) 12} When the prince provides a freewill offering, either a burnt offering or offerings of well-being as a freewill offering to the Lord, the gate facing east shall be opened for him, and he shall offer his burnt offering or his offerings of well-being as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he has gone out the gate shall be closed.^(BX)

¹³ “You shall provide a lamb, a yearling, without blemish, for a burnt offering to the Lord daily; morning by morning you shall provide it.^{(BY) 14} And you shall provide a grain offering with it morning by morning regularly, one-sixth of an ephah and one-third of a hin of oil to moisten the choice flour, as a grain offering to the Lord; this is the ordinance for all time.^{(BZ) 15} Thus the lamb and the grain offering and the oil shall be provided, morning by morning, as a regular burnt offering.^(CA)

¹⁶ “Thus says the Lord God: If the prince makes a gift to any of his sons out of his inheritance,^[q] it shall belong to his sons; it is their holding by inheritance.^{(CB) 17} But if he makes a gift out of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his to the year of liberty; then it shall revert to the prince; only his sons may keep a gift from his inheritance.^{(CC) 18} The prince shall not take any of the inheritance of the people, thrusting them out of their holding; he shall give his sons their inheritance out of his own holding, so that none of my people shall be dispossessed of their holding.”^(CD)

¹⁹ Then he brought me through the entrance, which was at the side of the gate, to the north row of the holy chambers for the priests, and there I saw a place at the extreme western end of them.^{(CE) 20} He said to me, “This is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt offering and the purification offering and where they shall bake the grain offering, in order not to bring them out into the outer court and so communicate holiness to the people.”^(CF)

²¹ Then he brought me out to the outer court and led me past the four corners of the court, and in each corner of the court there was a court: ²² in the four corners of the court were small^[r] courts, forty cubits long and thirty wide; the four were of the same size. ²³ On the inside, around each of the four courts,^[s] was a row of masonry, with hearths made at the bottom of the rows all around. ²⁴ Then he said to me, “These are the kitchens where those who serve at the temple shall boil the sacrifices of the people.”^(CG)