45 “‘When you divide the land by lot for inheritance, you are to set aside an offering for Adonai, a holy portion of the land. Its length is to be 25,000 [cubits, that is, eight miles] and its width 10,000 [three miles]; this entire region is to be holy. ² Of this there is to be reserved for the holy place an area 875 [feet] square, with eighty-seven-and-a-half feet for open land around it. ³ Alongside this region you are to measure a length of eight [miles] and a width of three [miles]; in it is to be the sanctuary, which will be especially holy. ⁴ It is a holy portion of the land; it is for the cohanim who serve in the sanctuary, who approach to minister to Adonai; there will be a place for their houses and a place set aside for the sanctuary. ⁵ A portion eight by three [miles] will be owned by the L’vi’im who serve in the house; it will also have twenty [gatekeepers’] rooms. ⁶ You are to give the city possession of an area, alongside the offering of the holy portion, one-and-a-half by eight [miles]; it will be for the whole house of Isra’el.

⁷ “‘The prince is to have the territory on both sides of the holy offering and the city’s holding; it will extend westward to the western border of the land and eastward to its eastern border; and the length [from the far side of one] of its two parts [to the far side of the other] will be the same as the length of one of the [tribal] portions. ⁸ His possession in Isra’el will be limited to this, and henceforth my princes will not wrong my people but will give the land to the house of Isra’el according to their tribes.’ ⁹ Adonai Elohim says this: ‘Princes of Isra’el, that should be enough for you! Get rid of violence and looting, do what is right and just, and stop evicting my people from their land!’ says Adonai Elohim.

¹⁰ “‘You are to have honest balance-scales, an honest eifah [a one-bushel dry-measure] and an honest bat [a five-gallon liquid-measure]. ¹¹ The eifah and the bat are to contain the same volume — the bat is to contain one-tenth of a homer, and the eifah is to contain one-tenth of a homer; the homer is to set the standard for measurement. ¹² Also the shekel is to be twenty gerahs; your maneh will be the sum of a twenty-shekel piece, a twenty-five-shekel piece and a fifteen-shekel piece.

¹³ “‘This is the offering you are to make: one-sixth of a bushel from every ten bushels of wheat, and you are to give one-sixth of a bushel from every ten bushels of barley. ¹⁴ The law for olive oil is to be half a gallon from every fifty gallons, which is the same as ten bats or one homer, since ten bats equal a homer. ¹⁵ From the flock, take one sheep from every two hundred being pastured in Isra’el; [all these are to be used] for grain offerings, burnt offerings and peace offerings, to make atonement for them,’ says Adonai Elohim. ¹⁶ ‘All the people in the land are to present this offering to the prince in Isra’el. ¹⁷ The prince’s obligation will be to present the burnt offerings, grain offerings and drink offerings at the feasts, on Rosh-Hodesh, and on Shabbat — at all the designated times of the house of Isra’el. He is to prepare the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings and peace offerings to make atonement for the house of Isra’el.’

¹⁸ “Adonai Elohim says this: ‘On the first day of the first month you are to take a young bull without defect and purify the sanctuary. ¹⁹ The cohen will take some of the blood from the sin offering and put it on the door-frames of the house, on the four corners of the altar’s ledge and on the supports of the gate of the inner courtyard. ²⁰ You are also to do this on the seventh day of the month for everyone who has sinned inadvertently or through ignorance. Thus you will make atonement for the house.

²¹ “‘On the fourteenth day of the first month you are to have the Pesach, a feast seven days long; matzah will be eaten. ²² On that day the prince will provide, for himself and for all the people of the land, a young bull as a sin offering. ²³ On the seven days of the feast he is to provide a burnt offering for Adonai, seven young bulls and seven rams without defect daily for the seven days, and a male goat daily as a sin offering. ²⁴ He is to provide as a grain offering a bushel [of grain] for a young bull and a bushel for a ram, and for each bushel [of grain] a gallon of olive oil.

²⁵ “‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, during the feast [of Sukkot] he is to do the same thing for those seven days in regard to the sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings and olive oil.’

46 “This is what Adonai Elohim says: ‘The east gate of the inner courtyard is to be shut on the six working days, but on Shabbat it is to be opened, and on Rosh-Hodesh it is to be opened. ² The prince is to enter by way of the outer vestibule of the gate and stand by the support of the gate. The cohanim are to prepare his burnt offering and peace offerings. Then he is to prostrate himself in worship at the threshold of the gate, after which he is to leave; but the gate is not to be shut until evening. ³ The people of the land are also to prostrate themselves in worship before Adonai at the entrance to that gate on Shabbat and on Rosh-Hodesh.

⁴ “‘The burnt offering the prince is to offer Adonai on Shabbat is to consist of six lambs without defect and a ram without defect. ⁵ The grain offering is to be a bushel for the ram, while for the lambs it can be as much as he wants to give; with a gallon of olive oil per eifah. ⁶ On Rosh-Hodesh it is to be a young bull, six lambs and a ram, all without defect. ⁷ He is to prepare a grain offering consisting of a bushel for the bull, a bushel for the ram, and for the lambs as his means allow; with a gallon of olive oil per bushel.

⁸ “‘When the prince enters, he is to go in by way of the vestibule of the gate, and he is to leave the same way. ⁹ But when the people of the land come before Adonai at the designated times, whoever comes in to worship by way of the north gate is to leave by way of the south gate, and whoever comes in by way of the south gate is to leave by way of the north gate; he is not to go back out through the gate by which he entered but is to exit straight ahead of him. ¹⁰ [On these occasions,] the prince is to be among them when they enter; and when they leave, they are to leave together.

¹¹ “‘At the festivals and at designated times, the grain offering is to be a bushel for a young bull and a bushel for a ram, while for the lambs it can be as much as he wants to give, with a gallon of olive oil per bushel.

¹² “‘When the prince provides a voluntary offering, whether it is a burnt offering or peace offerings that he offers voluntarily to Adonai, someone is to open the east gate for him; and he is to provide his burnt offering and peace offerings as he does on Shabbat. Then he will leave; and after he leaves, the gate is to be shut.

¹³ “‘You are to provide a lamb in its first year that has no defect for a daily burnt offering to Adonai; do this each morning. ¹⁴ Also each morning, provide with it a grain offering, one-sixth of a bushel, and one-third of a gallon of olive oil to moisten the fine flour; this is the ongoing grain offering for Adonai, by a permanent regulation. ¹⁵ Thus they will offer a lamb, a grain offering and oil each morning as the ongoing burnt offering.’

¹⁶ “Adonai Elohim says this: ‘If the prince turns over part of his hereditary property to one of his sons, it is his inheritance; it will belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance. ¹⁷ But if he gives part of his hereditary property to one of his slaves, it will be his until the year of freedom, at which time it will revert to the prince, so that the prince’s heritage will go to his sons. ¹⁸ The prince is not to take over any of the people’s inheritance, thereby evicting them wrongfully from their property; he is to give his sons an inheritance out of his own property, so that none of my people will be driven off their property.’”

¹⁹ Next, he brought me through the entry at the side of the gate into the holy rooms facing north that were for the cohanim. At their far west end I saw a place ²⁰ about which he said to me, “This is the place where the cohanim will boil the guilt offerings and sin offerings and bake the grain offerings. In this way they won’t have to bring them into the outer courtyard and risk transmitting holiness to the people.” ²¹ He took me into the outer courtyard and had me pass by the four corners of the courtyard, and there in each corner of the courtyard was another courtyard — ²² in the four corners of the courtyard were enclosed courtyards seventy feet long and fifty-two-and-a-half feet; the four courtyards in the corners were the same size. ²³ There was a wall around each of the four, with open stoves all around the bases of the walls. ²⁴ He said to me, “These are the stoves where those serving in the house will boil the people’s sacrifices.”

1 Dear Theophilos:

Concerning the matters that have taken place among us, many people have undertaken to draw up accounts ² based on what was handed down to us by those who from the start were eyewitnesses and proclaimers of the message. ³ Therefore, Your Excellency, since I have carefully investigated all these things from the beginning, it seemed good to me that I too should write you an accurate and ordered narrative, ⁴ so that you might know how well-founded are the things about which you have been taught.

⁵ In the days of Herod, King of Y’hudah, there was a cohen named Z’kharyah who belonged to the Aviyah division. His wife was a descendant of Aharon, and her name was Elisheva. ⁶ Both of them were righteous before God, observing all the mitzvot and ordinances of Adonai blamelessly. ⁷ But they had no children, because Elisheva was barren; and they were both well along in years.

⁸ One time, when Z’kharyah was fulfilling his duties as cohen during his division’s period of service before God, ⁹ he was chosen by lot (according to the custom among the cohanim) to enter the Temple and burn incense. ¹⁰ All the people were outside, praying, at the time of the incense burning, ¹¹ when there appeared to him an angel of Adonai standing to the right of the incense altar. ¹² Z’kharyah was startled and terrified at the sight. ¹³ But the angel said to him, “Don’t be afraid, Z’kharyah; because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elisheva will bear you a son, and you are to name him Yochanan. ¹⁴ He will be a joy and a delight to you, and many people will rejoice when he is born, ¹⁵ for he will be great in the sight of Adonai. He is never to drink wine or other liquor, and he will be filled with the Ruach HaKodesh even from his mother’s womb. ¹⁶ He will turn many of the people of Isra’el to Adonai their God. ¹⁷ He will go out ahead of Adonai in the spirit and power of Eliyahu to turn the hearts of fathers to their children^[a] and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready for Adonai a people prepared.”

¹⁸ Z’kharyah said to the angel, “How can I be sure of this? For I am an old man; my wife too is well on in years.” ¹⁹ “I am Gavri’el,” the angel answered him, “and I stand in the presence of God. I was sent to speak to you, to give you this good news. ²⁰ Now, because you didn’t believe what I said, which will be fulfilled when the time comes, you will be silent, unable to speak until the day these things take place.”

²¹ Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Z’kharyah; they were surprised at his taking so long in the Temple. ²² But when he came out unable to talk to them, they realized that he had seen a vision in the Temple; speechless, he communicated to them with signs.

²³ When his period of his Temple service was over, he returned home. ²⁴ Following this, Elisheva his wife conceived, and she remained five months in seclusion, saying, ²⁵ “Adonai has done this for me; he has shown me favor at this time, so as to remove my public disgrace.”

²⁶ In the sixth month, the angel Gavri’el was sent by God to a city in the Galil called Natzeret, ²⁷ to a virgin engaged to a man named Yosef, of the house of David; the virgin’s name was Miryam. ²⁸ Approaching her, the angel said, “Shalom, favored lady! Adonai is with you!” ²⁹ She was deeply troubled by his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Miryam, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ Look! You will become pregnant, you will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Yeshua. ³² He will be great, he will be called Son of Ha‘Elyon. Adonai, God, will give him the throne of his forefather David; ³³ and he will rule the House of Ya‘akov forever — there will be no end to his Kingdom.” ³⁴ “How can this be,” asked Miryam of the angel, “since I am a virgin?” ³⁵ The angel answered her,

³⁶ “You have a relative, Elisheva, who is an old woman; and everyone says she is barren. But she has conceived a son and is six months pregnant! ³⁷ For with God, nothing is impossible.” ³⁸ Miryam said, “I am the servant of Adonai; may it happen to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.

³⁹ Without delay, Miryam set out and hurried to the town in the hill country of Y’hudah ⁴⁰ where Z’kharyah lived, entered his house and greeted Elisheva. ⁴¹ When Elisheva heard Miryam’s greeting, the baby in her womb stirred. Elisheva was filled with the Ruach HaKodesh ⁴² and spoke up in a loud voice,

⁴³ “But who am I, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ For as soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy! ⁴⁵ Indeed you are blessed, because you have trusted that the promise Adonai has made to you will be fulfilled.”

⁴⁶ Then Miryam said,

⁵⁶ Miryam stayed with Elisheva for about three months and then returned home.

⁵⁷ The time arrived for Elisheva to have her baby, and she gave birth to a son. ⁵⁸ Her neighbors and relatives heard how good Adonai had been to her, and they rejoiced with her.

⁵⁹ On the eighth day, they came to do the child’s b’rit-milah. They were about to name him Z’kharyah, after his father, ⁶⁰ when his mother spoke up and said, “No, he is to be called Yochanan.” ⁶¹ They said to her, “None of your relatives has that name,” ⁶² and they made signs to his father to find out what he wanted him called. ⁶³ He motioned for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s surprise he wrote, “His name is Yochanan.” ⁶⁴ At that moment, his power of speech returned, and his first words were a b’rakhah to God. ⁶⁵ All their neighbors were awestruck; and throughout the hill country of Y’hudah, people talked about all these things. ⁶⁶ Everyone who heard of them said to himself, “What is this child going to be?” For clearly the hand of Adonai was with him.

⁶⁷ His father Z’kharyah was filled with the Ruach HaKodesh and spoke this prophecy:

⁸⁰ The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he lived in the wilderness until the time came for him to appear in public to Isra’el.