The Temple, the Lord’s Dwelling Place

43 Afterward he brought me to the gate, the gate ^(A)that faces toward the east. ^2 (B)And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. ^(C)His voice was like the sound of many waters; ^(D)and the earth shone with His glory. ³ It was ^(E)like the appearance of the vision which I saw—like the vision which I saw when ^[a]I came ^(F)to destroy the city. The visions were like the vision which I saw ^(G)by the River Chebar; and I fell on my face. ^4 (H)And the glory of the Lord came into the ^[b]temple by way of the gate which faces toward the east. ^5 (I)The Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, ^(J)the glory of the Lord filled the ^[c]temple.

⁶ Then I heard Him speaking to me from the temple, while ^(K)a man stood beside me. ⁷ And He said to me, “Son of man, this is ^(L)the place of My throne and ^(M)the place of the soles of My feet, ^(N)where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever. ^(O)No more shall the house of Israel defile My holy name, they nor their kings, by their ^[d]harlotry or with ^(P)the carcasses of their kings on their high places. ^8 (Q)When they set their threshold by My threshold, and their doorpost by My doorpost, with a wall between them and Me, they defiled My holy name by the abominations which they committed; therefore I have consumed them in My anger. ⁹ Now let them put their harlotry and the carcasses of their kings far away from Me, and I will dwell in their midst forever.

¹⁰ “Son of man, ^(R)describe the ^[e]temple to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern. ¹¹ And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the ^[f]temple and its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, its entire design and all its ^(S)ordinances, all its forms and all its laws. Write it down in their sight, so that they may keep its whole design and all its ordinances, and ^(T)perform them. ¹² This is the law of the ^[g]temple: The whole area surrounding ^(U)the mountaintop is most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple.

Dimensions of the Altar

¹³ “These are the measurements of the ^(V)altar in cubits ^(W)(the ^[h]cubit is one cubit and a handbreadth): the base one cubit high and one cubit wide, with a rim all around its edge of one span. This is the height of the altar: ¹⁴ from the base on the ground to the lower ledge, two cubits; the width of the ledge, one cubit; from the smaller ledge to the larger ledge, four cubits; and the width of the ledge, one cubit. ¹⁵ The altar hearth is four cubits high, with four ^(X)horns extending upward from the ^[i]hearth. ¹⁶ The altar hearth is twelve cubits long, twelve wide, ^(Y)square at its four corners; ¹⁷ the ledge, fourteen cubits long and fourteen wide on its four sides, with a rim of half a cubit around it; its base, one cubit all around; and ^(Z)its steps face toward the east.”

Consecrating the Altar

¹⁸ And He said to me, “Son of man, thus says the Lord God: ‘These are the ordinances for the altar on the day when it is made, for sacrificing ^(AA)burnt offerings on it, and for ^(AB)sprinkling blood on it. ¹⁹ You shall give ^(AC)a young bull for a sin offering to ^(AD)the priests, the Levites, who are of the seed of ^(AE)Zadok, who approach Me to minister to Me,’ says the Lord God. ²⁰ ‘You shall take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar, on the four corners of the ledge, and on the rim around it; thus you shall cleanse it and make atonement for it. ²¹ Then you shall also take the bull of the sin offering, and ^(AF)burn it in the appointed place of the ^[j]temple, ^(AG)outside the sanctuary. ²² On the second day you shall offer a kid of the goats without blemish for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they cleansed it with the bull. ²³ When you have finished cleansing it, you shall offer a young bull without blemish, and a ram from the flock without blemish. ²⁴ When you offer them before the Lord, ^(AH)the priests shall throw salt on them, and they will offer them up as a burnt offering to the Lord. ²⁵ Every day for ^(AI)seven days you shall prepare a goat for a sin offering; they shall also prepare a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without blemish. ²⁶ Seven days they shall make atonement for the altar and purify it, and so ^[k]consecrate ^[l]it. ^27 (AJ)When these days are over it shall be, on the eighth day and thereafter, that the priests shall offer your burnt offerings and your peace offerings on the altar; and I will ^(AK)accept you,’ says the Lord God.”

The East Gate and the Prince

44 Then He brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary ^(AL)which faces toward the east, but it was shut. ² And the Lord said to me, “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, ^(AM)because the Lord God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut. ³ As for the ^(AN)prince, because he is the prince, he may sit in it to ^(AO)eat bread before the Lord; he shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gateway, and go out the same way.”

Those Admitted to the Temple

⁴ Also He brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the ^[m]temple; so I looked, and ^(AP)behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord; ^(AQ)and I fell on my face. ⁵ And the Lord said to me, ^(AR)“Son of man, ^[n]mark well, see with your eyes and hear with your ears, all that I say to you concerning all the ^(AS)ordinances of the house of the Lord and all its laws. Mark well who may enter the house and all who go out from the sanctuary.

⁶ “Now say to the ^(AT)rebellious, to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “O house of Israel, ^(AU)let Us have no more of all your abominations. ^7 (AV)When you brought in ^(AW)foreigners, ^(AX)uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to defile it—My house—and when you offered ^(AY)My food, ^(AZ)the fat and the blood, then they broke My covenant because of all your abominations. ⁸ And you have not ^(BA)kept charge of My holy things, but you have set others to keep charge of My sanctuary for you.” ⁹ Thus says the Lord God: ^(BB)“No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter My sanctuary, including any foreigner who is among the children of Israel.

Laws Governing Priests

^10 (BC)“And the Levites who went far from Me, when Israel went astray, who strayed away from Me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity. ¹¹ Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, ^(BD)as gatekeepers of the house and ministers of the house; ^(BE)they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and ^(BF)they shall stand before them to minister to them. ¹² Because they ministered to them before their idols and ^(BG)caused^[o] the house of Israel to fall into iniquity, therefore I have ^(BH)raised My hand in an oath against them,” says the Lord God, “that they shall bear their iniquity. ^13 (BI)And they shall not come near Me to minister to Me as priest, nor come near any of My holy things, nor into the Most Holy Place; but they shall ^(BJ)bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed. ¹⁴ Nevertheless I will make them ^(BK)keep charge of the temple, for all its work, and for all that has to be done in it.

^15 (BL)“But the priests, the Levites, ^(BM)the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary ^(BN)when the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near Me to minister to Me; and they ^(BO)shall stand before Me to offer to Me the ^(BP)fat and the blood,” says the Lord God. ¹⁶ “They shall ^(BQ)enter My sanctuary, and they shall come near ^(BR)My table to minister to Me, and they shall keep My charge. ¹⁷ And it shall be, whenever they enter the gates of the inner court, that ^(BS)they shall put on linen garments; no wool shall come upon them while they minister within the gates of the inner court or within the house. ^18 (BT)They shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen trousers on their bodies; they shall not clothe themselves with anything that causes sweat. ¹⁹ When they go out to the outer court, to the outer court to the people, ^(BU)they shall take off their garments in which they have ministered, leave them in the holy chambers, and put on other garments; and in their holy garments they shall ^(BV)not sanctify the people.

^20 (BW)“They shall neither shave their heads nor let their hair grow ^(BX)long, but they shall keep their hair well trimmed. ^21 (BY)No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court. ²² They shall not take as wife a ^(BZ)widow or a divorced woman, but take virgins of the descendants of the house of Israel, or widows of priests.

²³ “And ^(CA)they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to ^(CB)discern between the unclean and the clean. ^24 (CC)In controversy they shall stand as judges, and judge it according to My judgments. They shall keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed meetings, ^(CD)and they shall hallow My Sabbaths.

²⁵ “They shall not defile themselves by coming near a dead person. Only for father or mother, for son or daughter, for brother or unmarried sister may they defile themselves. ^26 (CE)After he is cleansed, they shall count seven days for him. ²⁷ And on the day that he goes to the sanctuary to minister in the sanctuary, ^(CF)he must offer his sin offering ^(CG)in the inner court,” says the Lord God.

²⁸ “It shall be, in regard to their inheritance, that I ^(CH)am their inheritance. You shall give them no ^(CI)possession in Israel, for I am their possession. ^29 (CJ)They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering; ^(CK)every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs. ³⁰ The ^(CL)best^[p] of all firstfruits of any kind, and every sacrifice of any kind from all your sacrifices, shall be the priest’s; also you ^(CM)shall give to the priest the first of your ground meal, ^(CN)to cause a blessing to rest on your house. ³¹ The priests shall not eat anything, bird or beast, that ^(CO)died naturally or was torn by wild beasts.

The Tragedy of the Wicked, and the Blessedness of Trust in God

A Psalm of ^(A)Asaph.