The Daily Audio Bible

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^[a] 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^[b] and with their kings’ corpses at the shrines. ⁸ When they set their plazas^[c] 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.^[d] 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.^[e] 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.

5 Pay attention, you wealthy people! Weep and moan over the miseries coming upon you. ² Your riches have rotted. Moths have destroyed your clothes. ³ Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you. It will eat your flesh like fire. Consider the treasure you have hoarded in the last days. ⁴ Listen! Hear the cries of the wages of your field hands. These are the wages you stole from those who harvested your fields. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of heavenly forces. ⁵ You have lived a self-satisfying life on this earth, a life of luxury. You have stuffed your hearts in preparation for the day of slaughter. ⁶ You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who doesn’t oppose you.

Courageous patience

⁷ Therefore, brothers and sisters, you must be patient as you wait for the coming of the Lord. Consider the farmer who waits patiently for the coming of rain in the fall and spring, looking forward to the precious fruit of the earth. ⁸ You also must wait patiently, strengthening your resolve, because the coming of the Lord is near. ⁹ Don’t complain about each other, brothers and sisters, so that you won’t be judged. Look! The judge is standing at the door!

¹⁰ Brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of patient resolve and steadfastness. ¹¹ Look at how we honor those who have practiced endurance. You have heard of the endurance of Job. And you have seen what the Lord has accomplished, for the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

Final instructions

¹² Most important, my brothers and sisters, never make a solemn pledge—neither by heaven nor earth, nor by anything else. Instead, speak with a simple “Yes” or “No,” or else you may fall under judgment.

¹³ If any of you are suffering, they should pray. If any of you are happy, they should sing. ¹⁴ If any of you are sick, they should call for the elders of the church, and the elders should pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ Prayer that comes from faith will heal the sick, for the Lord will restore them to health. And if they have sinned, they will be forgiven. ¹⁶ For this reason, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous person is powerful in what it can achieve. ¹⁷ Elijah was a person just like us. When he earnestly prayed that it wouldn’t rain, no rain fell for three and a half years. ¹⁸ He prayed again, God sent rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

¹⁹ My brothers and sisters, if any of you wander from the truth and someone turns back the wanderer, ²⁰ recognize that whoever brings a sinner back from the wrong path will save them from death and will bring about the forgiveness of many sins.

Psalm 119^[a]

א alef

ב bet