Ezekiel 43
New English Translation
The Glory Returns to the Temple
43 Then he brought me to the gate that faced toward the east. 2 I saw[a] the glory of the God of Israel[b] coming from the east;[c] the sound was like that of rushing water,[d] and the earth radiated[e] his glory. 3 It was like the vision I saw when he[f] came to destroy the city, and the vision I saw by the Kebar River. I threw myself face down. 4 The glory of the Lord came into the temple by way of the gate that faces east. 5 Then a wind[g] lifted me up and brought me to the inner court; I watched[h] the glory of the Lord filling the temple.[i]
6 I heard someone speaking to me from the temple, while the man was standing beside me. 7 He said to me: “Son of man, this is the place of my throne[j] and the place for the soles of my feet,[k] where I will live among the people of Israel forever. The house of Israel will no longer profane my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their spiritual prostitution or by the pillars of their kings set up when they die.[l] 8 When they placed their threshold by my threshold and their doorpost by my doorpost, with only the wall between me and them, they profaned my holy name by the abominable deeds they committed. So I consumed them in my anger. 9 Now they must put away their spiritual prostitution and the pillars of their kings far from me, and then I will live among them forever.
10 “As for you, son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, so that they will be ashamed of their sins and measure the pattern. 11 When they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple—its pattern, its exits and entrances, and its whole design—all its statutes, its entire design, and all its laws; write it all down in their sight, so that they may observe its entire design and all its statutes and do them.
12 “This is the law of the temple: The entire area on top of the mountain all around will be most holy. Indeed, this is the law of the temple.
The Altar
13 “And these are the measurements of the altar:[m] Its base[n] is 1¾ feet[o] high[p] and 1¾ feet[q] wide, and its border nine inches[r] on its edge. This is to be the height[s] of the altar. 14 From the base of the ground to the lower ledge is 3½ feet,[t] and the width 1¾ feet;[u] and from the smaller ledge to the larger ledge, 7 feet,[v] and the width 1¾ feet; 15 and the altar hearth, 7 feet, and from the altar hearth four horns projecting upward. 16 Now the altar hearth[w] is a perfect square, 21 feet[x] long and 21 feet wide. 17 The ledge is 24½ feet[y] long and 24½ feet wide on four sides; the border around it is 10½ inches,[z] and its surrounding base 1¾ feet.[aa] Its steps face east.”
18 Then he said to me: “Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: These are the statutes of the altar: On the day it is built to offer up burnt offerings on it and to sprinkle blood on it,[ab] 19 you will give a young bull for a sin offering to the Levitical priests who are descended from Zadok, who approach me to minister to me, declares the Sovereign Lord. 20 You will take some of its blood and place it on the four horns of the altar, on the four corners of the ledge, and on the border all around; you will purify it and make atonement for it.[ac] 21 You will also take the bull for the sin offering, and it will be burned in the appointed place in the temple, outside the sanctuary.
22 “On the second day, you will offer a male goat without blemish for a sin offering. They will purify the altar just as they purified it with the bull. 23 When you have finished purifying it, you will offer an unblemished young bull and an unblemished ram from the flock. 24 You will present them before the Lord, and the priests will scatter salt on them[ad] and offer them up as a burnt offering to the Lord.
25 “For seven days you will provide every day a goat for a sin offering; a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without blemish, will be provided. 26 For seven days they will make atonement for the altar and cleanse it, so they will consecrate it.[ae] 27 When the prescribed period is over,[af] on the eighth day and thereafter the priests will offer up on the altar your burnt offerings and your peace offerings;[ag] I will accept you, declares the Sovereign Lord.”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 43:2 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
- Ezekiel 43:2 sn This same title appears in 8:4; 9:3; 10:19; 11:22.
- Ezekiel 43:2 sn Earlier Ezekiel had observed God leaving the temple to the east (11:23).
- Ezekiel 43:2 sn See Ezek 1:24; Rev 1:15; 14:2; 19:6.
- Ezekiel 43:2 tn Heb “shone from.”
- Ezekiel 43:3 tc Heb “I.” The reading is due to the confusion of yod (י, indicating a first person pronoun) and vav (ו, indicating a third person pronoun). A few medieval Hebrew mss, Theodotion’s Greek version, and the Latin Vulgate support a third person pronoun here.
- Ezekiel 43:5 tn See note on “wind” in 2:2.
- Ezekiel 43:5 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
- Ezekiel 43:5 sn In 1 Kgs 8:10-11 we find a similar event with regard to Solomon’s temple. See also Exod 40:34-35 and Isa 6:4.
- Ezekiel 43:7 sn God’s throne is mentioned in Isa 6:1 and Jer 3:17.
- Ezekiel 43:7 sn See 1 Chr 28:2; Pss 99:5; 132:7; Isa 60:13; Lam 2:1.
- Ezekiel 43:7 tn Heb “by their corpses in their death.” But the term normally translated “corpses” is better understood here as a reference to funeral pillars or funerary offerings. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:583-85, and L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:257.
- Ezekiel 43:13 tn Heb “the measurements of the altar by cubits, the cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth.” The measuring units here and in the remainder of this section are the Hebrew “long” cubit, consisting of a cubit (about 18 inches or 45 cm) and a handbreadth (about 3 inches or 7.5 cm), for a total of 21 inches (52.5 cm). Because modern readers are not familiar with the cubit as a unit of measurement, and due to the additional complication of the “long” cubit as opposed to the regular cubit, all measurements have been converted to American standard feet and inches, with the Hebrew measurements and the metric equivalents given in the notes. On the altar see Ezek 40:47.
- Ezekiel 43:13 tn The Hebrew term normally means “bosom.” Here it refers to a hollow in the ground.
- Ezekiel 43:13 tn Heb “one cubit” (i.e., 52.5 cm).
- Ezekiel 43:13 tn The word “high” is not in the Hebrew text but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
- Ezekiel 43:13 tn Heb “one cubit” (i.e., 52.5 cm).
- Ezekiel 43:13 tn Heb “one span.” A span was three handbreadths, or about nine inches (i.e., 22.5 cm).
- Ezekiel 43:13 tc Heb “bulge, protuberance, mound.” The translation follows the LXX.
- Ezekiel 43:14 tn Heb “2 cubits” (i.e., 1.05 meters).
- Ezekiel 43:14 tn Heb “one cubit” (i.e., 52.5 cm; the phrase occurs again later in this verse).
- Ezekiel 43:14 tn Heb “4 cubits” (i.e., 2.1 meters; the phrase also occurs in the next verse).
- Ezekiel 43:16 tn The precise Hebrew word used here to refer to an “altar hearth” occurs only here in the OT.
- Ezekiel 43:16 tn Heb “12 cubits” (i.e., 6.3 meters; the phrase occurs twice in this verse).
- Ezekiel 43:17 tn Heb “fourteen”; the word “cubits” is not in the Hebrew text but is understood from the context; the phrase occurs again later in this verse. Fourteen cubits is about 7.35 meters.
- Ezekiel 43:17 tn Heb “half a cubit” (i.e., 26.25 cm).
- Ezekiel 43:17 tn Heb “one cubit” (i.e., 52.5 cm).
- Ezekiel 43:18 sn For the “sprinkling of blood,” see Lev 1:5, 11; 8:19; 9:12.
- Ezekiel 43:20 sn Note the similar language in Lev 16:18.
- Ezekiel 43:24 sn It is likely that salt was used with sacrificial meals (Num 18:19; 2 Chr 13:5).
- Ezekiel 43:26 tn Heb “fill its hands.”
- Ezekiel 43:27 tn Heb “and they will complete the days.”
- Ezekiel 43:27 sn The people also could partake of the food of the peace offering (Lev 3).
Ezekiel 43
Common English Bible
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.
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 43:3 Vulg; MT I
- Ezekiel 43:7 Or prostitution
- Ezekiel 43:8 Or thresholds
- Ezekiel 43:11 LXX; MT adds and all of its structures and all of its instructions.
- Ezekiel 43:13 Heb ammah ammah, traditionally a long cubit
Ezekiel 43
King James Version
43 Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east:
2 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.
3 And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face.
4 And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.
5 So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house.
6 And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me.
7 And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places.
8 In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, and the wall between me and them, they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger.
9 Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcases of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever.
10 Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.
11 And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.
12 This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.
13 And these are the measures of the altar after the cubits: The cubit is a cubit and an hand breadth; even the bottom shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the border thereof by the edge thereof round about shall be a span: and this shall be the higher place of the altar.
14 And from the bottom upon the ground even to the lower settle shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser settle even to the greater settle shall be four cubits, and the breadth one cubit.
15 So the altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar and upward shall be four horns.
16 And the altar shall be twelve cubits long, twelve broad, square in the four squares thereof.
17 And the settle shall be fourteen cubits long and fourteen broad in the four squares thereof; and the border about it shall be half a cubit; and the bottom thereof shall be a cubit about; and his stairs shall look toward the east.
18 And he said unto me, Son of man, thus saith the Lord God; These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it, to offer burnt offerings thereon, and to sprinkle blood thereon.
19 And thou shalt give to the priests the Levites that be of the seed of Zadok, which approach unto me, to minister unto me, saith the Lord God, a young bullock for a sin offering.
20 And thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and put it on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the settle, and upon the border round about: thus shalt thou cleanse and purge it.
21 Thou shalt take the bullock also of the sin offering, and he shall burn it in the appointed place of the house, without the sanctuary.
22 And on the second day thou shalt offer a kid of the goats without blemish for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they did cleanse it with the bullock.
23 When thou hast made an end of cleansing it, thou shalt offer a young bullock without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without blemish.
24 And thou shalt offer them before the Lord, and the priests shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering unto the Lord.
25 Seven days shalt thou prepare every day a goat for a sin offering: they shall also prepare a young bullock, and a ram out of the flock, without blemish.
26 Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it; and they shall consecrate themselves.
27 And when these days are expired, it shall be, that upon the eighth day, and so forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, saith the Lord God.
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