Paul’s Vision

12 ^(A)Boasting is necessary, though it is not beneficial; but I will go on to visions and ^(B)revelations ^[a]of the Lord. ² I know a man ^(C)in Christ, who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, ^(D)God knows—such a man was ^(E)caught up to the ^(F)third heaven. ³ And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, ^(G)God knows— ⁴ was ^(H)caught up into ^(I)Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak. ^5 (J)In behalf of such a man I will boast; but in my own behalf I will not boast, except regarding my ^(K)weaknesses. ⁶ For if I do wish to boast I will not be ^(L)foolish, ^(M)for I will be speaking the truth; but I refrain from this, so that no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me.

A Thorn in the Flesh

⁷ Because of the extraordinary greatness of the ^(N)revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a ^(O)thorn in the flesh, a ^(P)messenger of Satan to ^[b]torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! ⁸ Concerning this I pleaded with the Lord ^(Q)three times that it might leave me. ⁹ And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for ^(R)power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather ^(S)boast ^[c]about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. ¹⁰ Therefore ^(T)I delight in weaknesses, in ^[d]insults, in ^(U)distresses, in ^(V)persecutions, in ^(W)difficulties, ^(X)in behalf of Christ; for ^(Y)when I am weak, then I am strong.

¹¹ I have become ^(Z)foolish; you yourselves compelled me. Actually I should have been commended by you, since I was ^(AA)in no respect inferior to the ^[e]most eminent apostles, even though ^(AB)I am a nobody. ¹² The ^(AC)distinguishing marks ^[f]of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by ^[g]signs, wonders, and ^[h]miracles. ¹³ For in what respect were you treated as inferior to the rest of the churches, except that ^(AD)I myself did not become a burden to you? Forgive me ^(AE)this wrong!

¹⁴ Here ^(AF)for this third time I am ready to come to you, and I ^(AG)will not be a burden to you; for I ^(AH)do not seek what is yours, but ^(AI)you; for ^(AJ)children are not responsible to save up for their parents, but ^(AK)parents for their children. ¹⁵ I will ^(AL)most gladly spend and be expended for your souls. If ^(AM)I love you more, am I to be loved less? ¹⁶ But be that as it may, I ^(AN)did not burden you myself; nevertheless, devious person that I am, I ^(AO)took you in by deceit. ^17 (AP)Certainly I have not taken advantage of you through any of those whom I have sent to you, have I? ¹⁸ I ^(AQ)urged ^(AR)Titus to go, and I sent ^(AS)the brother with him. Titus did not take any advantage of you, did he? Did we not ^[i]conduct ourselves ^[j]in the same ^(AT)spirit and walk ^(AU)in the same steps?

¹⁹ All this time ^[k]you have been thinking that we are defending ourselves to you. Actually, ^(AV)it is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ; and ^(AW)all for building you up, ^(AX)beloved. ²⁰ For I am afraid that perhaps ^(AY)when I come I may find you to be not what I wish, and may be found by you to be not what you wish; that perhaps there will be ^(AZ)strife, jealousy, ^(BA)angry tempers, ^(BB)selfishness, ^(BC)slanders, ^(BD)gossip, ^(BE)arrogance, ^(BF)disturbances; ²¹ I am afraid that when I come again my God may humiliate me before you, and I may mourn over many of those who have ^(BG)sinned in the past and not repented of the ^(BH)impurity, sexual immorality, and indecent behavior which they have practiced.

The Lord’s Power and Dominion.

The Lord’s Portion of the Land

45 “Now when you ^(A)divide the land by lot for inheritance, you shall offer ^[a]an ^(B)allotment to the Lord, a ^(C)holy portion of the land; the length shall be a length of twenty-five thousand ^[b](D)cubits, and the width shall be ^[c]twenty thousand. It shall be holy within its entire surrounding boundary. ² Out of this there shall be for the sanctuary a square encompassing ^(E)five hundred by five hundred cubits, and fifty cubits for its ^[d](F)open space round about. ³ From this ^[e]area you shall measure a length of twenty-five thousand cubits and a width of ten thousand cubits; and in it shall be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. ⁴ It shall be the holy portion of the land; it shall be for the ^(G)priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who ^(H)come near to serve the Lord, and it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. ⁵ An area ^(I)twenty-five thousand cubits in length and ten thousand in width shall be for the Levites, the ministers of the house, and for their possession ^[f]cities in which to live.

⁶ “And you shall give the ^(J)city possession of an area five thousand cubits wide and twenty-five thousand cubits long, alongside the ^[g]allotment of the holy portion; it shall be for the entire house of Israel.

Portion for the Prince

⁷ “And the ^(K)prince shall have land on either side of the holy ^[h]allotment and the ^[i]property of the city, adjacent to the holy ^[j]allotment and the ^[k]property of the city, on the west side toward the west and on the east side toward the east, and in length comparable to one of the portions, from the west border to the east border. ⁸ This shall be his land as a possession in Israel; so My princes shall no longer ^(L)oppress My people, but they shall give the rest of the land to the house of Israel ^(M)according to their tribes.”

⁹ ‘This is what the Lord ^[l]God says: “^(N)Enough, you princes of Israel; get rid of ^(O)violence and destruction, and ^(P)practice justice and righteousness. Revoke your ^(Q)evictions of My people,” declares the Lord God.

¹⁰ “You shall have ^(R)accurate balances, an accurate ^[m](S)ephah, and an accurate ^[n](T)bath. ¹¹ The ephah and the bath shall be ^[o]the same quantity, so that the bath will contain a tenth of a ^(U)homer, and the ephah a tenth of a ^[p]homer; ^[q]their standard shall be according to the homer. ¹² And the ^(V)shekel shall be twenty ^(W)gerahs; twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels shall be your mina.

¹³ “This is the offering that you shall offer: a sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat; a sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley; ¹⁴ and the prescribed portion of oil (namely, the bath of oil), a tenth of a bath from each kor (which is ten baths or a homer, for ten baths are a homer); ¹⁵ and one sheep from each flock of two hundred from the watering places of Israel—for a ^(X)grain offering, for a burnt offering, and for peace offerings, to ^(Y)make atonement for them,” declares the Lord God. ¹⁶ “^(Z)All the people of the land shall ^[r]give to this offering for the ^(AA)prince in Israel. ¹⁷ And it shall be the ^(AB)prince’s part to provide the ^(AC)burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the drink offerings, at the ^(AD)feasts, on the ^(AE)new moons, and on the Sabbaths, at all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel; he shall provide the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the ^(AF)peace offerings, to make atonement for the house of Israel.”

¹⁸ ‘This is what the Lord God says: “In the ^(AG)first month, on the first of the month, you shall take a ^[s]bull ^(AH)without blemish and ^(AI)cleanse the sanctuary from sin. ¹⁹ And the priest shall take some of the blood from the sin offering and put it on the door posts of the house, on the ^(AJ)four corners of the ^(AK)ledge of the altar, and on the posts of the gate of the inner courtyard. ²⁰ And you shall do this on the seventh day of the month for everyone who does ^(AL)wrong inadvertently or is naive; so you shall make ^(AM)atonement for the house.

²¹ “In the ^(AN)first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall have the ^(AO)Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. ²² On that day the prince shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a ^(AP)bull as a sin offering. ²³ And during the ^(AQ)seven days of the feast he shall provide as a ^(AR)burnt offering to the Lord ^(AS)seven bulls and seven rams without blemish on every day of the seven days, and a male goat daily as a sin offering. ²⁴ And he shall provide as a ^(AT)grain offering an ^[t]ephah ^[u]with a bull, an ^[v]ephah ^[w]with a ram, and a ^[x]hin of oil ^[y]with an ephah. ²⁵ In the ^(AU)seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, at the feast, he shall provide like these, seven days ^[z]for the sin offering, the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the oil.”

The Prince’s Offerings

46 ‘This is what the Lord ^[aa]God says: “The ^(AV)gate of the ^(AW)inner courtyard facing east shall be ^(AX)shut for the six ^(AY)working days; but it shall be opened on the ^(AZ)Sabbath day and opened on the day of the ^(BA)new moon. ² The ^(BB)prince shall enter by way of the porch of the gate from outside and stand by the ^(BC)post of the gate. Then the priests shall provide his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate and then go out; but the gate shall not be ^(BD)shut until the evening. ³ The ^(BE)people of the land shall also worship at the doorway of that gate before the Lord on the Sabbaths and on the ^(BF)new moons. ⁴ The ^(BG)burnt offering which the prince shall offer to the Lord on the Sabbath day shall be ^(BH)six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish; ⁵ and the ^(BI)grain offering shall be an ^[ab]ephah ^[ac]with the ram, and the grain offering ^[ad]with the lambs ^[ae]as much as he is ^(BJ)able to give, and a ^[af]hin of oil ^[ag]with an ephah. ⁶ On the day of the ^(BK)new moon he shall offer a ^[ah]bull without blemish, and six lambs and a ram, which shall be without blemish. ⁷ And he shall provide a ^(BL)grain offering, an ephah ^[ai]with the bull and an ephah ^[aj]with the ram, and ^[ak]with the lambs as ^[al]much as he is ^(BM)able, and a hin of oil ^[am]with an ephah. ⁸ When the ^(BN)prince enters, he shall go in by way of the porch of the gate, and go out by ^[an]the same way. ⁹ But when the people of the land come ^(BO)before the Lord at the appointed feasts, one who enters by way of the north gate to worship shall go out by way of the south gate. And one who enters by way of the south gate shall go out by way of the north gate. ^[ao]No one shall return by way of the gate by which he entered, but shall go straight out. ¹⁰ And when they go in, the prince shall go in ^(BP)among them; and when they go out, ^[ap]he shall go out.

¹¹ “At the ^(BQ)festivals and the appointed feasts, the ^(BR)grain offering shall be an ephah ^[aq]with a bull and an ephah ^[ar]with a ram, and ^[as]with the lambs as ^[at]much as one is able to give, and a hin of oil ^[au]with an ephah. ¹² And when the prince provides a ^(BS)[av]voluntary offering, a burnt offering, or peace offerings as a ^[aw]voluntary offering to the Lord, the gate facing east shall be ^(BT)opened for him. And he shall provide his burnt offering and his peace offerings as he does on the ^(BU)Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and the gate shall be shut after he goes out.

¹³ “And you shall provide a ^(BV)lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord daily; ^(BW)morning by morning you shall provide it. ¹⁴ You shall also provide a grain offering with it morning by morning, a ^(BX)sixth of an ephah and a third of a hin of oil to moisten the fine flour, a grain offering to the Lord continually by ^[ax]a permanent ordinance. ¹⁵ So they shall provide the lamb, the grain offering, and the oil, morning by morning, as a ^(BY)continual burnt offering.”

¹⁶ ‘This is what the Lord God says: “If the prince gives a ^(BZ)gift from his inheritance to any of his sons, it shall belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance. ¹⁷ But if he gives a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his until the ^(CA)year of ^[ay]release; then it shall return to the prince. His inheritance shall be only his sons’; it shall belong to them. ¹⁸ And the prince shall ^(CB)not take from the people’s inheritance, ^[az](CC)depriving them of their property; he shall give his sons inheritance from his own property, so that My people will not be scattered, anyone from his property.”’”

The Boiling Places

¹⁹ Then he brought me through the ^(CD)entrance, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers for the priests, which faced north; and behold, a place was there at the extreme rear toward the west. ²⁰ And he said to me, “This is the place where the priests shall boil the ^(CE)guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they shall ^(CF)bake the grain offering, so that they do not bring them out into the outer courtyard ^[ba]and transfer holiness to the people.”

²¹ Then he brought me out into the outer courtyard and led me across to the four corners of the courtyard; and behold, in every corner of the courtyard there was a small courtyard. ²² In the four corners of the courtyard there were enclosed courtyards, forty ^[bb]cubits long and thirty wide; these four in the corners were ^[bc]the same size. ²³ And there was a row of masonry all around in them, around the four of them, and cooking hearths were made under the rows all around. ²⁴ Then he said to me, “These are the cooking ^[bd]places where the ministers of the house shall cook the sacrifices of the people.”

Water from the Temple

47 Then he brought me back to the ^(CG)door of the house; and behold, ^(CH)water was flowing from under the threshold of the house toward the east, for the house faced east. And the water was flowing down from under, from the right side of the house, from south of the altar. ² And he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around ^[be]on the outside to the outer gate, by the way facing east. And behold, water was spurting out from the south side.

³ When the man went out toward the east with a line in his hand, he measured a thousand ^[bf]cubits, and he led me through the water, water reaching the ankles. ⁴ Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the knees. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the ^[bg]hips. ⁵ Again he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not ^[bh]wade across, because the water had risen, enough water to swim in, a ^(CI)river that could not be crossed by wading. ⁶ And he said to me, “Son of man, have you ^(CJ)seen this?” Then he brought me ^[bi]back to the bank of the river. ⁷ Now when I had returned, behold, on the bank of the river there were very many ^(CK)trees on the one side and on the other. ⁸ Then he said to me, “These waters go out toward the eastern region and go down into the ^(CL)Arabah; then they go toward the ^[bj]sea, being made to flow into the ^(CM)sea, and the waters of the sea become ^[bk]fresh. ⁹ And it will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the ^[bl]river goes, will live. And there will be very many fish, for these waters go there and the others ^[bm]become fresh; so ^(CN)everything will live where the river goes. ¹⁰ And it will come about that ^(CO)fishermen will stand beside it; from ^(CP)Engedi to Eneglaim there will be a place for the ^(CQ)spreading of nets. Their fish will be according to their kinds, like the fish of the ^(CR)Great Sea, ^(CS)very many. ¹¹ But its swamps and marshes will not become ^[bn]fresh; they will be ^[bo]left for ^(CT)salt. ¹² And ^(CU)by the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of ^(CV)trees for food. Their ^(CW)leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their ^(CX)leaves for healing.”

Boundaries and Division of the Land

¹³ This is what the Lord ^[bp]God says: “This shall be the ^(CY)boundary by which you shall divide the land for an inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel; Joseph shall have two ^(CZ)portions. ¹⁴ And you shall divide it for an inheritance, each one ^[bq]equally with the other; for I ^[br](DA)swore to give it to your forefathers, and this land shall fall to you ^[bs]as an inheritance.

¹⁵ “And this shall be the boundary of the land: on the ^(DB)north side, from the Great Sea by the way of Hethlon, to the entrance of ^[bt](DC)Zedad; ^16 [bu](DD)Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of ^(DE)Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazer-hatticon, which is by the border of Hauran. ¹⁷ The boundary shall ^[bv]extend from the sea to ^(DF)Hazar-enan at the border of Damascus, and on the north toward the north is the border of Hamath. This is the north side.

¹⁸ “The ^(DG)east side, from between Hauran, Damascus, ^(DH)Gilead, and the land of Israel, shall be the ^(DI)Jordan; from the north border to the eastern sea you shall measure. This is the east side.

¹⁹ “The ^(DJ)south side toward the south shall extend from ^(DK)Tamar as far as the waters of ^(DL)Meribath-kadesh, to the ^(DM)brook of Egypt and to the ^(DN)Great Sea. This is the south side toward the south.

²⁰ “And the ^(DO)west side shall be the Great Sea, from the south border to a point opposite ^[bw](DP)Lebo-hamath. This is the west side.

²¹ “So you shall divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. ²² You shall divide it by ^(DQ)lot for an inheritance among yourselves and among the ^(DR)strangers who stay in your midst, who bring forth sons in your midst. And they shall be to you as the native-born among the sons of Israel; they shall be allotted an ^(DS)inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. ²³ And in the tribe with which the stranger resides, there you shall give him his inheritance,” declares the Lord God.