The Prince and the Feasts

46 “Thus says the Lord God: (A)The gate of (B)the inner court that faces east shall be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day it shall be opened, and (C)on the day of the new moon it shall be opened. (D)The prince shall enter by the vestibule of the gate from outside, and shall take his stand by (E)the post of the gate. (F)The priests shall offer his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at (G)the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be shut until evening. (H)The people of the land shall bow down at the entrance of that gate before the Lord on the Sabbaths and on the new moons. (I)The burnt offering that the prince offers to the Lord (J)on the Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish. And (K)the grain offering with the ram shall be an ephah,[a] and the grain offering with the lambs shall be (L)as much as he is able, together with a hin[b] of oil to each ephah. On the day of the new moon he shall offer a bull from the herd without blemish, and six lambs and a ram, which shall be without blemish. As a grain offering he shall provide an ephah with the bull and an ephah with the ram, and with the lambs (M)as much as he is able, together with a hin of oil to each ephah. (N)When the prince enters, he shall enter by the vestibule of the gate, and he shall go out by the same way.

(O)“When the people of the land (P)come before the Lord at the appointed feasts, he who enters by the north gate to worship shall go out by the south gate, and he who enters by the south gate shall go out by the north gate: no one shall return by way of the gate by which he entered, but each shall go out straight ahead. 10 When they enter, (Q)the prince shall enter with them, and when they go out, he shall go out.

11 “At the feasts and the appointed festivals, (R)the grain offering with a young bull shall be an ephah, and with a ram an ephah, and with the lambs (S)as much as one is able to give, together with a hin of oil to an ephah. 12 When the prince provides (T)a freewill offering, either a burnt offering or peace offerings as a freewill offering to the Lord, (U)the gate facing east shall be opened for him. And he shall offer his burnt offering or his peace offerings (V)as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he has gone out the gate shall be shut.

13 (W)“You shall provide a lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering to the Lord daily; morning by morning you shall provide it. 14 And (X)you shall provide a grain offering with it morning by morning, one sixth of an ephah, and one third of a hin of oil to moisten the flour, as a grain offering to the Lord. This is a perpetual statute. 15 Thus the lamb and the meal offering and the oil shall be provided, morning by morning, for (Y)a regular burnt offering.

16 “Thus says the Lord God: If the prince makes a gift to any of his sons as his inheritance, it shall belong to his sons. It is their property by inheritance. 17 But if he makes a gift (Z)out of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his to (AA)the year of liberty. Then it shall revert to the prince; surely it is his inheritance—it shall belong to his sons. 18 (AB)The prince shall not take any of the inheritance of the people, (AC)thrusting them out of their property. He shall give his sons their inheritance out of his own property, so that none of my people shall be (AD)scattered from his property.”

Boiling Places for Offerings

19 Then he brought me through the entrance, which was (AE)at the side of the gate, to the north row of (AF)the holy chambers for the priests, and behold, a place was there at the extreme western end of them. 20 And he said to me, “This is the place where the priests (AG)shall boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where (AH)they shall bake the grain offering, in order not to bring them out into the outer court and so (AI)transmit holiness to the people.”

21 Then he brought me out to the outer court and led me around to the four corners of the court. And behold, in each corner of the court there was another court— 22 in the four corners of the court were small[c] courts, forty cubits[d] long and thirty broad; the four were of the same size. 23 On the inside, around each of the four courts was a row of masonry, with hearths made at the bottom of the rows all around. 24 Then he said to me, “These are the kitchens where those who (AJ)minister at the temple (AK)shall boil the sacrifices of the people.”

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 46:5 An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters
  2. Ezekiel 46:5 A hin was about 4 quarts or 3.5 liters
  3. Ezekiel 46:22 Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; the meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
  4. Ezekiel 46:22 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters

Sabbaths and gift offerings

46 The Lord God proclaims: The east-facing gate of the inner courtyard will remain closed for the six days of the workweek. But on the Sabbath and on the day of the new moon it will be opened, and the prince will come in from outside by way of the porch of the gate and stand at the gate’s doorposts. The priests will present the prince’s entirely burned offerings and well-being sacrifices, and then he will bow down on the threshold of the gate and go out. The gate won’t be closed until evening so that the people of the land may bow in the presence of the Lord on sabbaths and new moons at the opening of that gate. On the Sabbath day, the prince will offer to the Lord an entirely burned offering of six flawless lambs and a flawless ram, a grain offering of one ephah for the ram, and a grain offering at his discretion for the lambs, with one hin of oil for each ephah. For the day of the new moon, the offering will be a flawless young bull from the herd, six lambs, and a flawless ram, and he will provide a grain offering of one ephah each for the bull and the ram, and for the lambs as much as he likes, with one hin of oil for each ephah.

When the prince enters, he comes in by way of the porch of the gate and goes out in the same direction. When the people of the land come into the Lord’s presence for the festivals, those who enter through the north gate to worship should go out through the south, and those who come in through the south gate should go out through the north gate. They shouldn’t turn around and go out the same way they came in. Instead, they should go out the opposite gate. 10 The prince should accompany them: when they come in, he comes in, and when they go out, he goes out. 11 At the festivals and appointed gatherings, the grain offering is one ephah for each bull, one ephah for each ram, and whatever one is able to give for each lamb, with one hin of oil for each ephah.

12 Whenever the prince makes a spontaneous gift to the Lord, whether it is an entirely burned offering or a well-being sacrifice, the gate facing east will be opened for him, and he will present his entirely burned offering and well-being sacrifices, just as he does on the Sabbath day. When he leaves, the gate will be closed after he has gone out.

Daily offerings

13 As a daily entirely burned offering for the Lord, you will provide a flawless year-old lamb. You will make the offering every morning. 14 You will provide a grain offering along with it every morning, one-sixth of an ephah along with one-third of a hin of oil to moisten the choice flour. This is a permanent and perpetual regulation for the grain offering to the Lord. 15 So the lamb, the grain offering, and the oil are provided every morning as a perpetual entirely burned offering.

Royal land grants

16 The Lord God proclaims: When the prince gives a gift to each of his sons, it becomes their inheritance. It becomes their family property as an inheritance. 17 And if he gives one of his servants a gift from his inheritance, it will belong to the servant only until the year of release, and then it will revert to the prince. It is his children’s inheritance; it belongs to them. 18 The prince won’t take the people’s inheritance by evicting them from their family property. He will bequeath only his own property to his sons, lest any of my people be deprived of their rightful property.

Kitchens

19 Then he brought me through the passage beside the gate next to the priests’ quarters, the holy chambers facing north. There was a place hidden away on the western side. 20 He said to me, “Rather than taking these offerings out into the outer courtyard and transferring holiness to the people, this is the place where the priests will boil the compensation offerings and the purification offerings, and where they will bake the grain offerings.”

21 Then he took me to the outer courtyard, and he had me pass through its four corners, and I saw that there were additional courtyards in each of the corners. 22 In all four corners of the courtyard, these courtyards were constructed to handle smoke. All four were the same size, sixty feet long by forty-five feet wide. 23 All four had stone masonry all the way around, and hearths were built under this masonry all the way around. 24 He said to me, “These are the kitchens where those who minister in the temple cook the people’s sacrifices.”