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

The Prince’s Offerings

46 ‘This is what the Lord [a]God says: “The (A)gate of the (B)inner courtyard facing east shall be (C)shut for the six (D)working days; but it shall be opened on the (E)Sabbath day and opened on the day of the (F)new moon. The (G)prince shall enter by way of the porch of the gate from outside and stand by the (H)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 (I)shut until the evening. The (J)people of the land shall also worship at the doorway of that gate before the Lord on the Sabbaths and on the (K)new moons. The (L)burnt offering which the prince shall offer to the Lord on the Sabbath day shall be (M)six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish; and the (N)grain offering shall be an [b]ephah [c]with the ram, and the grain offering [d]with the lambs [e]as much as he is (O)able to give, and a [f]hin of oil [g]with an ephah. On the day of the (P)new moon he shall offer a [h]bull without blemish, and six lambs and a ram, which shall be without blemish. And he shall provide a (Q)grain offering, an ephah [i]with the bull and an ephah [j]with the ram, and [k]with the lambs as [l]much as he is (R)able, and a hin of oil [m]with an ephah. When the (S)prince enters, he shall go in by way of the porch of the gate, and go out by [n]the same way. But when the people of the land come (T)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. [o]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 (U)among them; and when they go out, [p]he shall go out.

11 “At the (V)festivals and the appointed feasts, the (W)grain offering shall be an ephah [q]with a bull and an ephah [r]with a ram, and [s]with the lambs as [t]much as one is able to give, and a hin of oil [u]with an ephah. 12 And when the prince provides a (X)[v]voluntary offering, a burnt offering, or peace offerings as a [w]voluntary offering to the Lord, the gate facing east shall be (Y)opened for him. And he shall provide his burnt offering and his peace offerings as he does on the (Z)Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and the gate shall be shut after he goes out.

13 “And you shall provide a (AA)lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord daily; (AB)morning by morning you shall provide it. 14 You shall also provide a grain offering with it morning by morning, a (AC)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 [x]a permanent ordinance. 15 So they shall provide the lamb, the grain offering, and the oil, morning by morning, as a (AD)continual burnt offering.”

16 ‘This is what the Lord God says: “If the prince gives a (AE)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 (AF)year of [y]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 (AG)not take from the people’s inheritance, [z](AH)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 (AI)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 (AJ)guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they shall (AK)bake the grain offering, so that they do not bring them out into the outer courtyard [aa]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 [ab]cubits long and thirty wide; these four in the corners were [ac]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 [ad]places where the ministers of the house shall cook the sacrifices of the people.”

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 46:1 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord, and so throughout the ch
  2. Ezekiel 46:5 About 1 cubic foot or 0.03 cubic meters, and so throughout the ch
  3. Ezekiel 46:5 Lit for
  4. Ezekiel 46:5 Lit for
  5. Ezekiel 46:5 Lit a gift of his hand
  6. Ezekiel 46:5 About 1 gallon or 3.8 liters, and so throughout the ch
  7. Ezekiel 46:5 Lit for
  8. Ezekiel 46:6 Or young bull
  9. Ezekiel 46:7 Lit for
  10. Ezekiel 46:7 Lit for
  11. Ezekiel 46:7 Lit for
  12. Ezekiel 46:7 Lit his hand can reach
  13. Ezekiel 46:7 Lit for
  14. Ezekiel 46:8 Lit its way
  15. Ezekiel 46:9 Lit He shall not
  16. Ezekiel 46:10 As in many mss and ancient versions; MT they
  17. Ezekiel 46:11 Lit for
  18. Ezekiel 46:11 Lit for
  19. Ezekiel 46:11 Lit for
  20. Ezekiel 46:11 Lit a gift of his hand
  21. Ezekiel 46:11 Lit for
  22. Ezekiel 46:12 Or freewill offering
  23. Ezekiel 46:12 Or freewill offering
  24. Ezekiel 46:14 Lit perpetual statutes
  25. Ezekiel 46:17 Or liberty
  26. Ezekiel 46:18 Lit oppressing
  27. Ezekiel 46:20 Lit to
  28. Ezekiel 46:22 Each of these cubits equals about 21 in. or 53 cm
  29. Ezekiel 46:22 Lit one measure
  30. Ezekiel 46:24 Lit houses