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

46 Thus saith Adonoi Hashem: The Sha’ar HeKhatzer HaPenimit that looketh toward the east shall be shut during the sheshet yemei hama’aseh (the six days of labor); but on Shabbos it shall be opened, and in the yom of the Rosh Chodesh it shall be opened.

And the Nasi shall enter by the derech ulam haSha’ar from without, and shall stand by the mezuzat HaSha’ar, and the Kohanim shall prepare his Olah (burnt offering) and his Shelamim, and he shall worship at the threshold of the Sha’ar; then he shall go out; but the Sha’ar shall not be shut until the erev.

Likewise the Am HaAretz shall worship at the Petach HaSha’ar before Hashem in the Shabbatot and in Rosh Chodesh.

And the Olah that the Nasi shall offer unto Hashem in the Yom HaShabbos shall be six kevasim temimim, and a ram without blemish.

And the minchah shall be an ephah for a ram, and the minchah for the kevasim whatever his hand gives, and a hin of shemen to an ephah.

And in the yom of the Rosh Chodesh it shall be a young bull temimim, and six kevasim, and a ram; they shall be without blemish.

And he shall prepare a minchah, an ephah for a bull, and an ephah for a ram, and for the kevasim as much as he wishes, and a hin of shemen to an ephah.

And when the Nasi shall enter, he shall go in by the derech ulam HaSha’ar and he shall go out by the derech thereof.

But when the Am HaAretz shall come before Hashem in the Mo’adim, he that entereth in by the derech Sha’ar Tzafon to worship shall exit by the derech Sha’ar Negev; and he that entereth by the derech Sha’ar Negev shall go out by derech Sha’ar Tzafonah; he shall not return by the derech HaSha’ar whereby he came in, but shall go out opposite it.

10 And the Nasi in the midst of them, when they go in, shall go in; and when they go out, shall go out.

11 And in the Chagim and in the Mo’adim the minchah shall be an ephah to a bull, and an ephah to a ram, and to the kevasim as much as one wishes to give, and a hin of shemen to an ephah.

12 Now when the Nasi shall prepare a nedavah olah or shelamim nedavah unto Hashem, one shall then open for him the Sha’ar that looketh toward the east, and he shall prepare his Olah and his Shelamim, as he did on the Yom HaShabbos; then he shall go out; and after his going out one shall shut the Sha’ar.

13 Thou shalt daily prepare an Olah unto Hashem of a keves of the first year tamim (without blemish); thou shalt prepare it baboker baboker.

14 And thou shalt prepare a Minchah for it baboker baboker, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of a hin of shemen, to moisten with the fine flour; a minchah chukkot olam tamid unto Hashem.

15 Thus shall they prepare the keves, and the minchah, and the shemen, baboker baboker for an olat tamid.

16 Thus saith Adonoi Hashem: If the Nasi give a mattanah (gift) unto any of his banim, the nachalah thereof shall belong to his banim; it shall be their achuzzah by nachalah.

17 But if he give a mattanah of his nachalah to one of his avadim, then it shall be his to the Shenat HaDeror [Jubilee Year]; then it shall return to the Nasi; but his nachalah shall belong only to his banim [see Isa 53:10].

18 Moreover the Nasi shall not take of the nachalah HaAm by oppression, to thrust them out of their achuzzah; but he shall give his banim nachalah out of his own achuzzah; that My people be not scattered each man from his achuzzah.

19 After he [the angelic being] brought me through the entrance, which was at the side of the Sha’ar, into the lishkhot hakodesh of the Kohanim, which looked toward the tzafonah; and, hinei, there was a place at its western sides.

20 Then said he [the angelic being] unto me, This is the place where the Kohanim shall cook the asham (trespass offering) and the chattat, where they shall bake the minchah; that they bear them not out into the Khatzer HaKhitzonah and so set apart as kodesh HaAm.

21 Then he [the angelic being] brought me forth into the Khatzer HaKhitzonah, and caused me to pass by the four corners of the Khatzer; and, hinei, in the Khatzer I saw in every corner of the Khatzer there was a Khatzer.

22 In the four corners of the Khatzer there were enclosed Khatzerot forty cubits long and thirty wide; these four corners were of one measure.

23 And there was a row of masonry saviv (around) inside them, round about these four, and it was made with hearths at the bottom of the rows round about.

24 Then said he [the angelic being] unto me, These are the Bais HaMevashelim, where the Mesharetim of the Bais shall cook the zevach HaAm.