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

46 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The east gateway of the inner courtyard will be closed during the six workdays each week, but it will be open on Sabbath days and the days of new moon celebrations. The prince will enter the entry room of the gateway from the outside. Then he will stand by the gatepost while the priest offers his burnt offering and peace offering. He will bow down in worship inside the gateway passage and then go back out the way he came. The gateway will not be closed until evening. The common people will bow down and worship the Lord in front of this gateway on Sabbath days and the days of new moon celebrations.

“Each Sabbath day the prince will present to the Lord a burnt offering of six lambs and one ram, all with no defects. He will present a grain offering of a basket of choice flour to go with the ram and whatever amount of flour he chooses to go with each lamb, and he is to offer one gallon of olive oil[a] for each basket of flour. At the new moon celebrations, he will bring one young bull, six lambs, and one ram, all with no defects. With the young bull he must bring a basket of choice flour for a grain offering. With the ram he must bring another basket of flour. And with each lamb he is to bring whatever amount of flour he chooses to give. With each basket of flour he must offer one gallon of olive oil.

“The prince must enter the gateway through the entry room, and he must leave the same way. But when the people come in through the north gateway to worship the Lord during the religious festivals, they must leave by the south gateway. And those who entered through the south gateway must leave by the north gateway. They must never leave by the same gateway they came in, but must always use the opposite gateway. 10 The prince will enter and leave with the people on these occasions.

11 “So at the special feasts and sacred festivals, the grain offering will be a basket of choice flour with each young bull, another basket of flour with each ram, and as much flour as the worshiper chooses to give with each lamb. Give one gallon of olive oil with each basket of flour. 12 When the prince offers a voluntary burnt offering or peace offering to the Lord, the east gateway to the inner courtyard will be opened for him, and he will offer his sacrifices as he does on Sabbath days. Then he will leave, and the gateway will be shut behind him.

13 “Each morning you must sacrifice a one-year-old lamb with no defects as a burnt offering to the Lord. 14 With the lamb, a grain offering must also be given to the Lord—about three quarts of flour with a third of a gallon of olive oil[b] to moisten the choice flour. This will be a permanent law for you. 15 The lamb, the grain offering, and the olive oil must be given as a daily sacrifice every morning without fail.

16 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: If the prince gives a gift of land to one of his sons as his inheritance, it will belong to him and his descendants forever. 17 But if the prince gives a gift of land from his inheritance to one of his servants, the servant may keep it only until the Year of Jubilee, which comes every fiftieth year.[c] At that time the land will return to the prince. But when the prince gives gifts to his sons, those gifts will be permanent. 18 And the prince may never take anyone’s property by force. If he gives property to his sons, it must be from his own land, for I do not want any of my people unjustly evicted from their property.”

The Temple Kitchens

19 In my vision, the man brought me through the entrance beside the gateway and led me to the sacred rooms assigned to the priests, which faced toward the north. He showed me a place at the extreme west end of these rooms. 20 He explained, “This is where the priests will cook the meat from the guilt offerings and sin offerings and bake the flour from the grain offerings into bread. They will do it here to avoid carrying the sacrifices through the outer courtyard and endangering the people by transmitting holiness to them.”

21 Then he brought me back to the outer courtyard and led me to each of its four corners. In each corner I saw an enclosure. 22 Each of these enclosures was 70 feet long and 52 1⁄2 feet wide,[d] surrounded by walls. 23 Along the inside of these walls was a ledge of stone with fireplaces under the ledge all the way around. 24 The man said to me, “These are the kitchens to be used by the Temple assistants to boil the sacrifices offered by the people.”

Footnotes

  1. 46:5 Hebrew an ephah [20 quarts or 22 liters] of choice flour . . . a hin [3.8 liters] of olive oil; similarly in 46:7, 11.
  2. 46:14 Hebrew 1⁄6 of an ephah [3.7 liters] of flour with 1⁄3 of a hin [1.3 liters] of olive oil.
  3. 46:17 Hebrew until the Year of Release; see Lev 25:8-17.
  4. 46:22 Hebrew 40 [cubits] [21.2 meters] long and 30 [cubits] [15.9 meters] wide.