The Manner of Worship

46 ‘Thus says the Lord God: “The gateway of the inner court that faces toward the east shall be shut the six (A)working days; but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and on the day of the New Moon it shall be opened. (B)The prince shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gateway from the outside, and stand by the gatepost. The priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings. He shall worship at the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be shut until evening. Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the entrance to this gateway before the Lord on the Sabbaths and the New Moons. The burnt offering that (C)the prince offers to the Lord on the (D)Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish; (E)and the grain offering shall be one ephah for a ram, and the grain offering for the lambs, [a]as much as he wants to give, as well as a hin of oil with every ephah. On the day of the New Moon it shall be a young bull without blemish, six lambs, and a ram; they shall be without blemish. He shall prepare a grain offering of an ephah for a bull, an ephah for a ram, [b]as much as he wants to give for the lambs, and a hin of oil with every ephah. (F)When the prince enters, he shall go in by way of the vestibule of the gateway, and go out the same way.

“But when the people of the land (G)come before the Lord on the appointed feast days, whoever enters by way of the north (H)gate to worship shall go out by way of the south gate; and whoever enters by way of the south gate shall go out by way of the north gate. He shall not return by way of the gate through which he came, but shall go out through the opposite gate. 10 The prince shall then be in their midst. When they go in, he shall go in; and when they go out, he shall go out. 11 At the festivals and the appointed feast days (I)the grain offering shall be an ephah for a bull, an ephah for a ram, as much as he wants to give for the lambs, and a hin of oil with every ephah.

12 “Now when the prince makes a voluntary burnt offering or voluntary peace offering to the Lord, the gate that faces toward the east (J)shall then be opened for him; and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings as he did on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he goes out the gate shall be shut.

13 (K)“You shall daily make a burnt offering to the Lord of a lamb of the first year without blemish; you shall prepare it [c]every morning. 14 And you shall prepare a grain offering with it every morning, a sixth of an ephah, and a third of a hin of oil to moisten the fine flour. This grain offering is a perpetual ordinance, to be made regularly to the Lord. 15 Thus they shall prepare the lamb, the grain offering, and the oil, as a (L)regular burnt offering every morning.”

The Prince and Inheritance Laws

16 ‘Thus says the Lord God: “If the prince gives a gift of some of 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 of some of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his until (M)the year of liberty, after which it shall return to the prince. But his inheritance shall belong to his sons; it shall become theirs. 18 Moreover (N)the prince shall not take any of the people’s inheritance by evicting them from their property; he shall provide an inheritance for his sons from his own property, so that none of My people may be scattered from his property.” ’ ”

How the Offerings Were Prepared

19 Now he brought me through the entrance, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy (O)chambers of the priests which face toward the north; and there a place was situated at their extreme western end. 20 And he said to me, “This is the place where the priests shall (P)boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, and where they shall (Q)bake the grain offering, so that they do not bring them out into the outer court (R)to sanctify the people.”

21 Then he brought me out into the outer court and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; and in fact, in every corner of the court there was another court. 22 In the four corners of the court were enclosed courts, forty cubits long and thirty wide; all four corners were the same size. 23 There was a row of building stones all around in them, all around the four of them; and [d]cooking hearths were made under the rows of stones all around. 24 And he said to me, “These are the [e]kitchens where the ministers of the [f]temple shall (S)boil the sacrifices of the people.”

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 46:5 Lit. the gift of his hand
  2. Ezekiel 46:7 Lit. as much as his hand can reach
  3. Ezekiel 46:13 Lit. morning by morning
  4. Ezekiel 46:23 Lit. boiling places
  5. Ezekiel 46:24 Lit. house of those who boil
  6. Ezekiel 46:24 Lit. house

46 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “The gate of the inner courtyard facing east must be shut on[a] the six of the days for work, but on the day of the Sabbath it must be opened and on the day of the new moon it must be opened. And the prince shall come by way of the portico of the gate from the outside, and he shall stand at the doorframe of the gate and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his fellowship offerings, and he shall bow down at the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be closed until the evening. And the people of the land will bow down at the doorway of that gate on the Sabbaths and on the new moons before[b] Yahweh.

And the burnt offering which the prince will offer to Yahweh on the Sabbath day must be six male lambs without defect and a ram without defect. And the grain offering he will give shall be an ephah for each ram,[c] and for the male lambs the grain offering shall be as much as he wants to give[d] and a hin of olive oil for each ephah.[e] And on the day of the new moon he will offer a bull, a calf[f] without defect and six male lambs and a ram; they must be without defect. And an ephah for each bull and an ephah for the ram he must provide as a grain offering, and also for the male lambs as much as he can afford[g] and a hin of olive oil for each ephah.

And when the prince comes, on[h] the way of the portico of the gate he shall come and by this[i] way he shall go out. And when the people of the land come before[j] Yahweh at the festivals, the one coming by way of the gate of the north to bow down[k] must go out by the way of the gate of the south, and the one coming by way of the gate of the south must go out by the way of the gate of the north, so he must not return by the way of the gate by which he came,[l] but before it he[m] shall go out opposite it. 10 And the prince will be in the midst of them; he will come in when they come in, and when they go out he will go out.

11 And at the festivals and at the appointed times, the grain offering will be an ephah with a bull and an ephah with the ram and with the male lambs, as much as he wants to give,[n] and a hin of olive oil for each ephah.[o] 12 And when the prince makes a freewill offering, a burnt offering, or a fellowship offering as a freewill offering to Yahweh, the gate facing east will be open for him. And he must offer his burnt offering and his fellowship offering just as[p] he does on the day of the Sabbath, and then he must go out and the gate will shut after he goes out.[q] 13 And a male lamb, a yearling[r] without defect, he must provide as a burnt offering daily[s] for Yahweh; every morning[t] he must provide it. 14 And a grain offering he must provide in addition to it every morning,[u] a[v] sixth of an[w] ephah and a third of a hin of olive oil to moisten the finely milled flour as a grain offering to Yahweh as a perpetual statute.[x] 15 So they must provide the male lamb and the grain offering and the olive oil every morning[y] as a regular burnt offering.”[z]

16 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “If the prince gives a gift to any one from among his sons, it is his inheritance and it will belong[aa] to his sons; it is their possession as an inheritance. 17 And if he give a gift from his inheritance to one from among his servants, then it will belong[ab] to him until the year of release,[ac] and then it will return to the prince. His inheritance with respect to his sons will be only for them. 18 But the prince shall not take from the inheritance of the people to rob[ad] them, separating them from their property; from his own property he shall bestow an inheritance on his sons, so that my people will not be driven away, any one, from his property.”

19 Then he brought me through the entrance which was on the side of the gate to the holy chambers[ae] to the priests; the chambers were facing northwards and, look, there was a place at the extreme end westwards. 20 And he said to me, “This is the place where the priests will boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the grain offering in order not to bring them out to the outer courtyard to make the people holy. 21 And he brought me to the outer courtyard and led me past the four corners of the courtyard; and look, there was a courtyard in each corner of the courtyard.[af] 22 In the four corners of the courtyard were small[ag] courtyards forty cubits in length and thirty cubits in width, each with the same measurements[ah] for the four of them with corners.[ai] 23 And a row was all around inside[aj] them, and cooking-places were made under the rows of stones[ak] all around. 24 And he said to me, “These are the houses for[al] cooking, where the ones serving the temple shall cook the sacrifices of the people.”

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 46:1 Or “during”
  2. Ezekiel 46:3 Literally “to the face of”
  3. Ezekiel 46:5 Literally “to the ram”
  4. Ezekiel 46:5 Literally “the gift of his hand”
  5. Ezekiel 46:5 Literally “to the ephah”
  6. Ezekiel 46:6 Literally “son of cattle,” or “son of the herd”
  7. Ezekiel 46:7 Literally “as that it stretches out his hand”
  8. Ezekiel 46:8 Or “by”
  9. Ezekiel 46:8 Or “his”
  10. Ezekiel 46:9 Literally “to the face of”
  11. Ezekiel 46:9 Or “to worship”
  12. Ezekiel 46:9 Hebrew “came by it”
  13. Ezekiel 46:9 According to the reading tradition (Qere)
  14. Ezekiel 46:11 Literally “the gift of his hand”
  15. Ezekiel 46:11 Literally “to the ephah”
  16. Ezekiel 46:12 Literally “as that”
  17. Ezekiel 46:12 Literally “after his going out”
  18. Ezekiel 46:13 Literally “a son of his year”
  19. Ezekiel 46:13 Literally “for the day”
  20. Ezekiel 46:13 Literally “in the morning in the morning”
  21. Ezekiel 46:14 Literally “in the morning in the morning”
  22. Ezekiel 46:14 Hebrew “the”
  23. Ezekiel 46:14 Hebrew “the”
  24. Ezekiel 46:14 Literally “regulations of everlasting continually”
  25. Ezekiel 46:15 Literally “in the morning in the morning”
  26. Ezekiel 46:15 Literally “as burnt offering of regularity/continuity”
  27. Ezekiel 46:16 Hebrew “be”
  28. Ezekiel 46:17 Hebrew “be”
  29. Ezekiel 46:17 That is, the Year of Jubilee
  30. Ezekiel 46:18 Or “oppress”
  31. Ezekiel 46:19 Literally “to the chamber of the holiness”
  32. Ezekiel 46:21 Literally “a courtyard in the corner of the courtyard, a courtyard in the corner of the courtyard”
  33. Ezekiel 46:22 Hebrew uncertain
  34. Ezekiel 46:22 Literally “measurement one”
  35. Ezekiel 46:22 Or “being cornered”
  36. Ezekiel 46:23 Hebrew “in”
  37. Ezekiel 46:23 Possibly some kind of stone ledge
  38. Ezekiel 46:24 Hebrew “of”