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Miscellaneous Regulations

46 “Thus says the Lord God: The gate of the inner court that faces east shall remain closed on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened.(A) The prince shall enter by the vestibule of the gate from outside and shall take his stand by the post of the gate. The priests shall offer his burnt offering and his offerings of well-being, and he shall bow down at the entryway of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be closed until evening.(B) 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.(C) The burnt offering that the prince offers to the Lord on the Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish,(D) and the grain offering with the ram shall be an ephah, and the grain offering with the lambs shall be as much as he wishes to give, together with a hin of oil to each ephah.(E) On the day of the new moon he shall offer a bull of the herd without blemish and six lambs and a ram, which shall be without blemish;(F) as a grain offering he shall provide an ephah with the bull and an ephah with the ram and with the lambs as much as he wishes, together with a hin of oil to each ephah.(G) When the prince enters, he shall come in by the vestibule of the gate, and he shall go out by the same way.(H)

“When the people of the land come before the Lord at the appointed festivals, whoever enters by the north gate to worship shall go out by the south gate, and whoever enters by the south gate shall go out by the north gate: they shall not return by way of the gate by which they entered but shall go out straight ahead.(I) 10 When they come in, the prince shall come in with them, and when they go out, he shall go out.

11 “At the festivals and the appointed seasons the grain offering with a bull shall be an ephah and with a ram an ephah and with the lambs as much as one wishes to give, together with a hin of oil to an ephah.(J) 12 When the prince provides a freewill offering, either a burnt offering or offerings of well-being as a freewill offering to the Lord, the gate facing east shall be opened for him, and he shall offer his burnt offering or his offerings of well-being as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he has gone out the gate shall be closed.(K)

13 “You shall provide a lamb, a yearling, without blemish, for a burnt offering to the Lord daily; morning by morning you shall provide it.(L) 14 And you shall provide a grain offering with it morning by morning regularly, one-sixth of an ephah and one-third of a hin of oil to moisten the choice flour, as a grain offering to the Lord; this is the ordinance for all time.(M) 15 Thus the lamb and the grain offering and the oil shall be provided, morning by morning, as a regular burnt offering.(N)

16 “Thus says the Lord God: If the prince makes a gift to any of his sons out of his inheritance,[a] it shall belong to his sons; it is their holding by inheritance.(O) 17 But if he makes a gift out of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his to the year of liberty; then it shall revert to the prince; only his sons may keep a gift from his inheritance.(P) 18 The prince shall not take any of the inheritance of the people, thrusting them out of their holding; he shall give his sons their inheritance out of his own holding, so that none of my people shall be dispossessed of their holding.”(Q)

19 Then he brought me through the entrance, which was at the side of the gate, to the north row of the holy chambers for the priests, and there I saw a place at the extreme western end of them.(R) 20 He said to me, “This is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt offering and the purification offering and where they shall bake the grain offering, in order not to bring them out into the outer court and so communicate holiness to the people.”(S)

21 Then he brought me out to the outer court and led me past the four corners of the court, and in each corner of the court there was a court: 22 in the four corners of the court were small[b] courts, forty cubits long and thirty wide; the four were of the same size. 23 On the inside, around each of the four courts,[c] 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 serve at the temple shall boil the sacrifices of the people.”(T)

Footnotes

  1. 46.16 Gk: Heb it is his inheritance
  2. 46.22 Gk Syr Vg: Meaning of Heb uncertain
  3. 46.23 Heb the four of them

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.