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46 “‘The Lord Yahweh says: “The gate of the inner court that looks toward the east shall be shut 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. The prince shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate outside, and shall stand by the post of the gate; and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening. The people of the land shall worship at the door of that gate before Yahweh on the Sabbaths and on the new moons. The burnt offering that the prince shall offer to Yahweh shall be on the Sabbath day six lambs without defect and a ram without defect; and the meal offering shall be an ephah for the ram, and the meal offering for the lambs as he is able to give, and a hin[a] of oil to an ephah.[b] On the day of the new moon it shall be a young bull without defect, and six lambs, and a ram. They shall be without defect. He shall prepare a meal offering, an ephah for the bull, and an ephah for the ram, and for the lambs according as he is able, and a hin of oil to an ephah. When the prince enters, he shall go in by the way of the porch of the gate, and he shall go out by its way.

“‘“But when the people of the land come before Yahweh in the appointed feasts, he who enters by the way of the north gate to worship shall go out by the way of the south gate; and he who enters by the way of the south gate shall go out by the way of the north gate. He shall not return by the way of the gate by which he came in, but shall go out straight before him. 10 The prince shall go in with them when they go in. When they go out, he shall go out.

11 “‘“In the feasts and in the solemnities the meal offering shall be an ephah[c] for a bull, and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs as he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah. 12 When the prince prepares a free will offering, a burnt offering or peace offerings as a free will offering to Yahweh, one shall open for him the gate that looks toward the east; and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out; and after his going out one shall shut the gate.

13 “‘“You shall prepare a lamb a year old without defect for a burnt offering to Yahweh daily. Morning by morning you shall prepare it. 14 You shall prepare a meal offering with it morning by morning, the sixth part of an ephah,[d] and the third part of a hin of oil, to moisten the fine flour; a meal offering to Yahweh continually by a perpetual ordinance. 15 Thus they shall prepare the lamb, the meal offering, and the oil, morning by morning, for a continual burnt offering.”

16 “‘The Lord Yahweh says: “If the prince gives a gift to any of his sons, it is his inheritance. It shall belong to his sons. It is their possession by inheritance. 17 But if he gives of his inheritance a gift to one of his servants, it shall be his to the year of liberty; then it shall return to the prince; but as for his inheritance, it shall be for his sons. 18 Moreover the prince shall not take of the people’s inheritance, to thrust them out of their possession. He shall give inheritance to his sons out of his own possession, that my people not each be scattered from his possession.”’”

19 Then he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy rooms for the priests, which looked toward the north. Behold, there was a place on the back part westward. 20 He said to me, “This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the meal offering; that they not bring them out into the outer court, 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 behold, in every corner of the court there was a court. 22 In the four corners of the court there were courts enclosed, forty cubits[e] long and thirty wide. These four in the corners were the same size. 23 There was a wall around in them, around the four, and boiling places were made under the walls all around. 24 Then he said to me, “These are the boiling houses, where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of the people.”

Footnotes

  1. 46:5 A hin is about 6.5 liters or 1.7 gallons.
  2. 46:5 1 ephah is about 22 liters or about 2/3 of a bushel
  3. 46:11 1 ephah is about 22 liters or about 2/3 of a bushel
  4. 46:14 1 ephah is about 22 liters or about 2/3 of a bushel
  5. 46:22 A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.

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.