Return of the divine glory

43 Then he led me to the east gate, ² where the glory of Israel’s God was coming in from the east. Its sound was like the sound of a mighty flood, and the earth was lit up with his glory. ³ What appeared when I looked was like what I had seen when he^[a] came to destroy the city, and also like what I saw at the Chebar River, and I fell on my face. ⁴ Then the Lord’s glory came into the temple by way of the east gate. ⁵ A wind picked me up and brought me to the inner courtyard, and there the Lord’s glory filled the temple. ⁶ A man was standing next to me, but the voice that I heard came from inside the temple. ⁷ He said to me, Human one, this is the place for my throne and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will dwell among the Israelites forever. The house of Israel will never again defile my holy name, neither they nor their kings, with their disloyalties^[b] and with their kings’ corpses at the shrines. ⁸ When they set their plazas^[c] with mine and their doorposts next to mine, the wall was between us. They defiled my holy name with their detestable practices, so I consumed them in my anger. ⁹ Now let them remove their disloyalties and their kings’ corpses from me, and I will dwell among them forever.

¹⁰ You, human one, describe the temple to the house of Israel. Let them be humiliated because of their guilt when they think about its design. ¹¹ When they feel humiliated by all that they have done, make known to them the shape of the temple and its adornment, its exits and its entrances, its entire plan and all of its regulations.^[d] Write them down in their sight so that they may observe all of its entire plan and all its regulations and perform them.

¹² These are the instructions for the temple: the top of the mountain, as well as its boundaries all around, are most holy. These are the instructions for the temple.

The closed gate

44 He brought me back to the outer sanctuary gate that faces east. It was closed. ² The Lord said to me, This gate remains closed. It shouldn’t be opened. No one should come in through it because the Lord, Israel’s God, has entered through it. It will remain closed. ³ As for the prince, he may sit in it to eat bread in the Lord’s presence. He may come in and go out by way of the gate’s porch.

Foreigners, Levites, Zadokites

⁴ Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. I looked, and suddenly the Lord’s glory filled the Lord’s temple, and I fell on my face.