Ezekiel 43
EasyEnglish Bible
The Lord returns to the temple
43 Then the man brought me to the east gate. 2 There I suddenly saw the bright glory of the God of Israel as it came from the east. His voice was like the noise of lots of water that pours along a river. The land around shone with the bright light of his glory. 3 I had seen a vision like this when I was beside the Kebar River.[a] I had also seen a vision like this when God came to destroy Jerusalem. I bent down low with my face on the ground. 4 The Lord's bright glory went through the east gate into the temple. 5 Then a spirit lifted me up and took me into the temple's inside yard.[b] As I watched, the Lord's glory filled the temple.
6 While the man stood beside me, I heard a voice come from inside the temple.
7 The Lord said to me, ‘Son of man, this is the place where I sit on my throne. It is my home where I will live among Israel's people. Israel's people and their kings will never again spoil the honour of my holy name. They will not turn away from me and worship other gods. They will not put the graves of their kings in this place. 8 Their kings built their palaces too near to my holy temple. There was only a wall between me and them. They did many disgusting things that spoiled the honour of my holy name. As a result, I became very angry with them and I destroyed them. 9 Now they must be faithful to me. They must no longer worship other gods. The must not give honour to the graves of their kings. If they stop doing these things, I will live among them for ever.
10 Son of man, you must describe the temple to Israel's people. It should make them ashamed of their sins. They must study the plan of the temple. 11 Then they will be ashamed of everything that they have done. Explain the temple's plan to them. Describe its shape, its entrances, and everything about it. Explain its rules and its laws. You must write all this down while they watch you. Then they can study the temple's plan and they can obey its rules.
12 This is the most important law about the temple: All the top of the mountain around the temple will be most holy.
The great altar
13 This is the size of the altar.[c] There is a hole, 50 centimetres deep and 50 centimetres wide, all around the altar. There is a border around its outside edge, 25 centimetres high. 14 The lowest part of the altar, from its base up, is 1 metre high. The part above that is 2 metres high. It is 50 centimetres smaller than the part below it, all around. The top part of the altar is also 50 centimetres smaller than the middle part. 15 This top part is 2 metres high. They burn the sacrifices on this top part. Its four corners have points like horns that go up. 16 The top of the altar is square, with each side 6 metres long. 17 The middle part is also square, with each side 7 metres long. It has a border around its edge that is 25 centimetres high. There is a hole all around that is 50 centimetres wide. There are steps up to the top of the altar on the east side.’
They must make the altar holy
18 Then he said to me, ‘Son of man, this is what the Almighty Lord says: These are the rules about the altar. On the day that it is ready to use, the priests will offer burnt offerings on it. They will alsosplash blood from the sacrifices on it. 19 You must give a young bull to the priests to offer as a sacrifice to me. The priests must belong to Zadok's family in the tribe of Levi. They are the only men who can come near to me to serve me. That is what I, the Almighty Lord, say. 20 You will take some of the bull's blood and put it on the four horns on the top of the altar. Also put some blood on the corners of the middle part of the altar. And put some on the border around the edge of the altar. Do that to make the altar clean and pure for me. 21 You must take the bull to burn as a sin offering. Burn it in the proper place in the temple yard, outside the temple building.
22 The next day, choose a male goat that has nothing wrong with it. Offer it as a sin offering. Use its blood to make the altar clean and pure, as you did with the bull's blood. 23 After you have done that, choose a young bull and a male sheep that have nothing wrong with them. 24 Bring them to me, the Lord. The priests will throw salt on them. Then they will offer them to me as a burnt offering.
25 Each day for seven days, you must offer a male goat as a sin offering. You must also choose a young bull and a male sheep each day as sacrifices. They must all have nothing wrong with them. 26 The priests will make the altar clean and pure on each of those seven days. That will make it ready for holy use.
27 When the seven days have finished, the priests can begin to offer burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar. They can do this for you on the eighth day and after that. Then I will accept you as my own people. That is what I, the Almighty Lord, say.’
Footnotes
- 43:3 See Ezekiel 1:2-28.
- 43:5 ‘A spirit’ or ‘a wind’. The same Hebrew word may mean either of these.
- 43:13 See Ezekiel 40:47.
Ezekiel 43
New King James Version
The Temple, the Lord’s Dwelling Place
43 Afterward he brought me to the gate, the gate (A)that faces toward the east. 2 (B)And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. (C)His voice was like the sound of many waters; (D)and the earth shone with His glory. 3 It was (E)like the appearance of the vision which I saw—like the vision which I saw when [a]I came (F)to destroy the city. The visions were like the vision which I saw (G)by the River Chebar; and I fell on my face. 4 (H)And the glory of the Lord came into the [b]temple by way of the gate which faces toward the east. 5 (I)The Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, (J)the glory of the Lord filled the [c]temple.
6 Then I heard Him speaking to me from the temple, while (K)a man stood beside me. 7 And He said to me, “Son of man, this is (L)the place of My throne and (M)the place of the soles of My feet, (N)where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever. (O)No more shall the house of Israel defile My holy name, they nor their kings, by their [d]harlotry or with (P)the carcasses of their kings on their high places. 8 (Q)When they set their threshold by My threshold, and their doorpost by My doorpost, with a wall between them and Me, they defiled My holy name by the abominations which they committed; therefore I have consumed them in My anger. 9 Now let them put their harlotry and the carcasses of their kings far away from Me, and I will dwell in their midst forever.
10 “Son of man, (R)describe the [e]temple to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern. 11 And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the [f]temple and its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, its entire design and all its (S)ordinances, all its forms and all its laws. Write it down in their sight, so that they may keep its whole design and all its ordinances, and (T)perform them. 12 This is the law of the [g]temple: The whole area surrounding (U)the mountaintop is most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple.
Dimensions of the Altar
13 “These are the measurements of the (V)altar in cubits (W)(the [h]cubit is one cubit and a handbreadth): the base one cubit high and one cubit wide, with a rim all around its edge of one span. This is the height of the altar: 14 from the base on the ground to the lower ledge, two cubits; the width of the ledge, one cubit; from the smaller ledge to the larger ledge, four cubits; and the width of the ledge, one cubit. 15 The altar hearth is four cubits high, with four (X)horns extending upward from the [i]hearth. 16 The altar hearth is twelve cubits long, twelve wide, (Y)square at its four corners; 17 the ledge, fourteen cubits long and fourteen wide on its four sides, with a rim of half a cubit around it; its base, one cubit all around; and (Z)its steps face toward the east.”
Consecrating the Altar
18 And He said to me, “Son of man, thus says the Lord God: ‘These are the ordinances for the altar on the day when it is made, for sacrificing (AA)burnt offerings on it, and for (AB)sprinkling blood on it. 19 You shall give (AC)a young bull for a sin offering to (AD)the priests, the Levites, who are of the seed of (AE)Zadok, who approach Me to minister to Me,’ says the Lord God. 20 ‘You shall take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar, on the four corners of the ledge, and on the rim around it; thus you shall cleanse it and make atonement for it. 21 Then you shall also take the bull of the sin offering, and (AF)burn it in the appointed place of the [j]temple, (AG)outside the sanctuary. 22 On the second day you shall offer a kid of the goats without blemish for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they cleansed it with the bull. 23 When you have finished cleansing it, you shall offer a young bull without blemish, and a ram from the flock without blemish. 24 When you offer them before the Lord, (AH)the priests shall throw salt on them, and they will offer them up as a burnt offering to the Lord. 25 Every day for (AI)seven days you shall prepare a goat for a sin offering; they shall also prepare a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without blemish. 26 Seven days they shall make atonement for the altar and purify it, and so [k]consecrate [l]it. 27 (AJ)When these days are over it shall be, on the eighth day and thereafter, that the priests shall offer your burnt offerings and your peace offerings on the altar; and I will (AK)accept you,’ says the Lord God.”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 43:3 Some Heb. mss., Vg. He
- Ezekiel 43:4 Lit. house
- Ezekiel 43:5 Lit. house
- Ezekiel 43:7 Unfaithful idolatry
- Ezekiel 43:10 Lit. house
- Ezekiel 43:11 Lit. house
- Ezekiel 43:12 Lit. house
- Ezekiel 43:13 A royal cubit of about 21 inches
- Ezekiel 43:15 Heb. ariel
- Ezekiel 43:21 Lit. house
- Ezekiel 43:26 Lit. fill its hands
- Ezekiel 43:26 LXX, Syr. themselves
Ezekiel 43
New English Translation
The Glory Returns to the Temple
43 Then he brought me to the gate that faced toward the east. 2 I saw[a] the glory of the God of Israel[b] coming from the east;[c] the sound was like that of rushing water,[d] and the earth radiated[e] his glory. 3 It was like the vision I saw when he[f] came to destroy the city, and the vision I saw by the Kebar River. I threw myself face down. 4 The glory of the Lord came into the temple by way of the gate that faces east. 5 Then a wind[g] lifted me up and brought me to the inner court; I watched[h] the glory of the Lord filling the temple.[i]
6 I heard someone speaking to me from the temple, while the man was standing beside me. 7 He said to me: “Son of man, this is the place of my throne[j] and the place for the soles of my feet,[k] where I will live among the people of Israel forever. The house of Israel will no longer profane my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their spiritual prostitution or by the pillars of their kings set up when they die.[l] 8 When they placed their threshold by my threshold and their doorpost by my doorpost, with only the wall between me and them, they profaned my holy name by the abominable deeds they committed. So I consumed them in my anger. 9 Now they must put away their spiritual prostitution and the pillars of their kings far from me, and then I will live among them forever.
10 “As for you, son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, so that they will be ashamed of their sins and measure the pattern. 11 When they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple—its pattern, its exits and entrances, and its whole design—all its statutes, its entire design, and all its laws; write it all down in their sight, so that they may observe its entire design and all its statutes and do them.
12 “This is the law of the temple: The entire area on top of the mountain all around will be most holy. Indeed, this is the law of the temple.
The Altar
13 “And these are the measurements of the altar:[m] Its base[n] is 1¾ feet[o] high[p] and 1¾ feet[q] wide, and its border nine inches[r] on its edge. This is to be the height[s] of the altar. 14 From the base of the ground to the lower ledge is 3½ feet,[t] and the width 1¾ feet;[u] and from the smaller ledge to the larger ledge, 7 feet,[v] and the width 1¾ feet; 15 and the altar hearth, 7 feet, and from the altar hearth four horns projecting upward. 16 Now the altar hearth[w] is a perfect square, 21 feet[x] long and 21 feet wide. 17 The ledge is 24½ feet[y] long and 24½ feet wide on four sides; the border around it is 10½ inches,[z] and its surrounding base 1¾ feet.[aa] Its steps face east.”
18 Then he said to me: “Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: These are the statutes of the altar: On the day it is built to offer up burnt offerings on it and to sprinkle blood on it,[ab] 19 you will give a young bull for a sin offering to the Levitical priests who are descended from Zadok, who approach me to minister to me, declares the Sovereign Lord. 20 You will take some of its blood and place it on the four horns of the altar, on the four corners of the ledge, and on the border all around; you will purify it and make atonement for it.[ac] 21 You will also take the bull for the sin offering, and it will be burned in the appointed place in the temple, outside the sanctuary.
22 “On the second day, you will offer a male goat without blemish for a sin offering. They will purify the altar just as they purified it with the bull. 23 When you have finished purifying it, you will offer an unblemished young bull and an unblemished ram from the flock. 24 You will present them before the Lord, and the priests will scatter salt on them[ad] and offer them up as a burnt offering to the Lord.
25 “For seven days you will provide every day a goat for a sin offering; a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without blemish, will be provided. 26 For seven days they will make atonement for the altar and cleanse it, so they will consecrate it.[ae] 27 When the prescribed period is over,[af] on the eighth day and thereafter the priests will offer up on the altar your burnt offerings and your peace offerings;[ag] I will accept you, declares the Sovereign Lord.”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 43:2 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
- Ezekiel 43:2 sn This same title appears in 8:4; 9:3; 10:19; 11:22.
- Ezekiel 43:2 sn Earlier Ezekiel had observed God leaving the temple to the east (11:23).
- Ezekiel 43:2 sn See Ezek 1:24; Rev 1:15; 14:2; 19:6.
- Ezekiel 43:2 tn Heb “shone from.”
- Ezekiel 43:3 tc Heb “I.” The reading is due to the confusion of yod (י, indicating a first person pronoun) and vav (ו, indicating a third person pronoun). A few medieval Hebrew mss, Theodotion’s Greek version, and the Latin Vulgate support a third person pronoun here.
- Ezekiel 43:5 tn See note on “wind” in 2:2.
- Ezekiel 43:5 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
- Ezekiel 43:5 sn In 1 Kgs 8:10-11 we find a similar event with regard to Solomon’s temple. See also Exod 40:34-35 and Isa 6:4.
- Ezekiel 43:7 sn God’s throne is mentioned in Isa 6:1 and Jer 3:17.
- Ezekiel 43:7 sn See 1 Chr 28:2; Pss 99:5; 132:7; Isa 60:13; Lam 2:1.
- Ezekiel 43:7 tn Heb “by their corpses in their death.” But the term normally translated “corpses” is better understood here as a reference to funeral pillars or funerary offerings. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:583-85, and L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:257.
- Ezekiel 43:13 tn Heb “the measurements of the altar by cubits, the cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth.” The measuring units here and in the remainder of this section are the Hebrew “long” cubit, consisting of a cubit (about 18 inches or 45 cm) and a handbreadth (about 3 inches or 7.5 cm), for a total of 21 inches (52.5 cm). Because modern readers are not familiar with the cubit as a unit of measurement, and due to the additional complication of the “long” cubit as opposed to the regular cubit, all measurements have been converted to American standard feet and inches, with the Hebrew measurements and the metric equivalents given in the notes. On the altar see Ezek 40:47.
- Ezekiel 43:13 tn The Hebrew term normally means “bosom.” Here it refers to a hollow in the ground.
- Ezekiel 43:13 tn Heb “one cubit” (i.e., 52.5 cm).
- Ezekiel 43:13 tn The word “high” is not in the Hebrew text but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
- Ezekiel 43:13 tn Heb “one cubit” (i.e., 52.5 cm).
- Ezekiel 43:13 tn Heb “one span.” A span was three handbreadths, or about nine inches (i.e., 22.5 cm).
- Ezekiel 43:13 tc Heb “bulge, protuberance, mound.” The translation follows the LXX.
- Ezekiel 43:14 tn Heb “2 cubits” (i.e., 1.05 meters).
- Ezekiel 43:14 tn Heb “one cubit” (i.e., 52.5 cm; the phrase occurs again later in this verse).
- Ezekiel 43:14 tn Heb “4 cubits” (i.e., 2.1 meters; the phrase also occurs in the next verse).
- Ezekiel 43:16 tn The precise Hebrew word used here to refer to an “altar hearth” occurs only here in the OT.
- Ezekiel 43:16 tn Heb “12 cubits” (i.e., 6.3 meters; the phrase occurs twice in this verse).
- Ezekiel 43:17 tn Heb “fourteen”; the word “cubits” is not in the Hebrew text but is understood from the context; the phrase occurs again later in this verse. Fourteen cubits is about 7.35 meters.
- Ezekiel 43:17 tn Heb “half a cubit” (i.e., 26.25 cm).
- Ezekiel 43:17 tn Heb “one cubit” (i.e., 52.5 cm).
- Ezekiel 43:18 sn For the “sprinkling of blood,” see Lev 1:5, 11; 8:19; 9:12.
- Ezekiel 43:20 sn Note the similar language in Lev 16:18.
- Ezekiel 43:24 sn It is likely that salt was used with sacrificial meals (Num 18:19; 2 Chr 13:5).
- Ezekiel 43:26 tn Heb “fill its hands.”
- Ezekiel 43:27 tn Heb “and they will complete the days.”
- Ezekiel 43:27 sn The people also could partake of the food of the peace offering (Lev 3).
Ezekiel 43
King James Version
43 Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east:
2 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.
3 And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face.
4 And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.
5 So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house.
6 And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me.
7 And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places.
8 In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, and the wall between me and them, they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger.
9 Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcases of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever.
10 Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.
11 And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.
12 This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.
13 And these are the measures of the altar after the cubits: The cubit is a cubit and an hand breadth; even the bottom shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the border thereof by the edge thereof round about shall be a span: and this shall be the higher place of the altar.
14 And from the bottom upon the ground even to the lower settle shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser settle even to the greater settle shall be four cubits, and the breadth one cubit.
15 So the altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar and upward shall be four horns.
16 And the altar shall be twelve cubits long, twelve broad, square in the four squares thereof.
17 And the settle shall be fourteen cubits long and fourteen broad in the four squares thereof; and the border about it shall be half a cubit; and the bottom thereof shall be a cubit about; and his stairs shall look toward the east.
18 And he said unto me, Son of man, thus saith the Lord God; These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it, to offer burnt offerings thereon, and to sprinkle blood thereon.
19 And thou shalt give to the priests the Levites that be of the seed of Zadok, which approach unto me, to minister unto me, saith the Lord God, a young bullock for a sin offering.
20 And thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and put it on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the settle, and upon the border round about: thus shalt thou cleanse and purge it.
21 Thou shalt take the bullock also of the sin offering, and he shall burn it in the appointed place of the house, without the sanctuary.
22 And on the second day thou shalt offer a kid of the goats without blemish for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they did cleanse it with the bullock.
23 When thou hast made an end of cleansing it, thou shalt offer a young bullock without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without blemish.
24 And thou shalt offer them before the Lord, and the priests shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering unto the Lord.
25 Seven days shalt thou prepare every day a goat for a sin offering: they shall also prepare a young bullock, and a ram out of the flock, without blemish.
26 Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it; and they shall consecrate themselves.
27 And when these days are expired, it shall be, that upon the eighth day, and so forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, saith the Lord God.
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