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. ^2 (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. ³ Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the entrance to this gateway before the Lord on the Sabbaths and the New Moons. ⁴ 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; ^5 (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. ⁶ 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. ⁷ 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. ^8 (F)When the prince enters, he shall go in by way of the vestibule of the gateway, and go out the same way.

⁹ “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.”

Our Inheritance Through Christ’s Blood

2 Therefore, ^(A)laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, ^2 (B)as newborn babes, desire the pure ^(C)milk of the word, that you may grow ^[a]thereby, ³ if indeed you have ^(D)tasted that the Lord is gracious.

The Chosen Stone and His Chosen People^(E)

⁴ Coming to Him as to a living stone, ^(F)rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, ⁵ you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,

⁷ Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who ^[b]are disobedient,

⁸ and

^(J)They stumble, being disobedient to the word, ^(K)to which they also were appointed.

⁹ But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of ^(L)darkness into His marvelous light; ^10 (M)who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

Living Before the World

¹¹ Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts ^(N)which war against the soul, ^12 (O)having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, ^(P)they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Submission to Government^(Q)

^13 (R)Therefore submit yourselves to every ^[c]ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, ¹⁴ or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. ¹⁵ For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— ^16 (S)as free, yet not ^(T)using liberty as a cloak for ^[d]vice, but as bondservants of God. ¹⁷ Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear ^(U)God. Honor the king.

Submission to Masters^(V)

^18 (W)Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. ¹⁹ For this is ^(X)commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. ²⁰ For ^(Y)what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. ²¹ For ^(Z)to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for ^[e]us, ^(AA)leaving ^[f]us an example, that you should follow His steps:

^23 (AC)who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but ^(AD)committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; ^24 (AE)who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, ^(AF)that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—^(AG)by whose ^[g]stripes you were healed. ²⁵ For ^(AH)you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned ^(AI)to the Shepherd and ^[h]Overseer of your souls.

ה HE

ו WAW