Chapter 46

Sabbath Offerings. ¹ Thus says the Lord God: The east gate of the inner court must remain closed during the six working days. However, it shall be opened on the Sabbath and on the day of the new moon. ² The prince is to enter from the outside through the vestibule of the gate and stand by the doorposts of the gate. Then the priest must offer his burnt offerings and his peace offerings, and he shall bow down at the threshold of the gate. After this, he will go out, but the gate is not to be closed until evening. ³ The people of the land shall worship before the Lord at the entrance of the gate on the Sabbaths and the days of the new moon.

⁴ The burnt offering that the prince offers to the Lord on the Sabbath shall consist of six lambs without blemish and one unblemished ram. ⁵ The grain offering presented with the ram shall be an ephah, and the grain offering with the lambs shall be whatever he chooses to present; also, a hin of oil must be included for every ephah.

⁶ On the day of the new moon, the prince must offer an unblemished young bull, six unblemished lambs, and one unblemished ram. ⁷ As a grain offering, he shall provide an ephah with the bull and an ephah with the ram. With the lambs, he shall provide as much as he wishes to give, adding a hin of oil for every ephah.

Ritual Regulations. ⁸ Whenever the prince comes in, he must enter by the porch of the gate, and he must depart by the same way. ⁹ When the people of the land come to worship before the Lord on designated festival days, anyone who enters by the north gate to worship must depart by the south gate, and anyone who enters by the south gate must leave by the north gate. No one may return through the gate by which he entered but must depart by the opposite gate. ¹⁰ The prince will be in their midst, coming in when they enter and also departing with them as they leave.

¹¹ On feast days and solemn festivities, the grain offering shall be one ephah for every bull, one ephah for every ram, and as much as he wishes to give for the lambs, together with a hin of oil for every ephah. ¹² When the prince makes a free-will offering to the Lord, whether a burnt offering or a peace offering, the east gate will be opened for him. After presenting his burnt offering or peace offering as he does on the Sabbath, then he will leave, and the gate will be closed after his departure.

¹³ The prince will offer as a daily sacrifice to the Lord, a yearling without blemish for a burnt offering. He must offer this every morning. ¹⁴ With it in addition, he must regularly provide as a grain offering, morning after morning, one-sixth of an ephah and one-third of a hin of oil to moisten the fine flour. The presentation of this grain offering to the Lord is a mandatory decree, prescribed for all time. ¹⁵ The lamb, the grain offering, and the oil must be offered every morning as an established holocaust.

¹⁶ The Prince’s Inheritance. Thus says the Lord God: If the prince makes a gift of a portion of his inheritance to any of his sons, it will belong to his sons. That gift becomes their property by inheritance. ¹⁷ However, if he makes a gift of a portion of his inheritance to one of his servants, it will belong to that servant until the year of liberation; then it must revert to the prince. Only the sons of the prince may rightfully keep their inheritance.^[a]

¹⁸ On the other hand, the prince may not seize any of the inheritance of the people by evicting them from their property. He must provide an inheritance for his sons out of his own property, so that none of my people will be deprived of holdings that are rightfully theirs.

¹⁹ The Temple Kitchens. Then he led me through the entrance on the side of the gate to the rooms facing north that were reserved for the priests. There before us, at the western end, he pointed to a space, ²⁰ and he said to me, “This is the place where the priests must boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they bake the cereal offering, so that they may avoid bringing them into the outer court and thereby run the risk of transmitting holiness to the people.”

²¹ Then he brought me to the outer court and led me around to its four corners. In each of the corners, I saw that there was another court. ²² In each of the four corners of the court, there were four small courts, forty cubits long and thirty cubits wide, all four being the same size.

²³ On the inside, around each of the four courts, there was a ledge of stone, with a hearth all around at the bottom of the wall. ²⁴ Then he said to me, “These are the kitchens where the temple servants boil the sacrifices offered by the people.”

Specific Regulations for Various Groups^[a]

Chapter 5

Different Age Groups.^{[b] 1} Never speak harshly to an older man; rather, appeal to him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, ² older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with the greatest purity.

Widows.^{[c] 3} Give proper consideration to those widows who are truly in need. ⁴ If a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to carry out their religious duty to their own family and repay their debt to their parents, for this is pleasing in the eyes of God.

⁵ However, a widow who is truly in need and is alone in the world places all her trust in God and never ceases her prayers and supplications night and day. ⁶ But the widow who is interested solely in pleasure is dead even while she lives.

⁷ Insist upon these things, so that people may be beyond reproach. ⁸ And whoever does not provide for relatives, especially for those who are living with him, has disowned the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

⁹ A woman should not be enrolled as a widow if she is not at least sixty years old. In addition, she must have been married only once, ¹⁰ and have a reputation for good works by bringing up her children, offering hospitality to strangers, washing the feet of the saints,^[d] helping those in distress, and being active in all kinds of good work.

¹¹ However, refuse to enroll younger widows, for when their passions distract them from the service of Christ, they will want to marry again ¹² and will incur condemnation for having broken their original vow. ¹³ In addition, they fall into the habit of being idle, as they go around from house to house, and also become gossips and busybodies, saying things that would better be left unsaid.

¹⁴ Therefore, I think younger widows should marry again, bear children, and manage their households, so as not to give our enemies any occasion to revile us. ¹⁵ Indeed, some have already turned away to follow Satan.

¹⁶ If any woman believer has relatives who are widows, she must assist them herself. The Church should be free of such burdens and consequently able to assist those who are widows in the true sense.

¹⁷ Presbyters.^[e] Presbyters who do their duty well should be considered deserving of a double honor,^[f] especially those who labor at preaching and teaching. ¹⁸ For Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and “A worker deserves his wages.”^[g]

¹⁹ Never accept any accusation brought against a presbyter except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. ²⁰ As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them publicly, so that the others may also be afraid.

²¹ In the presence of God and Christ Jesus and the chosen angels,^[h] I charge you to follow these rules impartially and without being influenced by any favoritism. ²² Do not lay hands on others too hastily or you may find yourself regarded as an accomplice in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.

²³ Stop drinking nothing but water. Take a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.

²⁴ The sins of some people are so flagrant that they are publicly known before judgment, while the sins of others will only become known later on. ²⁵ In the same manner, good works are often easily recognized, but even if they are not, they cannot remain hidden forever.