Words of the Wise

The Holy District

45 “When ^(A)you allot the land as an inheritance, ^(B)you shall set apart for the Lord a portion of the land as a holy district, 25,000 cubits^[a] long and 20,000^[b] cubits broad. It shall be holy throughout its whole extent. ^2 (C)Of this a square plot of 500 by 500 cubits shall be for the sanctuary, with fifty cubits for ^(D)an open space around it. ³ And ^(E)from this measured district you shall measure off a section 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 broad, ^(F)in which shall be the sanctuary, ^(G)the Most Holy Place. ^4 (H)It shall be the holy portion of the land. It shall be for the priests, who minister in the sanctuary and approach the Lord to minister to him, and it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. ^5 (I)Another section, 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits broad, shall be for the Levites who minister at the temple, as their possession for cities to live in.^[c]

⁶ “Alongside the portion set apart as the holy district ^(J)you shall assign for the property of the city an area 5,000 cubits broad and 25,000 cubits long. ^(K)It shall belong to the whole house of Israel.

The Portion for the Prince

^7 (L)“And to ^(M)the prince shall belong the land on both sides of the holy district and the property of the city, alongside the holy district and the property of the city, on the west and on the east, corresponding in length to one of the tribal portions, and extending from the western to the eastern boundary ⁸ of the land. It is to be his property in Israel. And ^(N)my princes shall no more oppress my people, but ^(O)they shall let the house of Israel have the land according to their tribes.

⁹ “Thus says the Lord God: ^(P)Enough, O princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression, and execute justice and righteousness. Cease ^(Q)your evictions of my people, declares the Lord God.

^10 (R)“You shall have just balances, a just ephah, and a just bath.^{[d] 11} The ephah and the bath shall be ^(S)of the same measure, ^(T)the bath containing one tenth of a homer,^[e] and the ephah one tenth of a homer; the homer shall be the standard measure. ^12 (U)The shekel shall be twenty gerahs;^[f] twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels shall be your mina.^[g]

^13 (V)“This is the offering that you shall make: one sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat, and one sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley, ¹⁴ and as the fixed portion of oil, measured in baths, one tenth of a bath from each cor^[h] (the cor, like the homer, contains ^(W)ten baths).^{[i] 15} And one sheep from every flock of two hundred, from the watering places of Israel for grain offering, burnt offering, and peace offerings, ^(X)to make atonement for them, declares the Lord God. ¹⁶ All the people of the land shall be obliged to give this offering to the prince in Israel. ^17 (Y)It shall be the prince's duty to furnish the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the feasts, the new moons, and the Sabbaths, all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel: he shall provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings, to make atonement on behalf of the house of Israel.

¹⁸ “Thus says the Lord God: In the first month, ^(Z)on the first day of the month, you shall take a bull from the herd without blemish, and ^(AA)purify the sanctuary. ^19 (AB)The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it ^(AC)on the doorposts of the temple, the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and the posts of the gate of the inner court. ²⁰ You shall do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who has sinned through error or ignorance; so you shall make atonement for the temple.

^21 (AD)“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall celebrate the Feast of the Passover, and for seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten. ²² On that day the prince ^(AE)shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a young bull for a sin offering. ²³ And on ^(AF)the seven days of the festival he shall provide as a burnt offering to the Lord seven young bulls and seven rams without blemish, on each of the seven days; and ^(AG)a male goat daily for a sin offering. ²⁴ And ^(AH)he shall provide as ^(AI)a grain offering an ephah for each bull, an ephah for each ram, and a hin^[j] of oil to each ephah. ^25 (AJ)In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month and for the seven days of the feast, ^(AK)he shall make the same provision for sin offerings, burnt offerings, and grain offerings, and for the oil.

The Prince and the Feasts

46 “Thus says the Lord God: ^(AL)The gate of ^(AM)the inner court that faces east shall be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day it shall be opened, and ^(AN)on the day of the new moon it shall be opened. ^2 (AO)The prince shall enter by the vestibule of the gate from outside, and shall take his stand by ^(AP)the post of the gate. ^(AQ)The priests shall offer his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at ^(AR)the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be shut until evening. ^3 (AS)The people of the land shall bow down at the entrance of that gate before the Lord on the Sabbaths and on the new moons. ^4 (AT)The burnt offering that the prince offers to the Lord ^(AU)on the Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish. ⁵ And ^(AV)the grain offering with the ram shall be an ephah,^[k] and the grain offering with the lambs shall be ^(AW)as much as he is able, together with a hin^[l] of oil to each ephah. ⁶ On the day of the new moon he shall offer a bull from the herd without blemish, and six lambs and a ram, which shall be without blemish. ⁷ As a grain offering he shall provide an ephah with the bull and an ephah with the ram, and with the lambs ^(AX)as much as he is able, together with a hin of oil to each ephah. ^8 (AY)When the prince enters, he shall enter by the vestibule of the gate, and he shall go out by the same way.

^9 (AZ)“When the people of the land ^(BA)come before the Lord at the appointed feasts, he who enters by the north gate to worship shall go out by the south gate, and he who enters by the south gate shall go out by the north gate: no one shall return by way of the gate by which he entered, but each shall go out straight ahead. ¹⁰ When they enter, ^(BB)the prince shall enter with them, and when they go out, he shall go out.

¹¹ “At the feasts and the appointed festivals, ^(BC)the grain offering with a young bull shall be an ephah, and with a ram an ephah, and with the lambs ^(BD)as much as one is able to give, together with a hin of oil to an ephah. ¹² When the prince provides ^(BE)a freewill offering, either a burnt offering or peace offerings as a freewill offering to the Lord, ^(BF)the gate facing east shall be opened for him. And he shall offer his burnt offering or his peace offerings ^(BG)as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he has gone out the gate shall be shut.

^13 (BH)“You shall provide a lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering to the Lord daily; morning by morning you shall provide it. ¹⁴ And ^(BI)you shall provide a grain offering with it morning by morning, one sixth of an ephah, and one third of a hin of oil to moisten the flour, as a grain offering to the Lord. This is a perpetual statute. ¹⁵ Thus the lamb and the meal offering and the oil shall be provided, morning by morning, for ^(BJ)a regular burnt offering.

¹⁶ “Thus says the Lord God: If the prince makes a gift to any of his sons as his inheritance, it shall belong to his sons. It is their property by inheritance. ¹⁷ But if he makes a gift ^(BK)out of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his to ^(BL)the year of liberty. Then it shall revert to the prince; surely it is his inheritance—it shall belong to his sons. ^18 (BM)The prince shall not take any of the inheritance of the people, ^(BN)thrusting them out of their property. He shall give his sons their inheritance out of his own property, so that none of my people shall be ^(BO)scattered from his property.”

Boiling Places for Offerings

¹⁹ Then he brought me through the entrance, which was ^(BP)at the side of the gate, to the north row of ^(BQ)the holy chambers for the priests, and behold, a place was there at the extreme western end of them. ²⁰ And he said to me, “This is the place where the priests ^(BR)shall boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where ^(BS)they shall bake the grain offering, in order not to bring them out into the outer court and so ^(BT)transmit holiness to the people.”

²¹ Then he brought me out to the outer court and led me around to the four corners of the court. And behold, in each corner of the court there was another court— ²² in the four corners of the court were small^[m] courts, forty cubits^[n] long and thirty broad; the four were of the same size. ²³ On the inside, around each of the four courts was a row of masonry, with hearths made at the bottom of the rows all around. ²⁴ Then he said to me, “These are the kitchens where those who ^(BU)minister at the temple ^(BV)shall boil the sacrifices of the people.”

The Lamb and the 144,000

14 Then I looked, and behold, on ^(A)Mount Zion ^(B)stood the Lamb, and with him ^(C)144,000 who ^(D)had his name and his Father's name written ^(E)on their foreheads. ² And I heard a voice from heaven ^(F)like the roar of many waters and ^(G)like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of ^(H)harpists playing on their harps, ³ and they were singing ^(I)a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. ^(J)No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. ⁴ It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for ^(K)they are virgins. It is these ^(L)who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as ^(M)firstfruits for God and the Lamb, ⁵ and ^(N)in their mouth no lie was found, for they are ^(O)blameless.

The Messages of the Three Angels

⁶ Then I saw another angel ^(P)flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to ^(Q)those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. ⁷ And he said with a loud voice, ^(R)“Fear God and ^(S)give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and ^(T)worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the ^(U)springs of water.”

⁸ Another angel, a second, followed, saying, ^(V)“Fallen, fallen is ^(W)Babylon the great, ^(X)she who made all nations drink ^(Y)the wine of the passion^[a] of her sexual immorality.”

⁹ And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone ^(Z)worships the beast and its image and receives ^(AA)a mark on his forehead or on his hand, ¹⁰ he also will drink ^(AB)the wine of God's wrath, ^(AC)poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and ^(AD)he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. ¹¹ And ^(AE)the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and ^(AF)they have no rest, day or night, these ^(AG)worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”

^12 (AH)Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who ^(AI)keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.^[b]

¹³ And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: ^(AJ)Blessed are the dead ^(AK)who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, ^(AL)“that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”

The Harvest of the Earth

¹⁴ Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one ^(AM)like a son of man, ^(AN)with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. ¹⁵ And another angel ^(AO)came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, ^(AP)“Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for ^(AQ)the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” ¹⁶ So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.

¹⁷ Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. ¹⁸ And another angel came out from the altar, ^(AR)the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, ^(AS)for its grapes are ripe.” ¹⁹ So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great ^(AT)winepress of the wrath of God. ²⁰ And ^(AU)the winepress was trodden ^(AV)outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as ^(AW)a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia.^[c]