Beginning
Return of the Lord’s Glory and Description of Sacrifices and Worship
43 And he brought me to the gate which was facing east.[a] 2 And, look! The glory of the God of Israel, it came from the way of the east, and its sound was like the sound of many waters[b] and the land radiated due to his glory! 3 And[c] the appearance of the vision which I saw was as[d] the vision which I saw at his[e] coming to destroy the city, and these visions were also as[f] the vision which I saw by the Kebar River,[g] and I fell on my face.
4 And then the glory of Yahweh came to the temple by the way of the gate facing east.[h] 5 And the Spirit lifted me and it brought me to the inner courtyard and, look! The glory of Yahweh filled the temple! 6 And I heard someone speaking to me from the house,[i] and a man was standing beside me. 7 And he said to me, “Son of man,[j] this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet where I will dwell[k] in the midst of the Israelites[l] to eternity, and they, the house of Israel, they and their kings, will not again defile my holy name[m] with their fornication and with their offerings for the dead[n] of their kings on their high places. 8 When they placed their threshold[o] with[p] my threshold, their doorframe beside my doorframe and the[q] wall was between me and between them, then they defiled my holy name,[r] with their detestable things that they did, and so I consumed them in my anger. 9 Now let them send their fornication far away and the offerings for the dead[s] of their kings away from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them forever.[t]
10 You, son of man,[u] describe to the house of Israel the temple and let them be ashamed of their iniquities and let them measure the pattern. 11 And if they are ashamed of all that they did, then the plan of the temple and its arrangement and its exits and its entrances and all of its plans[v] and all of its statutes. And all of its plans[w] and all of its laws[x] make known to them and write them before their eyes, so that they may remember all of its plans and all of its statutes, so that they do them! 12 This is the law[y] of the temple: On the top of the mountain, all of its territory, all the way around it,[z] will be most holy.[aa] Look, this is the law of the temple.
13 And these are the measurements of the altar in the cubits[ab] (a cubit is a cubit and a handbreadth):[ac] now its gutter[ad] is a cubit[ae] in depth by a cubit[af] in width[ag] and its rim along its edge all around is one span,[ah] and this is also the height of the altar. 14 And from the gutter[ai] at the ground up to the lower ledge is two cubits,[aj] and its width is one cubit,[ak] and from the small ledge up to the large ledge is four cubits,[al] and its width is one cubit. 15 And the altar hearth was four cubits,[am] and from the altar hearth and upwards[an] were the four horns of the altar. 16 And the altar hearth was twelve[ao] cubits in length and twelve[ap] cubits in width[aq]; it was squared on its four sides.[ar] 17 And the ledge was fourteen[as] cubits in length with fourteen[at] cubits its width[au] to all four of its sides, and a rim was all around it of one-half cubit.[av] And the gutter[aw] for it was a cubit[ax] all around, and its steps were facing east.”
18 And he said to me, “Son of man,[ay] thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘These are the statutes of the altar on the day when it is made,[az] to sacrifice a burnt offering on it and to sprinkle blood on it. 19 And you must give to the Levitical priests who are from the offspring of Zadok, the ones coming near me,” declares[ba] the Lord Yahweh, “to serve me, a bull, a calf[bb] as a sin offering.
20 You must take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar,[bc] and the four corners of the ledge, and on the rim all around; thus you must purify it and make atonement for it. 21 And you must take the bull, the sin offering, and you must burn it in the designated place of the temple outside of the holy place. 22 And on the second day you must offer a he-goat without defect as a sin offering, and they must purify the altar like[bd] they purified with the bull. 23 When you are finished[be] from purifying, you must offer a bull, a calf,[bf] without defect, and a ram from the flock without defect. 24 And you must bring them near before[bg] Yahweh, and the priests must throw salt on them, and they must offer them as a burnt offering to Yahweh. 25 For seven days you must provide a goat of sin offering for the day and a bull, a calf,[bh] and a ram from the flock without defect; you must provide them. 26 Seven days they must purify the altar and they must cleanse it and so they will consecrate it.[bi] 27 And they will finish the days, and then[bj] on the eighth day and beyond that the priests will offer on the altar your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings, and then I will be pleased with you,” declares[bk] the Lord Yahweh.
The Prince, the Levites, and the Priests Described
44 And he brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary that is facing east, and it was shut. 2 And Yahweh said to me, “This gate will be shut. It shall not be opened, and no one[bl] will go through it, for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has entered it, and it will be shut. 3 The prince, he may sit in it to eat food before[bm] Yahweh; he will come from the way[bn] of the portico of the gate and by means of its way he will also go out.”
4 Then he brought me by the way of the gate of the north to the front of the temple,[bo] and I looked,[bp] and look! The glory of Yahweh filled the temple[bq] of Yahweh, and I fell on my face. 5 And Yahweh said, “Son of man,[br] set your heart[bs] and look with your eyes and with your ears hear everything[bt] I am saying to you concerning all the statutes of the temple[bu] of Yahweh and concerning all its laws,[bv] and you must listen with your heart concerning the entrance of the temple[bw] with all of the exits of the sanctuary. 6 And you must say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Enough for you, house of Israel, of[bx] all of your detestable things! 7 At[by] your bringing foreigners[bz] who are uncircumcised of heart and uncircumcised of flesh to be in my sanctuary to profane it, my temple,[ca] as you offered my food, fat, and blood,[cb] so[cc] you broke my covenant by all of your detestable things. 8 And you did not observe the responsibility of my sanctuary, but[cd] you appointed them[ce] as the keepers of my responsibility in my sanctuary for you.”
9 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Every foreigner[cf] uncircumcised of heart and uncircumcised of flesh shall not come into my sanctuary—not any of the foreigners[cg] who are in the midst of the Israelites.[ch] 10 But[ci] the Levites who removed themselves from me at the going astray of Israel,[cj] who went astray from me and went after their idols, as a result they will bear their guilt. 11 Then they will be[ck] in my sanctuary, those serving in my sanctuary, as sentries[cl] at the gates of the temple[cm] and as those serving the temple;[cn] they will slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they will stand before them[co] to serve them, 12 because[cp] they used to serve them before[cq] their idols and they were for the house of Israel like a stumbling block of iniquity. Therefore I swore[cr] concerning them,” declares[cs] the Lord Yahweh, “that they will bear their iniquity. 13 And they shall not approach me to serve as a priest for me and to come near to all of[ct] my holy objects, to the most holy objects, [cu] and they will bear their disgrace and the results of their detestable things they have done. 14 And I will appoint them as the keepers of the responsibility of[cv] the temple, for all of its work[cw] and everything [cx]which will be done in it.
15 But the Levitical priests, the descendants[cy] of Zadok, who cared for the responsibility of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray[cz] from me, they will approach me to serve me, and they will stand before me[da] to offer to me fat and blood,” declares[db] the Lord Yahweh. 16 “They shall come to my sanctuary, and they shall approach my table to serve me, and they will observe my requirement. 17 And then[dc] when they come[dd] to the gates of the inner courtyards, they shall put on their[de] inner linen garments and not wear wool garments when they serve[df] in the gates of the inner courtyard and inside[dg] the temple. 18 Linen turbans shall be on their head and linen undergarments shall be on their waists; they shall not gird themselves with material causing perspiration. 19 When they go out to the outer courtyard to the people, they must take off their garment in which they were serving, and they must place them in the holy chambers,[dh] and they must put on other garments, so that they will not make the people holy with their garments. 20 And their head they shall not shave, or long hair they shall not let grow; short they shall clip their heads. 21 And no priest shall drink wine when they come into the inner courtyard. 22 And a widow or divorced woman they shall not take for themselves as wives, but only[di] a virgin from the offspring of the house of Israel, or the widow who is a widow for a priest they may take.
23 And they will teach my people the difference between what is holy and what is unholy, and the difference between unclean and clean they must show them. 24 And at a legal dispute they themselves shall stand to judge; employing[dj] my judgments they shall judge it, and with respect to my laws and my statutes. All my festivals they shall keep and my Sabbaths they shall consecrate. 25 And near a dead person[dk] he[dl] shall not come to be defiled, but only[dm] for a father and for a mother and for a son and for a daughter, for a brother and for a sister who was not married[dn] may they defile themselves. 26 And, after his[do] cleansing, they shall count for him seven days, 27 and then on the day of his coming into the sanctuary to the inner courtyard to serve in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering,” declares[dp] the Lord Yahweh.
28 And thus it will be to them as regards inheritance, that I am their inheritance, and so you shall not give to them property in Israel; I am their property. 29 The grain offering and the sin offering and the guilt offering, they themselves may eat them, and also all the consecrated possessions[dq] in Israel will be theirs. 30 And also what is first of all of the firstfruits of everything, and of all of the contribution of everything from all of your contributions, to the priest it belongs,[dr] and what is first of your dough you shall give to the priest, so that a blessing may rest on your house. 31 Any dead body or mangled carcass from the birds[ds] or from the animals,[dt] the priests shall not eat.”
Instructions about Divisions of the Renewed Land
45 And when you allocate the land as an inheritance, you shall provide a contribution for Yahweh as a holy portion from the land, its length being twenty-five thousand cubits[du] and its width ten thousand cubits;[dv] it is holy in all its territory, all around. 2 And there shall be from this area five hundred cubits[dw] by five hundred cubits, squared all around, for the sanctuary; and fifty cubits[dx][dy] of open space shall be for it all around it. 3 And from this measured area you shall measure a length of twenty-five[dz] thousand cubits[ea] and a width of ten thousand cubits,[eb] and in it will be the sanctuary, the most holy place.[ec] 4 It[ed] is a holy portion from the land; it will be for the priests, the servants of the sanctuary who approach[ee] to serve Yahweh, and it will be for them a place for houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. 5 And an area twenty-five thousand cubits in length and ten thousand cubits in width will be for the Levites, the servants of the temple. It will serve as property for them as cities to dwell in.[ef] 6 And as property of the city, you must set apart alongside the contribution of the sanctuary a portion five thousand cubits[eg] in width and twenty-five thousand cubits[eh] in length, and it shall be for the entire house of Israel.
7 And a portion will be for[ei] the prince on both sides[ej] of the holy district,[ek] and both sides of the property of the city, and alongside[el] the property of the city on the west,[em] and alongside the property on the east.[en] And also its length[eo] corresponds to one of the tribal portions to the west[ep] running to the eastern border.[eq] 8 This shall be to him with respect to the land[er] as property in Israel; and so my princes shall not again oppress my people, but they shall give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.”
9 Thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Enough of this for you, the princes of Israel; put away violence and destruction and do justice and righteousness; revoke your acts of dispossession from upon[es] my people!” declares[et] the Lord Yahweh. 10 There shall be for you an honest set of scales[eu] and an honest ephah[ev] and an honest bath.[ew] 11 The ephah and the bath shall be one unit of measurement;[ex] the tenth part of the homer is the bath, and the tenth of the homer is the ephah; so the homer shall be its[ey] unit of measurement. 12 And the shekel shall weigh twenty gerahs, twenty shekels[ez] and five and twenty shekels[fa] and ten and five shekels,[fb] that shall make the mina for you.[fc]
13 This is the contribution offering which you shall present: a sixth of the ephah from a[fd] homer of wheat, and a[fe] sixth of the ephah from a[ff] homer of barley. 14 And the quota of the olive oil, the bath of the olive oil, is the tenth part of a bath from a kor, which is ten baths, or a homer—for ten baths are equal to a homer. 15 And one[fg] sheep from the flock from among two hundred from the pastures of Israel will be taken as a grain offering and as a burnt offering and as a fellowship offering to make atonement for them,” declares[fh] the Lord Yahweh. 16 “All of the people of the land shall join in[fi] to this contribution with[fj] the prince in Israel.
17 “But on the prince shall be the responsibility for the burnt offerings, and the grain offering, and the libation at the feasts, and at the New Moon festivals, and at[fk] the Sabbaths at all of the assemblies of the house of Israel; he shall provide the sin offering, and the grain offering, and the burnt offering, and the fellowship offering to make atonement for the house of Israel. 18 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘On the first month on the first day of the month, you shall take a bull, a calf[fl] without defect, and you shall purify the sanctuary. 19 And the priest shall take from the blood of the sin offering, and he shall put it on the doorframe of the temple[fm] and on the four corners of the ledge of the altar and on the doorframe of the gate of the inner courtyard. 20 And so you shall do on the seventh day in the month for anyone doing wrong inadvertently or due to ignorance, and so you must make atonement for the temple.[fn]
21 In the first month, on the fourteenth[fo] day of the month, you shall have the Passover, a feast lasting for seven days,[fp] when you shall eat unleavened breads. 22 And the prince shall provide on that day for himself[fq] and for all of the people of the land a bull as a sin offering. 23 And during the seven days of the religious feast he shall provide as a burnt offering to Yahweh seven bulls and seven rams without defect for each of the seven days, and as a sin offering a he-goat for each day. 24 And as a grain offering, an ephah for[fr] the bull and an ephah for[fs] the ram he must provide, and a hin of olive oil for each[ft] ephah. 25 In the seventh month, on the fifteenth[fu] day of the month, during the feast, he shall provide just as he has for these seven days, as he did for the sin offering, as he did for the burnt offering, and as he did for the grain offering, and as he did for the olive oil.’”
2012 by Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software