Bible in 90 Days

Mountains of Israel

36 You, human one, prophesy to Israel’s mountains and say, Hear the Lord’s word, mountains of Israel! ² The Lord God proclaims: The enemy mocked you and said, “The ancient heights belong to us.” ³ Therefore, prophesy and say, The Lord God proclaims: When the surviving nations pressed in and ravaged you from all around to lay claim to you, you became an object of the people’s slander and derision. ⁴ Hear the Lord God’s word, mountains of Israel! The Lord God proclaims to the mountains and the hills, the watercourses and the valleys, the desolate ruins and the abandoned cities that were contemptuously looted by the surviving nations all around you.

⁵ So now, says the Lord God, I will speak in my fiery passion against the surviving nations and against Edom, all those who gleefully and spitefully took my land for themselves as a possession only for plunder.^{[a] 6} Prophesy concerning Israel’s fertile land, and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, The Lord God proclaims: Because you endured the ridicule of the nations, my passion and fury lead me to speak. ⁷ So now the Lord God proclaims: I myself swear that the nations round about you will themselves suffer ridicule. ⁸ But you, mountains of Israel, will extend your branches and bear your fruit for my people Israel, because they will come home very soon. ⁹ Look, I’m here for you, and I will turn toward you, and you will be farmed and sown. ¹⁰ I will populate you with human beings, the whole house of Israel, all of them. The cities will be inhabited, the ruins rebuilt. ¹¹ When I make people and animals increase on you, they will multiply and be fruitful. I will cause you to be inhabited as you were before. I will do more good for you than in the beginning, and you will know that I am the Lord. ¹² I will let people walk through you, my people Israel! They will lay claim to you, you will be their inheritance, and you will no longer deprive them of anything.

¹³ The Lord God proclaims: Because people say, “You are a devourer of human beings” and “You are depriving your nation,” ¹⁴ therefore, you will no longer devour human beings or deprive your nation of anything. This is what the Lord God says. ¹⁵ You won’t have to listen anymore to the taunts of the nations or endure the scorn of the peoples. And you will no longer deprive your nation of anything. This is what the Lord God says.

A new heart

¹⁶ The Lord’s word came to me: ¹⁷ Human one, when the house of Israel lived on their fertile land, they polluted it with their ways and deeds. Their ways before me were polluted like the blood of menstruation, ¹⁸ and so I poured out my fury on them for all the blood they had poured out on the land and for all the defilement of their idols. ¹⁹ When I scattered them to the nations and dispersed them into other lands, I judged them according to their ways and deeds. ²⁰ But then when they entered the other nations, they degraded my holy name because it was said of them, “These are the Lord’s people, yet they had to leave his land.” ²¹ So I had compassion on my holy name, which the house of Israel degraded among the nations where they had gone.

²² Therefore, say to the house of Israel, The Lord God proclaims: House of Israel, I’m not acting for your sake but for the sake of my holy name, which you degraded among the nations where you have gone. ²³ I will make my great name holy, which was degraded among the nations when you dishonored it among them. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord. This is what the Lord God says.

When I make myself holy among you in their sight, ²⁴ I will take you from the nations, I will gather you from all the countries, and I will bring you to your own fertile land. ²⁵ I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be cleansed of all your pollution. I will cleanse you of all your idols. ²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove your stony heart from your body and replace it with a living one, ²⁷ and I will give you my spirit so that you may walk according to my regulations and carefully observe my case laws. ²⁸ Then you will live in the land that I gave to your ancestors, you will be my people, and I will be your God. ²⁹ I will save you from all your uncleanness, and I will summon the grain and make it grow abundantly so that you won’t endure famine. ³⁰ I will make abundant the orchards’ fruit and the fields’ produce so that you will never again endure the shame of famine among the nations. ³¹ Then you will remember your evil ways and no-good deeds, and you will feel disgust for yourselves because of your sinful and detestable practices. ³² Not for your sake do I act. This is what the Lord God proclaims. Let that be known to you! Be ashamed and be humiliated because of all your ways, house of Israel.

³³ The Lord God proclaims: On the day that I cleanse you of all your guilt, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the ruins will be rebuilt. ³⁴ The desolate land will be farmed, and it won’t be like it was when it seemed a wasteland to all who passed by. ³⁵ They will say, “This land, which was a desolation, has become like the garden of Eden.” And the cities that were ruined, ravaged, and razed are now fortified and inhabited. ³⁶ The surviving nations around you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt what was torn down and have planted what was made desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it.

³⁷ The Lord God proclaims: I will also allow the house of Israel to ask me to do this for them: that I increase them like a human flock. ³⁸ Like the holy flock, like the flock of Jerusalem at its festivals, the ruined cities will be filled with a human flock. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

Valley of dry bones

37 The Lord’s power overcame me, and while I was in the Lord’s spirit, he led me out and set me down in the middle of a certain valley. It was full of bones. ² He led me through them all around, and I saw that there were a great many of them on the valley floor, and they were very dry.

³ He asked me, “Human one, can these bones live again?”

I said, “Lord God, only you know.”

⁴ He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, Dry bones, hear the Lord’s word! ⁵ The Lord God proclaims to these bones: I am about to put breath in you, and you will live again. ⁶ I will put sinews on you, place flesh on you, and cover you with skin. When I put breath in you, and you come to life, you will know that I am the Lord.”

⁷ I prophesied just as I was commanded. There was a great noise as I was prophesying, then a great quaking, and the bones came together, bone by bone. ⁸ When I looked, suddenly there were sinews on them. The flesh appeared, and then they were covered over with skin. But there was still no breath in them.

⁹ He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, human one! Say to the breath, The Lord God proclaims: Come from the four winds, breath! Breathe into these dead bodies and let them live.”

¹⁰ I prophesied just as he commanded me. When the breath entered them, they came to life and stood on their feet, an extraordinarily large company.

¹¹ He said to me, “Human one, these bones are the entire house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished. We are completely finished.’ ¹² So now, prophesy and say to them, The Lord God proclaims: I’m opening your graves! I will raise you up from your graves, my people, and I will bring you to Israel’s fertile land. ¹³ You will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you up from your graves, my people. ¹⁴ I will put my breath^[b] in you, and you will live. I will plant you on your fertile land, and you will know that I am the Lord. I’ve spoken, and I will do it. This is what the Lord says.”

Divided kingdom united

¹⁵ The Lord’s word came to me: ¹⁶ You, human one, take a stick, and write on it, “Belonging to Judah and to the Israelites associated with him.” Take another stick and write on it, “Stick of Ephraim belonging to Joseph and everyone of the house of Israel associated with him.” ¹⁷ Join them to each other to make a single stick so that they become one stick in your hand. ¹⁸ When your people ask you, “Why won’t you tell us what these sticks mean to you?” ¹⁹ say to them, The Lord God proclaims: I’m taking Joseph’s stick, which has been in Ephraim’s hand, and the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I’m putting it with Judah’s stick, and I’m making them into a single stick so that they will be one stick in my hand. ²⁰ When the two sticks that you’ve written on are in your hand in their sight, ²¹ speak to them, This is what the Lord God says: I will take the Israelites from among the nations where they’ve gone, I will gather them from all around, and I will bring them to their fertile land. ²² I will make them into a single nation in the land on Israel’s highlands. There will be just one king for all of them. They will no longer be two nations, and they will no longer be divided into two kingdoms. ²³ They will no longer defile themselves with their idols or their worthless things or with any of their rebellions. I will deliver them from all the places where they sinned, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God. ²⁴ My servant David will be king over them. There will be just one shepherd for all of them. They will follow my case laws and carefully observe my regulations. ²⁵ They will live on the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where their ancestors lived. They will live on it, they and their children and their grandchildren, forever. My servant David will be their prince forever. ²⁶ I will make a covenant of peace for them. It will be their covenant forever. I will grant it to them and allow them to increase. I will set my sanctuary among them forever. ²⁷ My dwelling will be with them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. ²⁸ The nations will know that I, the Lord, make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.

Attack of Gog

38 The Lord’s word came to me: ² Human one, face Gog in the land of Magog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. Prophesy concerning him ³ and say, The Lord God proclaims: I challenge you, Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal! ⁴ I will turn you about, set hooks in your jaws, and lead you out, you and all your army, horses and riders, handsomely dressed, all of them, a great assembly, with buckler and shield, all of them wielding swords. ⁵ Persia, Cush, and Put are with you,^[c] all of them equipped with shield and helmet. ⁶ Gomer and all his troops, Beth-togarmah from the far north and all his troops; many peoples are with you. ⁷ Stand ready and be prepared, you and all your assembly. You will watch out for those who gather against you.

⁸ After many days you will be called out. In future years you will enter a country that has been freed from the sword, a gathering from many peoples on the mountains of Israel, which had become a perpetual ruin. This country was brought out from the peoples, and all of them live securely. ⁹ You will invade like a sudden storm. You and all your troops, and the many peoples with you, will be like clouds covering the earth.

¹⁰ The Lord God proclaims: On that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil plan. ¹¹ You will say, “I will go up against the open country and come against a quiet people who all live securely without walls, bars, or doors ¹² to take plunder and seize loot, to use my^[d] power against the resettled waste places, against a people gathered from the nations, who are acquiring goods and cattle, and who live at the center^[e] of the earth.” ¹³ Sheba and Dedan and the merchants and officials of Tarshish will say to you, “Have you come to take plunder and seize loot? Have you assembled your army to take silver and gold, to take goods and cattle, to engage in great looting?”

¹⁴ So now, prophesy, human one, and say to Gog, The Lord God proclaims: Isn’t that what you will decide to do^[f] on that day, when my people Israel live securely? ¹⁵ You will come up from your place from the far north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding horses, a great assembly, a mighty army. ¹⁶ You will go up against my people Israel like a cloud covering the earth. But when this happens in future days, I will be the one who brings you up against my land, so that the nations may know me, Gog, when through you I show my holiness in their sight!

¹⁷ The Lord God proclaims: Are you the one about whom I spoke in former times through my servants, Israel’s prophets, the ones who prophesied for years in those days to bring you against them? ¹⁸ On that day, the day when Gog comes against Israel’s fertile land, my wrath will be aroused. This is what the Lord God says. ¹⁹ In my jealousy and blazing anger I declare: On that day, a great quaking will come over Israel’s fertile land. ²⁰ The fish of the sea, the birds in the sky, the beasts of the field, all the creatures crawling on the ground, and every living human being will quake in my presence. Mountains will be thrown down and cliffs will crumble; every wall will fall to the ground. ²¹ I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains. This is what the Lord God says! The swords of the warriors will be against each other, ²² and I will enter into judgment with him, with plague and blood. I will pour out flooding rain, hailstones, fire, and sulfur on him, on all his troops, and on the many peoples with him. ²³ So I will display my greatness, show my holiness, and make myself known in the sight of many nations. And they will know that I am the Lord.

39 You, human one, prophesy about Gog and say, The Lord God proclaims: I challenge you, Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal! ² I will turn you about, drag you out, and bring you out of the far north, and I will bring you to Israel’s mountains. ³ I will strike your bow from your left hand, and make your arrows fall from your right. ⁴ You will fall on Israel’s mountains, you, all your troops, and the peoples who are with you. I will give you to the birds of prey, to every kind of bird and wild animal as food. ⁵ You will fall on the open field, for I have spoken! This is what the Lord God says! ⁶ I will send fire on Magog and on those who live securely in the coastlands, and they will know that I am the Lord. ⁷ I will make known my holy name among my people Israel. They will never again degrade my holy name, and the nations will know that I, the Lord, am holy in Israel. ⁸ Look, it has come! It has happened! This is what the Lord God says. This is the day that I spoke about.

⁹ Those who live in Israel’s cities will go out and kindle a fire with the weapons—shield and buckler, bow and arrow, spear and lance. They will burn them with fire for seven years. ¹⁰ They won’t gather wood from the field or chop down trees from the forest, because they will be able to keep the fire burning with the weapons. So they will take plunder and seize loot. This is what the Lord says.

¹¹ On that day, I will assign Gog a place for burial in Israel in the Travelers’ Valley east of the sea. It will block the travelers’ way, because Gog and all of his horde will be buried there. It will be called Hamon-gog^[g] Valley. ¹² For seven months, the house of Israel will bury them in order to cleanse the land. ¹³ All the people of the land will take part in the burial, so they will make a name for themselves on the day that I glorify myself. This is what the Lord God says. ¹⁴ They will appoint people who will continually cross through the land and bury^[h] the human remains that are left on the surface of the ground in order to purify it. They will begin their search at the end of seven months. ¹⁵ As the travelers cross through the land, when they see a human bone, they will set up a marker next to it until the gravediggers bury it in Hamon-gog Valley ¹⁶ (the name of the city is Hamonah). So they will purify the land.

¹⁷ And you, human one, the Lord God proclaims: Say to the birds of prey, to every kind of bird and every wild animal: Assemble and come! Come together from all around for the sacrifice that I make for you, a great sacrifice on Israel’s mountains! You will eat flesh and drink blood. ¹⁸ You will eat the flesh of warriors and drink the blood of the princes of the earth: rams, lambs, goats, bulls, all fattened animals from Bashan. ¹⁹ Gorge yourselves on their fat, and get drunk on their blood, from the sacrifice that I have made for you. ²⁰ Satisfy yourselves at my table with horses and riders, mighty men and every warrior. This is what the Lord God says! ²¹ When I glorify myself among the nations, all the nations will understand the judgments that I executed and the power that I used among them. ²² And the house of Israel will know that I, the Lord, am their God, from that day on. ²³ The nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile because of their guilt. Because they rebelled against me, I hid my face from them. When I handed them over to their enemies, all of them fell by the sword. ²⁴ I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their transgressions and hid my face from them.

²⁵ So the Lord God proclaims: Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob. I will have compassion on the whole house of Israel and defend my holy name. ²⁶ They will forget their humiliation and all their rebellions against me when they live securely on their fertile land with no one to frighten them. ²⁷ When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, I will be made holy through them in the sight of the many nations. ²⁸ They will know that I am the Lord their God when, after I made them go into exile among the nations, I gathered them to their land. I won’t leave any of them behind. ²⁹ When I pour my Spirit upon the house of Israel, I won’t hide my face from them again. This is what the Lord God says.

Vision of restoration

40 In the beginning of the twenty-fifth year of our exile, on the tenth day of the month, exactly fourteen years after the city was struck down, on that very day, the Lord’s power was on me, and he took me there. ² In God’s visions, he brought me to the land of Israel and set me down on a very high mountain, where there was a city structure to the south. ³ When he brought me there, I saw a man standing in the gate. He appeared to be bronze, and he had a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand. ⁴ The man spoke to me, “Human one, look and listen well, and take seriously everything I show you, because you were brought here so that these things could be revealed to you. Describe everything you see to the house of Israel.”

Temple compound

⁵ Now there was an outer wall that went all the way around the temple compound. The measuring rod in the man’s hand was ten and a half feet^[i] (based on a standard eighteen inches^[j] plus three inches^[k]). When he measured the wall’s height and width it was ten and a half feet high and ten and a half feet wide. ⁶ He entered the gate facing east. He went up its steps, and he measured the plaza^[l] at the gate. It was ten and a half feet wide: the plaza was ten and a half feet wide. ⁷ The rooms were ten and a half feet long and ten and a half feet wide, with a space of seven and a half feet between them. The plaza next to the porch at the gate opposite the temple was ten and a half feet. ⁸ He measured the porch of the gate opposite the temple: it was ten and a half feet. ⁹ Then he measured the porch of the gate: it was twelve feet,^[m] and its arches were three feet. The porch of the gate was opposite the temple. ¹⁰ Inside the east gate, there were three rooms on each side. Each was the same size, and the arches on each side were the same size also. ¹¹ Then he measured the width of the gate opening, which was fifteen feet, and the gate’s length, which was nineteen and a half feet. ¹² A border running along the front of the rooms on each side was eighteen inches wide, and each of the rooms was nine feet square. ¹³ He measured the gate through the room openings that faced each other. From the outer ceiling edge of one room to the outer ceiling edge of the other, the gate was thirty-seven and a half feet wide. ¹⁴ Next he made out the perimeter of the hallway, defined by the arches inside the gate: it was ninety feet. ¹⁵ It was seventy-five feet from the front of the outer gate to the front of the inner porch of the gate. ¹⁶ Inside the gate, all of the rooms and their arches had closed windows; there were also niches inside the porch all the way around. The arches were decorated with palm trees.

¹⁷ Then he brought me to the outer courtyard, which consisted of chambers and a pavement all the way around. Thirty chambers came up to the pavement, ¹⁸ and the pavement came up to the facades of the gates along their entire length. That was the lower pavement. ¹⁹ When he measured the width from the inside of the lower gate to the outer edge of the inner courtyard, it was one hundred fifty feet.

After he measured the east gate, he measured the north gate, ²⁰ the one facing north at the outer courtyard. He measured its length and width, ²¹ its three inner rooms on each side, its arches, and its porch. Its measurements were the same as the first gate: seventy-five feet long and thirty-seven and a half feet wide. ²² The windows, porch, and palm decorations had the same measurements as those of the east gate. Seven steps led up to the entrance, and the porch was at the other end. ²³ There were also gates to the inner courtyard opposite the north and east gates. When he measured from gate to gate, it was one hundred fifty feet.

²⁴ Then he had me walk toward the south, where there was a gate facing south. He measured its arches and porch using the same measurements. ²⁵ Its windows and its porch all around were like the others, and the gate also was seventy-five feet long and thirty-seven and a half feet wide. ²⁶ Its stairway had seven steps, and its porch was at the other end. On its arches, one on either side, were palm decorations. ²⁷ There was a gate to the inner courtyard on the south. When he measured from gate to gate on the south side, it was one hundred fifty feet.

²⁸ When he brought me to the inner courtyard by way of the south gate, he took the same measurements of the south gate. ²⁹ Its rooms, arches, and porch, as well as its windows and porch all the way around, measured the same as the others. It was seventy-five feet long and thirty-seven and a half feet wide. ³⁰ There were porches all around, thirty-seven and a half feet long and seven and a half feet wide. ³¹ Its porch faced the outer courtyard. Palms decorated its arches, and its stairway had eight steps.

³² Then he brought me to the inner courtyard on the east side, and again he took the same measurements of the gate. ³³ Its rooms, arches, and porch measured the same as the others, as well as its windows and porch all the way around. It was seventy-five feet long and thirty-seven and a half feet wide. ³⁴ Its porch faced the outer courtyard. Palm trees decorated its arches on both sides, and its stairway had eight steps. ³⁵ Then he brought me to the north gate and took the same measurements of the ³⁶ rooms, arches, and porch, and also its windows all around. It was seventy-five feet long and thirty-seven and a half feet wide. ³⁷ Its porch^[n] faced the outer courtyard. Palm trees decorated its arches on both sides, and its stairway had eight steps.

³⁸ At that gate, there was a room with an entrance in the arches for washing the entirely burned offering, ³⁹ and inside the porch on each side of the gate were two tables where the entirely burned offerings, the purification offerings, and the compensation offerings were slaughtered. ⁴⁰ Outside, two pairs of tables flanked the entrance of the north gate at both ends, at the steps on one end and the porch on the other. ⁴¹ There were four tables on each side of the gate, eight tables in all, for preparing the animal offerings. ⁴² The four tables that were used for the entirely burned offering as well as for the communal sacrifices were made of hewn stone. Each was twenty-seven inches square and eighteen inches high. Equipment used in the ritual slaughter was set on them. ⁴³ Hooks,^[o] three inches wide, were securely fixed all the way around. The tables were for the flesh of the offerings.

⁴⁴ Outside the inner gate there were two^[p] chambers in the inner courtyard. The one beside the north gate faced south, and the one beside the east gate faced north. ⁴⁵ He spoke to me: “The chamber facing south is for the priests who keep watch over the temple, ⁴⁶ and the chamber facing north is for the priests who keep watch over the altar. Of all the Levites, only the Zadokites may draw near to serve the Lord.” ⁴⁷ Then he measured the courtyard. It was square, one hundred fifty feet long and one hundred fifty feet wide. The altar was in front of the temple.

The temple

⁴⁸ Then he brought me to the porch of the temple and measured its arches. They were seven and a half feet on each side, and the width of the gate was four and a half feet on each side. ⁴⁹ The porch was thirty feet long and eighteen feet wide. Steps led up into the porch, and there were columns for the arches, one on each side.

41 He brought me to the main hall, and he measured the arches. They were nine feet deep on both sides, so that was also the depth of the tent. ² The entrance was fifteen feet wide, and the facades on either side of the entrance were seven and a half feet. When he measured its length, it was sixty feet, and its width was thirty feet. ³ Then he went into the inner room, and he measured the arches on both sides of the entrance; they were each three feet. The entrance was nine feet wide, and its depth was ten and a half feet. ⁴ When he measured the length of the inner room, it was thirty feet, and the width of the side adjoining the main hall was also thirty feet. He said to me, “This is the most holy place.”

⁵ When he measured the wall of the temple, it was nine feet, and the side chambers that went all the way around the temple were six feet. ⁶ Now these side chambers adjoined each other, thirty chambers in three stories. The side chambers had a ledge in the temple wall all the way around to serve as supports, but these supports were not inserted into the temple wall itself. ⁷ A wide ramp ascended stage by stage to the side chambers all the way around the temple. In this way, the ascent stage by stage all around the temple added to the temple’s width. One ascended from the foundation to the top by way of the middle story. ⁸ Then I looked at the temple: Its roof all around rested on the side chambers. Each raised section was ten and a half feet, and the indentations between them were nine feet.^{[q] 9} The width of the outer wall of the side chambers was seven and a half feet. The space left free between the temple’s side chambers and ¹⁰ the other chambers was thirty feet wide all the way around the temple. ¹¹ There were two entrances from the side chambers to the free space, one facing north, the other facing south. And the width of the place that was left free was seven and a half feet all the way around. ¹² The structure facing the yard on the west was one hundred five feet wide. The structure’s wall was seven and a half feet wide all the way around, and its length was one hundred thirty-five feet.

¹³ Then he measured the temple. It was one hundred fifty feet long. The yard, the structure, and its walls were also one hundred fifty feet. ¹⁴ The area in front of the house and the yard to the east was one hundred fifty feet also. ¹⁵ Then he measured the length of the structure along the side of the yard, including its promenades on both sides: one hundred fifty feet.

Now the interior of the main hall as well as the porches in the courtyard ¹⁶ were paneled all around, including the ceilings,^[r] closed windows, and its three courses of promenades that adjoined the ceiling. From the ground up to the windows was covered. ¹⁷ Above the entrance, from the interior to the exterior of the temple, and on every interior and exterior wall, ¹⁸ there were carved winged creatures and palm trees. The palm trees were positioned between the winged creatures, and each winged creature had two faces. ¹⁹ A human face turned toward one palm tree, and the face of a lion turned toward another. They were carved on the temple all the way around. ²⁰ From the ground to above the entrance, the walls of the main hall were carved with winged creatures and palm trees. ²¹ In the main hall itself, there were square doorposts in front of the holy place, where there was the appearance of ²² the altar. It was four and a half feet high and three feet wide. It was made of wood, and its corners, base, and sides were also wood. He said to me, “This is the table that stands before the Lord.”

²³ The main hall and the holy place each had two doors, ²⁴ and each door had two turning panels, two for one door and two for the other. ²⁵ Like the walls, the doors of the main hall were carved with winged creatures and palm trees. A single luxuriant^[s] tree stood outside, in front of the porch, ²⁶ while closed windows and palm trees decorated both sides of the facade of the porch, the temple’s side chambers, and the beams.

Chambers and promenades

42 Then he led me north to the outer courtyard and brought me into the set of chambers opposite the yard and the structure to the north. ² The length of the facade at the north entrance was one hundred fifty feet, its depth seventy-five feet. ³ It was next to the twenty chambers that belonged to the inner courtyard and next to the pavement of the outer courtyard, and it had three courses of promenades. ⁴ In front of the chambers there was a passage fifteen feet wide, and to the inside, a passage eighteen inches wide. The entrance to the chambers was on the north. ⁵ The upper chambers were smaller, because the promenades took up more space from them than from the first and second stories. ⁶ This was because the promenades were arranged in three levels, but they didn’t have columns like those in the courtyards. For this reason, the top story was narrower than the first and second stories. ⁷ A stone wall ran parallel to the chambers facing the outer courtyard. It was seventy-five feet long, ⁸ the same length, seventy-five feet, as the chambers facing the outer courtyard. Those facing the temple were one hundred fifty feet. ^9-10 These chambers were entered from the outer courtyard at the end of the courtyard wall, because the entrance was at the end of the chambers at the east. South of the yard and the building, there were more chambers with a passage ¹¹ in front of them. The design of the chambers resembled the ones to the north in length and width, as well as in all their exits. The arrangement of the entrances ¹² to the chambers on the south side was identical as well. One entered from the east at the beginning of the corresponding wall.

¹³ Then he said to me, “The north and south chambers that face the building and the yard are the holy chambers where the priests eat the offerings that have been brought to the Lord. They are most holy. Here they will place the most holy things, the grain offering, the purification offering, and the compensation offering. The place is holy. ¹⁴ When the priests enter, they won’t go out of the sanctuary to the outer courtyard. There they will place the priestly vests that they wore when they were ministering, because these garments are also holy. They will put on other garments when they go out to the people’s area.”

¹⁵ When he finished making the interior measurements of the temple, he led me out toward the east gate, and he measured all the way around. ¹⁶ He used the same measuring rod on all four sides. He measured the east side, seven hundred fifty feet; ¹⁷ the north side, seven hundred fifty feet; and ¹⁸ the south side, seven hundred fifty feet. ¹⁹ He turned to the west side, seven hundred fifty feet. ²⁰ On all four sides he measured the wall all the way around. Its length was seven hundred fifty feet, and its width seven hundred fifty feet. So he made a division between the holy and the ordinary.

Return of the divine glory

43 Then he led me to the east gate, ² where the glory of Israel’s God was coming in from the east. Its sound was like the sound of a mighty flood, and the earth was lit up with his glory. ³ What appeared when I looked was like what I had seen when he^[t] came to destroy the city, and also like what I saw at the Chebar River, and I fell on my face. ⁴ Then the Lord’s glory came into the temple by way of the east gate. ⁵ A wind picked me up and brought me to the inner courtyard, and there the Lord’s glory filled the temple. ⁶ A man was standing next to me, but the voice that I heard came from inside the temple. ⁷ He said to me, Human one, this is the place for my throne and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will dwell among the Israelites forever. The house of Israel will never again defile my holy name, neither they nor their kings, with their disloyalties^[u] and with their kings’ corpses at the shrines. ⁸ When they set their plazas^[v] with mine and their doorposts next to mine, the wall was between us. They defiled my holy name with their detestable practices, so I consumed them in my anger. ⁹ Now let them remove their disloyalties and their kings’ corpses from me, and I will dwell among them forever.

¹⁰ You, human one, describe the temple to the house of Israel. Let them be humiliated because of their guilt when they think about its design. ¹¹ When they feel humiliated by all that they have done, make known to them the shape of the temple and its adornment, its exits and its entrances, its entire plan and all of its regulations.^[w] Write them down in their sight so that they may observe all of its entire plan and all its regulations and perform them.

¹² These are the instructions for the temple: the top of the mountain, as well as its boundaries all around, are most holy. These are the instructions for the temple.

The altar

¹³ These are the dimensions of the altar, according to a twenty-one-inch unit of measure.^[x] The base is twenty-one inches high and twenty-one inches wide, with an outer curb measuring one and a half inches all around. This is the altar’s height. ¹⁴ From the base at ground level to the lower ledge is forty-two inches; the lower ledge is twenty-one inches wide. The distance from the lower to the upper ledge is seven feet; the upper ledge is twenty-one inches wide. ¹⁵ The hearth is seven feet high, with four horns projecting upward from the hearth. ¹⁶ The hearth is twenty-one feet square; each side is equal to the others. ¹⁷ The ledge around the hearth is twenty-four and a half feet long by twenty-four and a half feet wide, a square. Its outer rim is ten and a half inches, and its base all around is twenty-one inches. Its ramp faces east.

Purification of the altar

¹⁸ He said to me, Human one, the Lord God proclaims: These are the regulations established for the altar on the day when it is prepared for making entirely burned offerings and dashing blood on it. ¹⁹ You will provide a young bull as a purification offering to the levitical priests who are descendants of Zadok, the ones who may draw near to minster to me. This is what the Lord God says. ²⁰ You will take some of its blood and set it on the four horns of the altar and on the four sides of the ledge and on the curb all around. So you will purify it and purge it. ²¹ Then you will take the bull selected as the purification offering, and the priests will burn it in a designated place of the temple outside of the sanctuary. ²² On the second day, you will present a flawless male goat as a purification offering. The priests will purify the altar just as they purified the altar with the bull. ²³ When you have completed the purification, you will present a flawless bull from the herd and a flawless ram from the flock. ²⁴ You will present them to the Lord. The priests will throw salt on them and offer them as entirely burned offerings to the Lord. ²⁵ Daily, for seven days, you will present a male goat for a purification offering. You will also present a bull from the herd and a ram from the flock, both flawless. ²⁶ For seven days the priests will purge the altar in order to purify it and to dedicate it. ²⁷ When the seven days are completed, the priests will offer your entirely burned offerings and your well-being sacrifices on the altar from the eighth day on, and I will accept you with pleasure. This is what the Lord God says.

The closed gate

44 He brought me back to the outer sanctuary gate that faces east. It was closed. ² The Lord said to me, This gate remains closed. It shouldn’t be opened. No one should come in through it because the Lord, Israel’s God, has entered through it. It will remain closed. ³ As for the prince, he may sit in it to eat bread in the Lord’s presence. He may come in and go out by way of the gate’s porch.

Foreigners, Levites, Zadokites

⁴ Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. I looked, and suddenly the Lord’s glory filled the Lord’s temple, and I fell on my face. ⁵ Then the Lord said to me: Human one, pay close attention! Use your eyes and ears and listen to all that I say to you concerning the regulations of the Lord’s temple and all its instructions. Pay close attention to the access to the temple through all the sanctuary portals.^{[y] 6} Speak to the rebels, to the house of Israel, The Lord God proclaims: Enough of your detestable practices, house of Israel! ⁷ You made my temple unclean because you brought into my sanctuary foreigners who were physically and spiritually uncircumcised. When you offered my food of fat and blood to me, you^[z] broke my covenant with all your detestable practices. ⁸ You didn’t keep charge of my holy things. On the contrary, you appointed them^[aa] to keep charge in my sanctuary for you.

⁹ The Lord God proclaims: Foreigners who are spiritually and physically uncircumcised must not enter my sanctuary; that is, all foreigners among the Israelites. ¹⁰ But the Levites, who went far from me when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, will bear their guilt. ¹¹ They will keep charge in my sanctuary, and they will oversee the temple gates and keep charge of the temple. They will slaughter the entirely burned offerings and the sacrifices for the people, and they will stand before them to minister to them. ¹² Because they ministered to them before their idols, they brought about the downfall of the house of Israel. For that reason I made a solemn pledge against them—this is what the Lord God says—and they will bear their guilt. ¹³ They won’t approach me to officiate for me as priests or approach any of my holy things or the most holy place. Though they will bear their humiliation and the consequences of their detestable practices, ¹⁴ I will appoint them to keep charge of the temple, all its work, and all that is done in it.

¹⁵ As for the priests of the levitical family of Zadok who did keep charge of my sanctuary when the Israelites strayed away from me, they will draw near to me to serve me. They will stand in my presence to present fat and blood to me. This is what the Lord God says. ¹⁶ They will come into my sanctuary, and they will approach my table to minister to me. They will keep my charge. ¹⁷ When they come through the gates to the inner courtyard, they will wear linen garments. They won’t wear any wool when they minister at the gates of the inner courtyard or in the temple. ¹⁸ They will have linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments around their waists. They won’t wear anything that makes them sweat. ¹⁹ When they go out to the outer courtyard to the people, they will remove the garments in which they were ministering. They will lay them aside in the holy chambers and wear other clothing. They must not transfer holiness to the people through their clothing. ²⁰ They must neither shave their heads nor let their hair grow long, but they will trim the hair on their heads. ²¹ None of the priests should drink wine when they come into the inner courtyard. ²² They must not marry widows or divorced women, but only Israelite virgins. Priests may, however, marry the widows of other priests. ²³ They must teach my people the difference between the holy and the ordinary, and show them the difference between clean and unclean. ²⁴ They must execute judgments according to my case laws in cases of civil conflict. They must observe my instructions and my regulations regarding all my festivals. They must keep my sabbaths holy. ²⁵ In order to avoid uncleanness, they must not approach the dead. They may, however, become unclean for their father or mother, son or daughter, brother or unmarried sister. ²⁶ Once the priest is clean again, he must count off seven days. ²⁷ On the day that he comes into the holy place, the inner courtyard, to minister in the holy place, he will present his purification offering. This is what the Lord God says. ²⁸ As for their inheritance, I am their inheritance. They won’t be given family property in Israel; I am their family property. ²⁹ They will eat the grain offerings, the purification offerings, and the compensation offerings. Every dedicated thing in Israel belongs to them. ³⁰ The best of the early produce of every kind, and every contribution, all of them, belong to the priests. You will give the best of your bread dough to the priest so that a blessing may come to rest on your household. ³¹ The priests must not eat any bird or animal that dies naturally or is torn apart by prey.

The holy portion

45 When you distribute the land as an inheritance, you will set aside a holy portion of land for the Lord. It will be 7.1 miles long and 5.68 miles^[ab] wide. It will be holy throughout the entire area. ² Out of this portion, an area seven hundred fifty feet by seven hundred fifty feet square will be for the sanctuary. All around it will be an open space seventy-five feet wide. ³ Beginning with this measurement, you will measure out an area 7.1 miles long and 2.84 miles wide. The sanctuary, the most holy place, will lie on it. ⁴ It is holy, set apart from the land, and it belongs to the priests who draw near to minister in the Lord’s sanctuary. It will be a place for their houses, and a holy place for the sanctuary. ⁵ The area 7.1 miles long and 2.84 miles wide will be for the Levites who minister in the temple. Twenty chambers are theirs as their property. ⁶ As the property for the city, you will set aside an area 1.42 miles wide and 7.1 miles long next to the holy portion. It will be for the whole house of Israel. ⁷ The territory for the prince will be on both sides of the holy portion and the city property, alongside the holy portion and alongside the city property, from their western boundaries westward and from their eastern boundaries eastward. Its length will equal one tribal portion, from the western border to the eastern border. ⁸ The land will be his property in Israel, and my princes will no longer oppress my people. They will give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

⁹ The Lord God proclaims: Enough, princes of Israel! Turn aside from violence and oppression. Establish justice and righteousness. Cease your evictions of my people! This is what the Lord God says: ¹⁰ You must use fair scales, a fair ephah,^[ac] and a fair bath.^{[ad] 11} The ephah and the bath must be the same size. Both should be calibrated to the homer: each will contain one-tenth of a homer. ¹² The shekel must weigh twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels will equal one maneh for you.

Sacrificial offerings and gifts

¹³ These are your prescribed contributions: one-sixth of an ephah for each homer of wheat, and one-sixth of an ephah for each homer of barley; ¹⁴ a regular amount of oil,^[ae] one-tenth of a bath for each kor^[af] (each kor^[ag] contains ten baths); ¹⁵ and one sheep from the flock for every two hundred from Israel’s pastureland, for grain offerings, for entirely burned offerings, and for well-being sacrifices to make reconciliation for them. This is what the Lord God says. ¹⁶ All the people will make this contribution on behalf of the prince in Israel. ¹⁷ The prince will be responsible for the entirely burned offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings for the festivals, new moons, and sabbaths, all the appointed festivals of the house of Israel. He will offer the purification offering, the grain offering, the entirely burned offering, and the well-being sacrifice to make reconciliation on behalf of the house of Israel.

Festivals

¹⁸ The Lord God proclaims: On the first day of the first month,^[ah] you will take a flawless young bull from the herd, and you will purify the sanctuary. ¹⁹ The priest will take some of the blood from the purification offering, and he will set it on the doorposts of the temple and on the four corners of the ledge of the altar and on the doorposts of the gate to the inner courtyard. ²⁰ You will do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who sins through inadvertence or ignorance. So you will purge the temple. ²¹ Your Passover will be on the fourteenth day of the first month. Unleavened bread will be eaten during the seven days of the festival. ²² On that day, the prince will provide a young bull as the purification offering for himself and for the people of the land. ²³ For the seven days of the festival, he will provide seven flawless bulls and seven flawless rams, one for each day of the festival, as the entirely burned offering for the Lord, and, for the purification offering, one male goat for each day. ²⁴ He will also provide the grain offerings, one ephah^[ai] for each bull, and one ephah for each ram, with one hin^[aj] of oil for each ephah. ²⁵ For the festival that begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month,^[ak] he will make the same provisions for the purification offerings, entirely burned offerings, grain offerings, and oil, for all seven days of the festival.

Sabbaths and gift offerings

46 The Lord God proclaims: The east-facing gate of the inner courtyard will remain closed for the six days of the workweek. But on the Sabbath and on the day of the new moon it will be opened, ² and the prince will come in from outside by way of the porch of the gate and stand at the gate’s doorposts. The priests will present the prince’s entirely burned offerings and well-being sacrifices, and then he will bow down on the threshold of the gate and go out. The gate won’t be closed until evening ³ so that the people of the land may bow in the presence of the Lord on sabbaths and new moons at the opening of that gate. ⁴ On the Sabbath day, the prince will offer to the Lord an entirely burned offering of six flawless lambs and a flawless ram, ⁵ a grain offering of one ephah for the ram, and a grain offering at his discretion for the lambs, with one hin of oil for each ephah. ⁶ For the day of the new moon, the offering will be a flawless young bull from the herd, six lambs, and a flawless ram, ⁷ and he will provide a grain offering of one ephah each for the bull and the ram, and for the lambs as much as he likes, with one hin of oil for each ephah.

⁸ When the prince enters, he comes in by way of the porch of the gate and goes out in the same direction. ⁹ When the people of the land come into the Lord’s presence for the festivals, those who enter through the north gate to worship should go out through the south, and those who come in through the south gate should go out through the north gate. They shouldn’t turn around and go out the same way they came in. Instead, they should go out the opposite gate. ¹⁰ The prince should accompany them: when they come in, he comes in, and when they go out, he goes out. ¹¹ At the festivals and appointed gatherings, the grain offering is one ephah for each bull, one ephah for each ram, and whatever one is able to give for each lamb, with one hin of oil for each ephah.

¹² Whenever the prince makes a spontaneous gift to the Lord, whether it is an entirely burned offering or a well-being sacrifice, the gate facing east will be opened for him, and he will present his entirely burned offering and well-being sacrifices, just as he does on the Sabbath day. When he leaves, the gate will be closed after he has gone out.

Daily offerings

¹³ As a daily entirely burned offering for the Lord, you will provide a flawless year-old lamb. You will make the offering every morning. ¹⁴ You will provide a grain offering along with it every morning, one-sixth of an ephah along with one-third of a hin of oil to moisten the choice flour. This is a permanent and perpetual regulation for the grain offering to the Lord. ¹⁵ So the lamb, the grain offering, and the oil are provided every morning as a perpetual entirely burned offering.

Royal land grants

¹⁶ The Lord God proclaims: When the prince gives a gift to each of his sons, it becomes their inheritance. It becomes their family property as an inheritance. ¹⁷ And if he gives one of his servants a gift from his inheritance, it will belong to the servant only until the year of release, and then it will revert to the prince. It is his children’s inheritance; it belongs to them. ¹⁸ The prince won’t take the people’s inheritance by evicting them from their family property. He will bequeath only his own property to his sons, lest any of my people be deprived of their rightful property.

Kitchens

¹⁹ Then he brought me through the passage beside the gate next to the priests’ quarters, the holy chambers facing north. There was a place hidden away on the western side. ²⁰ He said to me, “Rather than taking these offerings out into the outer courtyard and transferring holiness to the people, this is the place where the priests will boil the compensation offerings and the purification offerings, and where they will bake the grain offerings.”

²¹ Then he took me to the outer courtyard, and he had me pass through its four corners, and I saw that there were additional courtyards in each of the corners. ²² In all four corners of the courtyard, these courtyards were constructed to handle smoke. All four were the same size, sixty feet long by forty-five feet wide. ²³ All four had stone masonry all the way around, and hearths were built under this masonry all the way around. ²⁴ He said to me, “These are the kitchens where those who minister in the temple cook the people’s sacrifices.”

The river

47 When he brought me back to the temple’s entrance, I noticed that water was flowing toward the east from under the temple’s threshold (the temple faced east). The water was going out from under the temple’s facade toward the south, south of the altar. ² He led me out through the north gate and around the outside to the outer east gate, where the water flowed out under the facade on the south side. ³ With the line in his hand, the man went out toward the east. When he measured off fifteen hundred feet, he made me cross the water; it was ankle-deep. ⁴ He measured off another fifteen hundred feet and made me cross the water; it was knee-deep. He measured off another fifteen hundred feet and made me cross the water, and it was waist-high. ⁵ When he measured off another fifteen hundred feet, it had become a river that I couldn’t cross. The water was high, deep enough for swimming but too high to cross. ⁶ He said to me, “Human one, do you see?” Then he led me back to the edge of the river. ⁷ When I went back, I saw very many trees on both banks of the river. ⁸ He said to me, “These waters go out to the eastern region, flow down the steep slopes,^[al] and go into the Dead Sea.^[am] When the flowing waters enter the sea, its water becomes fresh. ⁹ Wherever the river flows, every living thing that moves will thrive. There will be great schools of fish, because when these waters enter the sea, it will be fresh. Wherever the river flows, everything will live. ¹⁰ People will stand fishing beside it, from En-gedi to En-eglayim, and it will become a place for spreading nets. It will be like the Mediterranean Sea,^[an] having all kinds of fish in it. ¹¹ Its marshes and swamps won’t be made fresh (they are left for salt), ¹² but on both banks of the river will grow up all kinds of fruit-bearing trees. Their leaves won’t wither, and their fruitfulness won’t wane. They will produce fruit in every month, because their water comes from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for eating, their leaves for healing.”