Chronological

The Priesthood Will Be Established Again

44 Then the man brought me back to the outer gate of the temple. It was the one that faced east. It was shut. ² The Lord said to me, “This gate must remain shut. It must not be opened. No one can enter through it. It must remain shut because I have entered through it. I am the God of Israel. ³ The prince is the only one who can sit in the gateway. There he can eat in front of me. He must enter through the porch of the gateway. And he must go out the same way.”

⁴ Then the man brought me through the north gate. He took me to the front of the temple. I looked up and saw the glory of the Lord. It filled his temple. I fell with my face toward the ground.

⁵ The Lord said to me, “Son of man, pay attention. Look carefully. Listen closely to everything I tell you. I’m telling you about all the rules and instructions concerning my temple. Pay attention to the entrance to the temple and to all its exits. ⁶ Speak to the people of Israel. They refuse to obey me. Tell them, ‘Here is what the Lord and King says. “People of Israel, I have had enough of your evil practices. I hate them. ⁷ You brought outsiders into my temple. They were not circumcised. Their hearts were stubborn. You made my temple ‘unclean.’ But you offered me food, fat and blood anyway. When you did all these things, you broke the covenant I made with you. I hated all the evil things you did. ⁸ You did not do what I told you to. You did not take care of my holy things. Instead, you put other people in charge of my temple.” ’ ” ⁹ The Lord and King says, “No outsider whose heart is stubborn can enter my temple. They have not been circumcised. Even if they live among the people of Israel they can’t enter my temple.

¹⁰ “Some Levites wandered far away from me when Israel went astray. They worshiped the statues of their gods. So they will be punished because they have sinned. ¹¹ They might serve in my temple. They might be in charge of its gates. They might kill the burnt offerings and sacrifices for the people. And they might stand in front of the people and serve them in other ways. ¹² But these Levites served the people of Israel. They served while the Israelites were worshiping the statues of their gods. They made the people fall into sin. So I raised my hand and made a promise. I warned them that I would punish them because of their sin,” announces the Lord and King. ¹³ “They must not approach me to serve me as priests. They must not come near any of my holy things. They must stay away from my very holy offerings. They did many things they should have been ashamed of. I hated those things. ¹⁴ But I will still appoint them to guard the temple. They will guard it for all the work that has to be done there.

¹⁵ “But the priests must approach me to serve me. They are Levites from Zadok’s family line. They guarded my temple when the people of Israel turned away from me. These priests must serve me by offering sacrifices of fat and blood,” announces the Lord and King. ¹⁶ “They are the only ones who can enter my temple. Only they can come near to serve me as guards.

¹⁷ “They will enter the gates of the inner courtyard. When they do, they must wear linen clothes. They will serve at the gates of the inner courtyard or inside the temple. When they do, they must not wear any clothes made out of wool. ¹⁸ They must have linen turbans on their heads. They must wear linen underwear around their waists. They must not wear anything that makes them sweat. ¹⁹ They will go into the outer courtyard where the people are. When they do, they must take off the clothes they have been serving in. They must leave them in the sacred rooms. And they must put other clothes on. Then the people will not be made holy if they happen to touch the priests’ clothes.

²⁰ “The priests must not shave their heads. They must not let their hair grow long. They must keep it cut short. ²¹ No priest may drink wine when he enters the inner courtyard. ²² They must not get married to widows or divorced women. They may only marry Israelite virgins or the widows of priests. ²³ The priests must teach my people the difference between what is holy and what is not. They must show them how to tell the difference between what is ‘clean’ and what is not.

²⁴ “When people do not agree, the priests must serve as judges between them. They must make their decisions based on my laws. They must obey my laws and rules for all my appointed feasts. And they must keep my Sabbath days holy.

²⁵ “A priest must not make himself ‘unclean’ by going near a dead person. But suppose the dead person was his father or mother. Or suppose it was his son or daughter or brother or unmarried sister. Then the priest may make himself ‘unclean.’ ²⁶ After he is pure and ‘clean’ again, he must wait seven days. ²⁷ Then he may go to the inner courtyard to serve in the temple. But when he does, he must sacrifice a sin offering for himself,” announces the Lord and King.

²⁸ “The priests will not receive any part of the land of Israel. I myself will be their only share. ²⁹ They will eat the grain offerings, sin offerings and guilt offerings. Everything in Israel that is set apart to me in a special way will belong to them. ³⁰ The best of every first share of the people’s crops will belong to the priests. So will all their special gifts. The people must give the priests the first share of their ground meal. Then I will bless my people’s families. ³¹ The priests must not eat any bird or animal that is found dead. They must not eat anything that wild animals have torn apart.

The Lord Establishes Israel Again

45 “People of Israel, you will divide up the land you will receive. When you do, give me my share of it. It will be a sacred area. It will be eight miles long and six and a half miles wide. The entire area will be holy. ² The temple area in it will be 875 feet long and 875 feet wide. An 88-foot strip around it will be open land. ³ In the sacred area, measure off a large strip of land. It will be eight miles long and three and a third miles wide. The temple will be in it. It will be the most holy place of all. ⁴ The large strip will be the sacred share of land for the priests. There they will serve in the temple. And they will approach me to serve me there. Their houses will be built on that land. The holy temple will also be located there. ⁵ So the Levites will serve in the temple. They will have an area eight miles long and three and a third miles wide. The towns they live in will be located there.

⁶ “Give the city an area one and two-thirds miles wide and eight miles long. It will be right next to the sacred area. It will belong to all the people of Israel.

⁷ “The prince will have land on both sides of the sacred area and the city. Its border will run east and west along the land of one of the tribes. ⁸ The prince will own this land in Israel. And my princes will not crush my people anymore. Instead, they will allow the people of Israel to receive their own share of land. It will be divided up based on their tribes.”

⁹ The Lord and King says, “Princes of Israel, you have gone far enough! Stop hurting others. Do not crush them. Do what is fair and right. Stop taking my people’s land away from them,” announces the Lord and King. ¹⁰ “Use weights and measures that are honest and exact. ¹¹ Use the same standard to measure dry and liquid products. Use a 6-bushel measure for dry products. And use a 60-gallon measure for liquids. ¹² Every amount of money must be weighed out in keeping with the standard weights.

¹³ “You must offer a special gift. It must be six pounds out of every six bushels of grain. ¹⁴ Give two and a half quarts out of every 60 gallons of olive oil. ¹⁵ Also give one sheep from every flock of 200 sheep. Get them from the grasslands of Israel that receive plenty of water. Use them for grain offerings, burnt offerings and friendship offerings. They will be used to pay for the sin of the people,” announces the Lord and King. ¹⁶ “All the people in the land will be required to give this special gift. They must give it to the prince in Israel. ¹⁷ He must provide the burnt offerings, grain offerings and drink offerings. They will be for the yearly feasts, New Moon feasts and Sabbath days. So they will be for all the appointed feasts of the people of Israel. The prince will provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings and friendship offerings. They will be used to pay for the sin of the Israelites.”

¹⁸ The Lord and King says, “Get a young bull. It must not have any flaws. Use it to make the temple pure and ‘clean.’ Do this on the first day of the first month. ¹⁹ The priest must get some of the blood from the sin offering. He must put some on the doorposts of the temple. He must apply some to the four corners of the upper ledge of the altar. He must put the rest on the gateposts of the inner courtyard. ²⁰ Do the same thing on the seventh day of the month. Do this for those who sin without meaning to. And do this for those who sin without realizing what they are doing. So you will make the temple pure and ‘clean.’

²¹ “Keep the Passover Feast on the 14th day of the first month. It will last for seven days. During that time you must eat bread made without yeast. ²² The prince must provide a bull as a sin offering. It will be for him and all the people of the land. ²³ For each of the seven days of the feast he must provide seven bulls and seven rams. They must not have any flaws. They will be a burnt offering to me. The prince must also provide a male goat for a sin offering. ²⁴ He must bring 35 pounds for each bull or ram. He must also provide four quarts of olive oil for each of them.

²⁵ “The seven days of the feast begin on the 15th day of the seventh month. During those days the prince must provide the same sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings and olive oil.”