Chronological

The Outer East Gate

44 Then the man brought me back to the outer east gate of the Temple area. The gate was shut. ² The Lord said to me, “This gate will stay shut. It will not be opened. No one may enter through it. This is because the Lord God of Israel has entered through it. So it must stay shut. ³ Only the ruler himself may sit in the gateway to eat bread before the Lord. He must enter through the porch of the gateway and go out the same way.”

⁴ Then the man brought me through the outer north gate. He brought me to the front of the Temple. I looked and saw the greatness of the Lord. It was filling the Temple of the Lord. I bowed facedown on the ground.

⁵ The Lord said to me, “Human being, pay attention. See this with your eyes. And hear this with your ears. See and hear everything I tell you about all the rules and teachings of the Temple of the Lord. Pay attention to the entrance to the Temple and to all the exits from the Temple area. ⁶ Then speak to those who refuse to obey. Say to the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord God says: Stop doing all your acts that I hate, Israel! ⁷ You brought foreigners into my Holy Place. They were not circumcised in the flesh. They had not given themselves to serving me. You dishonored my Temple when you offered me food, fat and blood. You broke my agreement by all your ways that I hate. ⁸ And you have not taken care of my holy things. You put foreigners in charge of my Temple. ⁹ This is what the Lord God says: Foreigners who are not circumcised in flesh and who do not give themselves to serving me may not enter my Temple. Even a foreigner living among the people of Israel may not enter.

¹⁰ “‘Some Levites stopped obeying me when Israel left me and followed their idols. These Levites must be punished for their sin. ¹¹ These Levites are to be servants in my Holy Place. They may guard the gates of the Temple. They may serve in the Temple. They may kill the animals for the burnt offering and the sacrifices for the people. They may stand before the people to serve them. ¹² But these Levites helped the people worship their idols and caused the people of Israel to fall. So I have made this promise: They will be punished for their sin, says the Lord God. ¹³ They will not come near me to serve as priests. They will not come near any of my holy things or the most holy offerings. But they will be ashamed of the things they did that I hate. ¹⁴ But I will make them take care of the Temple. They will take care of everything that must be done in it.

¹⁵ “‘But this is not true for priests who are Levites and descendants of Zadok. They took care of my Holy Place when Israel left me. They may come near to serve me. They may stand in my presence. They will offer me the fat and blood of the animals they sacrifice, says the Lord God. ¹⁶ They are the only ones who may enter my Holy Place. They may come near my table to serve me. They may take care of the things I gave them.

¹⁷ “‘When they enter the gates of the inner courtyard, they must wear linen robes. They must not wear wool to serve at the gates of the inner courtyard or in the Temple. ¹⁸ They will wear linen turbans on their heads and linen underclothes. They will not wear anything that makes them perspire. ¹⁹ At times they will go out into the outer courtyard to the people. But before they go, they must take off their serving clothes. They must put these clothes away in the holy rooms. And they must put on other clothes. Then they will not let their holy clothes hurt the people.

²⁰ “‘They must not shave their heads or let their hair grow long. They must keep the hair of their heads trimmed. ²¹ None of the priests may drink wine when they enter the inner courtyard. ²² The priests must not marry a widow or a divorced woman. They may marry only virgins from the people of Israel. Or they may marry a widow of a priest. ²³ They must teach my people the difference between what is holy and what is not holy. They must help my people know what is unclean and what is clean.

²⁴ “‘In court they will act as judges. When they judge, they will follow my teachings. They must obey my laws and my rules at all my special feasts. They must keep my Sabbaths holy.

²⁵ “‘They must not go near a dead person, making themselves unclean. But they are allowed to make themselves unclean if the dead person is a relative. It might be his father, mother, son, daughter, brother or a sister who has not married. ²⁶ After the priest has been made clean again, he must wait seven days. ²⁷ Then he may go into the inner courtyard to serve in the Temple. But he must offer a sin offering for himself, says the Lord God.

²⁸ “‘These are the rules about the priests and their property: They will have me instead of property. You will not give them any land to own in Israel. I am what they will own. ²⁹ They will eat the grain offerings, sin offerings and penalty offerings. Everything Israel offers will be theirs. ³⁰ And the best fruits of all the first harvests will be for the priests. And they will have all the special gifts offered to me. You will also give to the priests the first part of your grain that you grind. This will cause a blessing to come on your house. ³¹ The priests must not eat any bird or animal that died a natural death. And they must not eat one that has been torn by wild animals.

The Land Is Divided

45 “‘Divide the land for the Israelite tribes by throwing lots. At that time you will give a part of the land to belong to the Lord. It will be about 7 miles long and about 6 miles wide. All of this land will be holy. ² An area of 875 feet square will be for the Temple. There will be an open space around the Temple that is 87½ feet wide. ³ In the holy area you will measure a part about 7 miles long and 3 miles wide. The Most Holy Place will be in this holy area. ⁴ This holy part of the land will be for the priests who serve in the Temple. This is where they come near to serve the Lord. It will be a place for the priests’ houses. And it will be the place for the Temple. ⁵ Another area will be about 7 miles long and more than 3 miles wide. It will be for the Levites, who serve in the Temple. It will belong to them so they will have cities in which to live.

⁶ “‘And you will give the city an area that is about 1½ miles wide and about 7 miles long. It will be along the side of the holy area. It will belong to all the people of Israel.

⁷ “‘The ruler will have land on both sides of the holy area and the city. On the west of the holy area, his land will reach to the Mediterranean Sea. On the east of the holy area, his land will reach to the eastern border. It will be as long as the land given to each tribe. ⁸ This land will be the ruler’s property in Israel. So my rulers will not be cruel to my people anymore. But they will give land to each tribe in the nation of Israel.

⁹ “‘This is what the Lord God says: You have gone far enough, you rulers of Israel! Stop being cruel and hurting people. Do what is right and fair. Stop forcing my people out of their homes, says the Lord God. ¹⁰ You must have honest scales, an honest dry measurement and an honest liquid measurement. ¹¹ The dry measure and the liquid measure will be the same: The liquid measure will always be a tenth of a homer.^[a] The ephah will always be a tenth of a homer. The measurement they follow will be the homer. ¹² The shekel^[b] will be worth 20 gerahs. A mina will be worth 60 shekels.

Offerings and Holy Days

¹³ “‘This is the gift you will offer: a sixth of an ephah from a homer of wheat; a sixth of an ephah from a homer of barley. ¹⁴ The amount of oil you are to offer is a tenth of a bath from each cor. (Ten baths make a homer and also make a cor.) ¹⁵ You should give 1 sheep from each flock of 200 from the watering places of Israel. They are to be offered with the grain offerings, burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. These offerings are to remove sins so you will belong to God, says the Lord God. ¹⁶ All people in the land will give this special offering for the ruler of Israel. ¹⁷ It will be the ruler’s responsibility to supply the burnt offerings, grain offerings and drink offerings. These offerings will be given at the feasts and at the New Moons. They will also be given on the Sabbaths and at all the other feasts of Israel. The ruler will supply the sin offerings, grain offerings and fellowship offerings. These offerings are to pay for the sins of Israel.

¹⁸ “‘This is what the Lord God says: On the first day of the first month take a young bull that has nothing wrong with it. Use it to make the Temple pure and ready for God’s service. ¹⁹ The priest will take some of the blood from the sin offering. And he will put it on the doorposts of the Temple. He will put it on the four corners of the ledge of the altar. And he will put it on the posts of the gate of the inner courtyard. ²⁰ You will do the same thing on the seventh day of the month. You will do it for anyone who has sinned by accident or without knowing it. This is how you make the Temple pure and ready for God’s service.

Passover Feast Offerings

²¹ “‘On the fourteenth day of the first month you will celebrate the Feast of Passover. It will be a feast of seven days when you eat bread made without yeast. ²² On that day the ruler must offer a bull for himself and for all the people of the land. The bull will be a sin offering. ²³ During the seven days of the feast the ruler must offer seven bulls. And he must offer seven male sheep. The bulls and sheep must have nothing wrong with them. They will be burnt offerings to the Lord. The ruler will offer them every day of the seven days of the feast. He must also offer a male goat every day as a sin offering. ²⁴ The ruler must give as a grain offering a half bushel for each bull and a half bushel for each sheep. He must give a gallon of olive oil for each half bushel.

²⁵ “‘Beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, you will celebrate the Feast of Shelters. During the feast, the ruler will do the same things for seven days. He will supply the sin offering, burnt offering, grain offering and the olive oil.