Historical
The Gate of the Prince
44 Then He brought me back by the way of the (A)outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces the east; and it was shut. 2 Yahweh said to me, “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for (B)Yahweh, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut. 3 As for the (C)prince, he shall sit in it as prince to (D)eat bread before Yahweh; he shall (E)enter by way of the (F)porch of the gate and shall go out [a]by the same way.”
4 Then He brought me by way of the (G)north gate to the front of the house; and I looked, and behold, the (H)glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh, and I (I)fell on my face. 5 Then Yahweh said to me, “Son of man, (J)set your heart on and see with your eyes and hear with your ears all that I say to you concerning all the (K)statutes of the house of Yahweh and concerning all its laws; and set your heart on the entrance of the house, with all exits of the sanctuary. 6 And you shall say to the [b](L)rebellious ones, to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “(M)Enough of all your abominations, O house of Israel, 7 when you brought in (N)foreigners, (O)uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to profane it, even My house, when you (P)brought near My food, the fat and the blood. So they (Q)made My covenant void—this in addition to all your abominations. 8 And you have not (R)kept the responsibility of My holy things yourselves, but you have set foreigners as keepers of the responsibility given by Me for My sanctuary.”
9 ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “(S)No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the sons of Israel, shall enter My sanctuary. 10 But the Levites who went far from Me when Israel went astray, who (T)went astray from Me after their idols, shall (U)bear the punishment for their iniquity. 11 Yet they shall be (V)ministers in My sanctuary, having (W)oversight at the gates of the house and (X)ministering in the house; they shall (Y)slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall (Z)stand before them to minister to them. 12 Because they ministered to them (AA)before their idols and became a (AB)stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have [c](AC)sworn against them,” declares Lord Yahweh, “that they shall (AD)bear the punishment for their iniquity. 13 And they shall (AE)not approach Me to minister as a priest to Me, nor approach any of My holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they will (AF)bear their dishonor and their abominations which they have done. 14 Yet I will [d]appoint them as (AG)keepers of the responsibility for the house, of all its service and of all that shall be done in it.
The Levitical Responsibilities
15 “But the (AH)Levitical priests, the sons of (AI)Zadok, who (AJ)kept the responsibility of My sanctuary when the sons of Israel (AK)went astray from Me, shall come near to Me to minister to Me; and they shall (AL)stand before Me to bring near to Me the (AM)fat and the blood,” declares Lord Yahweh. 16 “They shall (AN)enter My sanctuary; they shall come near to My (AO)table to minister to Me and keep the responsibility given by Me. 17 And it will be that when they enter at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with (AP)linen garments; and wool shall not [e]be on them while they are ministering in the gates of the inner court and in the house. 18 Linen (AQ)headdresses shall be on their heads, and (AR)linen undergarments shall be on their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything which makes them sweat. 19 And when they go out into the outer court, into the outer court to the people, they shall (AS)put off their garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers; then they shall put on other garments so that they will (AT)not transmit holiness to the people with their garments. 20 Also they shall (AU)not shave their heads, yet they shall not (AV)let their locks [f]grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads. 21 (AW)Nor shall any of the priests drink wine when they enter the inner court. 22 And they shall not [g]take a widow or a (AX)divorced woman as a wife but shall (AY)take virgins from the seed of the house of Israel or a widow who is the widow of a priest. 23 Moreover, they shall instruct My people about the (AZ)difference between the holy and the profane, and make them know the difference between the unclean and the clean. 24 And in a dispute, (BA)they shall take their stand to judge; they shall judge it according to My judgments. They shall also keep My laws and My statutes in all My (BB)appointed times and (BC)keep My sabbaths holy. 25 But [h](BD)they shall not go to a dead person to make themselves unclean; however, for father, for mother, for son, for daughter, for brother, or for a sister who has not had a husband, they may make themselves unclean. 26 And after he is (BE)cleansed, seven days shall be counted for him. 27 And on the day that he goes into the sanctuary, into the (BF)inner court to minister in the sanctuary, he shall bring near his (BG)sin offering,” declares Lord Yahweh.
28 “And it shall be with regard to an inheritance for them, that (BH)I am their inheritance; and you shall give them no possession in Israel—I am their possession. 29 They shall (BI)eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering; and every [i](BJ)devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. 30 And the first of all the (BK)first fruits of every kind and every [j]contribution of every kind, from all your [k]contributions, shall be for the priests; you shall also give to the priest the (BL)first of your [l]dough to cause a (BM)blessing to rest on your house. 31 The priests shall not eat any bird or beast that has (BN)died of itself or has been torn to pieces.
Yahweh’s Portion of the Land
45 “And when you (BO)divide by lot the land for inheritance, you shall offer a (BP)contribution to Yahweh, a (BQ)holy portion of the land; the length shall be the length of [m]25,000 (BR)cubits, and the width shall be [n]20,000. It shall be holy within all its boundary round about. 2 Out of this there shall be for the holy place a square round about [o](BS)five hundred by five hundred cubits, and [p]fifty cubits for its [q](BT)open space round about. 3 And from this [r]area you shall measure a length of 25,000 cubits and a width of [s]10,000 cubits; and in it shall be the sanctuary, the Holy of Holies. 4 It shall be the holy portion of the land; it shall be for the (BU)priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who (BV)come near to minister to Yahweh, and it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. 5 And an area (BW)25,000 cubits in length and 10,000 in width shall be for the Levites, the ministers of the house, and for their possession as [t]cities to dwell in.
6 “And you shall give the (BX)city possession of an area [u]5,000 cubits wide and 25,000 cubits long, alongside the contribution of the holy portion; it shall be for the whole house of Israel.
The Prince’s Portion of the Land
7 “Now the (BY)prince shall have land on either side of the holy contribution and the city’s possession of land, adjacent to the holy contribution and the city’s possession of land, on the west side toward the west and on the east side toward the east, and in length comparable to one of the portions, from the west border to the east border. 8 This shall be his land for a possession in Israel; so My princes shall no longer (BZ)mistreat My people, but they shall give the rest of the land to the house of Israel (CA)according to their tribes.”
9 ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “(CB)Enough, you princes of Israel; put away (CC)violence and devastation, and (CD)do justice and righteousness. Stop your (CE)eviction of My people,” declares Lord Yahweh.
10 “You shall have (CF)just balances, a just [v](CG)ephah, and a just [w](CH)bath. 11 The ephah and the bath shall be [x]the same quantity so that the bath will contain a tenth of a [y](CI)homer and the ephah a tenth of a homer; [z]their standard shall be according to the homer. 12 And the [aa](CJ)shekel shall be twenty [ab](CK)gerahs; twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels shall be your [ac]maneh.
13 “This is the contribution that you shall offer: a sixth of an ephah from a homer of wheat, a sixth of an ephah from a homer of barley, 14 and the statute for the oil (namely, the [ad]bath of oil), a tenth of a bath from each [ae]kor (which is ten baths or a homer, for ten baths are a homer), 15 and one sheep from each flock of two hundred from the watering places of Israel—for a (CL)grain offering, for a burnt offering, and for peace offerings, to (CM)make atonement for them,” declares Lord Yahweh. 16 “(CN)All the people of the land shall [af]give to this contribution for the (CO)prince in Israel. 17 And it shall be the (CP)prince’s part to provide the (CQ)burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the drink offerings, at the (CR)feasts, on the (CS)new moons, and on the sabbaths, at all the appointed times of the house of Israel; he shall [ag]provide the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the (CT)peace offerings, to make atonement for the house of Israel.”
18 ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “In the (CU)first month, on the first of the month, you shall take a bull from the herd (CV)without blemish and (CW)purify the sanctuary. 19 The priest shall take some of the blood from the sin offering and put it on the door posts of the house, on the (CX)four corners of the (CY)ledge of the altar, and on the posts of the gate of the inner court. 20 And thus you shall do on the seventh day of the month for everyone who (CZ)errs or is simpleminded; so you shall make (DA)atonement for the house.
21 “In the (DB)first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall have the (DC)Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. 22 And on that day the prince shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a (DD)bull for a sin offering. 23 And during the (DE)seven days of the feast he shall provide as a (DF)burnt offering to Yahweh (DG)seven bulls and seven rams without blemish on every day of the seven days, and a male goat daily for a sin offering. 24 And he shall provide as a (DH)grain offering an ephah [ah]with a bull, an ephah [ai]with a ram, and a [aj]hin of oil [ak]with an ephah. 25 In the (DI)seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, at the feast, he shall provide like this, seven days [al]for the sin offering, the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the oil.”
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