Old/New Testament

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.”

46 The Lord and King says, “On the six working days of each week you must keep the east gate of the inner courtyard of the temple shut. But open it on Sabbath days and during New Moon feasts. ² The prince must enter the temple area through the porch of the gateway. He must stand by the gatepost. The priests must sacrifice his burnt offering and friendship offerings. He must bow down in worship at the entrance of the gateway. Then he must leave. But the gate will not be shut until evening. ³ On Sabbath days and during New Moon feasts the people of the land must gather together. They must gather at the entrance of the temple gateway. That is where they must worship me. ⁴ The prince must bring a burnt offering to me on the Sabbath day. It will be six male lambs and a ram. They must not have any flaws. ⁵ He must offer 35 pounds of grain along with the ram. The grain he offers along with the lambs can be as much as he wants to give. He must also offer four quarts of olive oil for every 35 pounds of grain. ⁶ On the day of the New Moon feast the prince must make another offering. He must offer a young bull, six lambs and a ram. They must not have any flaws. ⁷ He must offer 35 pounds of grain along with the bull or ram. The grain he offers along with the lambs can be as much as he wants to give. He must also offer four quarts of olive oil for every 35 pounds of grain. ⁸ Here is how the prince must enter the temple area. He must go in through the porch of the gateway. And he must leave the same way.

⁹ “The people of the land must worship me at the appointed feasts. Those who enter through the north gate must leave through the south gate. Those who enter through the south gate must leave through the north gate. They must not leave through the same gate they entered. Each one must go out the opposite gate. ¹⁰ The prince must be among them. He must go in when they go in. And he must leave when they leave. ¹¹ At the yearly feasts and other appointed feasts there must be grain offerings. The prince must offer 35 pounds of grain along with a bull or ram. The grain he offers along with the lambs can be as much as he wants to give. He must also offer four quarts of olive oil for every 35 pounds of grain.

¹² “He may also bring another offering to me because he chooses to. It might be a burnt offering or friendship offering. When he brings it, the east gate must be opened for him. He will bring his offering just as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he will leave. After he has gone out, the gate must be shut.

¹³ “Every day you must provide a lamb that is a year old. It must not have any flaws. It is a burnt offering to me. You must provide it every morning. ¹⁴ You must also offer grain along with it every morning. Bring six pounds of grain. Also bring one and a half quarts of olive oil to make the flour a little wet. So you will give the grain offering to me. That will be a law that will last for all time to come. ¹⁵ Provide the lamb, grain offering and oil every morning. They will be used for a regular burnt offering.”

¹⁶ The Lord and King says, “Suppose the prince makes a gift from his share of land. And he gives it to one of his sons. Then the property will also belong to his sons after him. It will be handed down to them. ¹⁷ But suppose he makes a gift from his share of land to one of his servants. Then the servant may keep it until the Year of Jubilee. After that, it will be returned to the prince. His property may be handed down only to his sons. It belongs to them. ¹⁸ The prince must not take any share of land that belongs to the people. He must not drive them off their property. He must give his sons their share out of his own property. Then not one of my people will be separated from their property.”

¹⁹ The man brought me through the entrance at the side of the north building. That’s where the priests’ sacred rooms were located. He showed me a place west of the building. ²⁰ He said to me, “This is where the priests must cook the guilt offerings and sin offerings. They must also bake the grain offerings here. Then they will not have to bring the offerings into the outer courtyard. That will keep the people from touching the offerings and becoming holy.”

²¹ Then the man brought me to the outer courtyard. He led me around to its four corners. In each corner I saw another smaller courtyard. ²² So in the four corners of the outer courtyard were walled courtyards. Each one was 70 feet long and 53 feet wide. All of them were the same size. ²³ Around the inside of each of the four courtyards was a stone ledge. Places for fire were built all around under each ledge. ²⁴ The man said to me, “These are the kitchens. Those who serve at the temple must cook the people’s sacrifices here.”

2 My dear children, I’m writing this to you so that you will not sin. But suppose someone does sin. Then we have a friend who speaks to the Father for us. He is Jesus Christ, the Blameless One. ² He gave his life to pay for our sins. But he not only paid for our sins. He also paid for the sins of the whole world.

Instructions About Loving and Hating Other Believers

³ We know that we have come to know God if we obey his commands. ⁴ Suppose someone says, “I know him.” But suppose this person does not do what God commands. Then this person is a liar and is not telling the truth. ⁵ But if anyone obeys God’s word, then that person truly loves God. Here is how we know we belong to him. ⁶ Those who claim to belong to him must live just as Jesus did.

⁷ Dear friends, I’m not writing you a new command. Instead, I’m writing one you have heard before. You have had it since the beginning. ⁸ But I am writing what amounts to a new command. Its truth was shown in how Jesus lived. It is also shown in how you live. That’s because the darkness is passing away. And the true light is already shining.

⁹ Suppose someone claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister. Then they are still in the darkness. ¹⁰ Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light. There is nothing in them to make them fall into sin. ¹¹ But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness. They walk around in the darkness. They don’t know where they are going. The darkness has made them blind.

Reasons for Writing

Do Not Love the World

¹⁵ Do not love the world or anything in it. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. ¹⁶ Here is what people who belong to this world do. They try to satisfy what their sinful desires want to do. They long for what their sinful eyes look at. They take pride in what they have and what they do. All of this comes from the world. None of it comes from the Father. ¹⁷ The world and its evil desires are passing away. But whoever does what God wants them to do lives forever.

Warnings About Saying No to the Son

¹⁸ Dear children, we are living in the last days. You have heard that the great enemy of Christ is coming. But even now many enemies of Christ have already come. That’s how we know that these are the last days. ¹⁹ These enemies left our community of believers. They didn’t really belong to us. If they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But by leaving they showed that none of them belonged to us.

²⁰ You have received the Spirit from the Holy One. And all of you know the truth. ²¹ I’m not writing to you because you don’t know the truth. I’m writing because you do know it. I’m writing to you because no lie comes from the truth. ²² Who is the liar? It is anyone who says that Jesus is not the Christ. The person who says this is the great enemy of Christ. They say no to the Father and the Son. ²³ The person who says no to the Son doesn’t belong to the Father. But anyone who says yes to the Son belongs to the Father also.

²⁴ Make sure that you don’t forget what you have heard from the beginning. Then you will remain joined to the Son and to the Father. ²⁵ And here is what God has promised us. He has promised us eternal life.

²⁶ I’m writing these things to warn you. I am warning you about people trying to lead you astray. ²⁷ But you have received the Holy Spirit from God. He continues to live in you. So you don’t need anyone to teach you. God’s Spirit teaches you about everything. What he says is true. He doesn’t lie. Remain joined to Christ, just as you have been taught by the Spirit.

God’s Children and Sin

²⁸ Dear children, remain joined to Christ. Then when he comes, we can be bold. We will not be ashamed to meet him when he comes.

²⁹ You know that God is right and always does what is right. And you know that everyone who does what is right is God’s child.