Old/New Testament
45 Eternal One: When you divide the land among the people to determine inheritance, you must set aside a plot of land for the Eternal as His sacred ground. It is to be 8⅓ miles long and 6⅔ miles[a] wide; every bit of it will be regarded as holy. 2 Within this sacred ground, designate a 875-foot square for the temple. Leave a strip of land 87½ feet wide around the perimeter of the temple. 3 And from these sacred grounds allot a section of land 8⅓ miles long by 3⅓ miles wide to place the sanctuary, which will contain the most holy place. 4 These sacred lands will be set apart for the priests who serve in the sanctuary and draw near to the Eternal. They will build their homes there, not far from the holy precincts of the sanctuary. 5 As for the other half of the sacred ground—an area of 8⅓ miles long and 3⅓ miles wide—it will be designated for the Levites who serve in the temple. They will live there and possess those cities. 6 Next to this sacred land, you are to set aside a strip of land 8⅓ miles long and 1⅔ miles wide to build a city. This will be common land that belongs to all the people of Israel. 7 The prince is to have possession of the land on either side of the sacred grounds and the common property of the city. His land will run westward from the west side and eastward from the east side occupying an area equal to one of the tribal inheritances. 8 This will be the prince’s own section of land in Israel. Never again will My princes rob and oppress My people. Then they are to divide the rest of the land between the tribes of Israel.
Ezekiel’s vision of the land of Israel once the Jews return from exile has several significant features: each tribe receives a similar allotment of land, the rulers are given property of their own (so the tribes don’t have to support them), the temple is situated in the exact center of the country, and the priests and Levites all live around the temple itself (instead of being scattered among the tribes). These changes in the nation’s political and social structure reflect many of the changes that take place during the exile.
Eternal One (to the princes of Israel): 9 That’s enough tyranny, you princes of Israel! Stop your abuse and persecutions! Do the right thing; choose to be just in your actions. Stop cheating and depriving My people of their land. I, the Eternal Lord, insist!
10 I command you to be honest in your commerce. You are to use accurate and fair weights and measures. 11 Regarding measures, the standard dry measure and liquid measure are to have a similar volume, about 6 bushels or 55 gallons, making the standard dry unit of measurement ⅗ of a bushel and the standard liquid unit of measurement 5½ gallons. 12 Regarding weights, one small counterweight will weigh ⅖ of an ounce, and one large counterweight will weigh 1¼ pounds.
13 You are to offer the following: 1⁄60 of your wheat, 1⁄60 of your barley, 14 one percent of your oil, 15 and one sheep from every flock of two hundred that wanders the rich watering places of Israel. I, the Eternal Lord, declare that these gifts will act as the grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings that will cover the wrongs of the people and will be offered on your behalf by the priests. 16 Everyone in Israel will be required to give these offerings to the prince in Israel. 17 Then it will be the prince’s responsibility to provide the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings at all the sacred festivals, the new moon festivals, the Sabbaths, and all the rest of the feasts appointed for Israel. Using the animals and produce he’s collected, the prince will provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings to cover the wrongs done by the people of Israel.
(to Ezekiel) 18 On the first day of the first month, take a perfect young bull and purify the sanctuary. 19 The priest will smear some blood of the sin offering on the temple doorposts, on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the gateposts of the entrance to the inner courtyard. 20 On the seventh day of the month, do this same ritual for anyone who strays from Me unknowingly. Cover the impurities of the temple this way.
21 On the fourteenth day of the first month, I want you to observe the Passover for seven days. During the feast, I want you to eat only yeast-free bread. 22 When that day arrives, it is the prince’s responsibility to provide a bull for himself and for all the people of the land as a sin offering. 23 Every day for the seven days of the feast, the prince is to bring seven perfect bulls and seven perfect rams as a burnt offering to the Eternal. Also, he will present a male goat each day as a sin offering. 24 The prince is also to provide a grain offering: ⅗ of a bushel of grain mixed with one gallon of oil for each bull and each ram. 25 The seven-day feast begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. On each of the seven days, the prince is responsible for providing the same sin offerings, burnt offerings, and grain offerings (made from grain and oil).
46 This is what the Eternal Lord has to say:
Eternal One: During the six working days of each week, I want you to close the east gate of the inner courtyard; but keep it open on the seventh day, the Sabbath, and on the new moon. 2 The prince is to enter from the outside through the portico of the gateway and stand directly outside the gate where he can watch the priests offer his burnt offerings and peace offerings. He is to worship as his offerings are being made, and then exit the same way he entered. The priests won’t shut the gate until the evening. 3 On Sabbaths and new moons, the rest of the people are to worship the Eternal at the entrance to that gate. 4 I want the prince to give this burnt offering to Me, the Eternal, on the Sabbath: six lambs and a ram—all perfect. 5 I want him to give a grain offering along with it as is customary: ⅗ of a bushel of grain and a gallon of oil with the ram and as much grain and oil as he is able for each lamb. 6 During each new moon celebration, I want the prince to offer a young bull, six lambs, and a ram—all perfect. 7 He is to provide a customary grain offering as well: ⅗ of a bushel of grain and one gallon of oil for each ram and bull, and as much grain and oil as he can for each lamb. 8 The prince is to enter the temple through the portico of the eastern gate and exit the same way.
9 When the people of the land come together to worship the Eternal at the regularly scheduled feasts, all those who come in through the north gate are to go out through the south gate, and all those who come in through the south gate are to go out through the north gate. They will exit the temple through the opposite gate so they continue to move straight ahead. 10 During these feasts, the prince will walk with everyone else, entering and exiting at the same time and in the same way as the commoners.
11 At all the feasts and the regularly scheduled festivals, the customary grain offering is to always be the same: ⅗ of a bushel of grain plus one gallon of oil for each bull and each ram, and as much grain and oil as is available for each lamb. 12 Whenever the prince gives a voluntary offering to the Eternal, be it a burnt offering or a peace offering, he will have the same privileges as he does for all Sabbath offerings: the east gate will be opened for him. He will offer his burnt offering or peace offering as he does on the Sabbath. After he leaves, the priests are to close the east gate.
13 Every single morning, I want the priests to offer a perfect one-year-old lamb to Me as a burnt offering. 14 Along with it each morning you are to offer a grain offering: ⅒ of a bushel of grain mixed with ⅓ gallon of oil in order to moisten the flour. This grain offering is to be an ordinance you observe for all time. 15 The lamb, the grain, and the oil are to be offered every single morning as a regular burnt offering.
16 This is what the Eternal Lord has to say:
Eternal One: If the prince gives one of his sons a piece of property as his inheritance—the property I allotted him on either side of My land—that piece will belong to all the descendants of that son and never leave the family. 17 But if the prince gives a piece of property to one of his servants, it will be leased by the servant only until the fiftieth year—the jubilee year when liberty is granted; then the inheritance will return to the prince. The prince’s inheritance belongs to his sons alone. It is never to leave the family. 18 Similarly, the prince must never demand possession of other people’s property and evict them from their own land. He is to give his sons their inheritance from his own property. This way, none of My people will be separated from his property.
19 The man whose appearance was like bronze then took me through the entrance next to the gateway and led me to the priests’ sacred chambers, which faced northward. He took me to a place on the far western side.
The Man (to Ezekiel): 20 This is where the priests are to boil the meat of the guilt offerings and sin offerings and bake the bread made from the grain offerings, so that they won’t have to transport the gifts through the outer courtyard and accidentally transmit holiness to the people.
21-22 Then my guide brought me to the outer courtyard and took me to each of its four corners. In each corner were smaller, confined courts, each measuring 70 feet long and 52½ feet wide. 23 There was a stone shelf that ran along the inside wall of each of the four courts. Beneath these stone shelves were hearths.
The Man (to Ezekiel): 24 These are kitchens. Everyone who serves in the temple will boil the peoples’ sacrifices here.
The word “sin” has virtually disappeared from modern conversation. Afraid of sounding judgmental, we call sin something else—a mistake, an addiction, a tendency, a bad decision—and ignore it as normal and natural behavior. But John is calling the church to a radical holiness where those in the church will regularly remember their sins and seek God’s forgiveness. Each sin, small and large, injures us or someone else; it imprints on our soul, makes us imperfect, and separates us from the perfect God. If we confess our sins to God each day, then He will purify our hearts and draw us closer to Him.
2 You are my little children, so I am writing these things to help you avoid sin. If, however, any believer does sin, we have a high-powered defense lawyer—Jesus the Anointed, the righteous—arguing on our behalf before the Father. 2 It was through His sacrificial death that our sins were atoned. But He did not stop there—He died for the sins of the whole world.
John is affectionately addressing this letter to his “little children,” and he is writing to help them avoid sin and the pain and guilt that come with it. The glamour of decadent lifestyles devoid of God is often advertised as the epitome of joy and freedom. But what are often conveniently left out of these portrayals are the agonizing consequences of such destructive lifestyles. Meaningful pleasure comes not when we are enslaved by the empty promises of the world, but when we are living in loving obedience to God.
3 We know we have joined Him in an intimate relationship because we live out His commands. 4 If someone claims, “I am in an intimate relationship with Him,” but this big talker doesn’t live out His commands, then this individual is a liar and a stranger to the truth. 5 But if someone responds to and obeys His word, then God’s love has truly taken root and filled him. This is how we know we are in an intimate relationship with Him: 6 anyone who says, “I live in intimacy with Him,” should walk the path Jesus walked.
7 My loved ones, in one sense, I am not writing a new command for you. I am only reminding you of the old command. It’s a word you already know, a word that has existed from the beginning. 8 However, in another sense, I am writing a new command for you. The new command is the truth that He lived; and now you are living it, too, because the darkness is fading and the true light is already shining among you.
9 Anyone who says, “I live in the light,” but hates his brother or sister is still living in the shadows. 10 Anyone who loves his brother or sister lives in the light and will not trip because his conscience is clear. 11 But anyone who hates his brother is in the darkness, stumbling around with no idea where he is going, blinded by the darkness.
We are deeply loved by God. When we turn and love those members of our faith family whom God loves, we are set apart and different from the world.
12 I am writing to you, my children, because your sins have been forgiven by the authority of His name.
13 I am writing to you, fathers and mothers, because you have known Him as the Creator, as the One who started everything.
I am writing to you, young people, because He has given you the power to conquer the evil one.
14 I have written to you, my children, because you have known the Father.
I have written to you, fathers and mothers, because you have known Him, the Creator.
I have written to you, young people, because the voice of God remains and is heard among you. Remember that you have conquered the evil one.
15 Don’t fall in love with this corrupt world or worship the things it can offer. Those who love its corrupt ways don’t have the Father’s love living within them. 16 All the things the world can offer to you—the allure of pleasure, the passion to have things, and the pompous sense of superiority—do not come from the Father. These are the rotten fruits of this world. 17 This corrupt world is already wasting away, as are its selfish desires. But the person really doing God’s will—that person will never cease to be.
18 My children, this is the final hour. You have heard that the antiChrist, the greatest enemy to His kingdom, is coming, but in fact, many antiChrists are already here. This development tells us how late it really is. 19 A group has left us, but they were not part of our family. If they were truly our brothers and sisters, they would have remained for the duration with us. When they left, they made it ever so obvious that they were not part of us.
20 You have been given an anointing, a special touch from the Holy One. You know the truth.[a] 21 I am not writing to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it. You know that no lie belongs to the truth. 22 The liar is the one who says, “Jesus is not really the Anointed One.” This is the antiChrist, the one denying both the Father and the Son. 23 Anyone who denies the Son does not know the Father. The one affirming the Son enjoys an intimate relationship with the Father as well.
24 Let the good news, the story you have heard from the beginning of your journey, live in and take hold of you. If that happens and you focus on the good news, then you will always remain in a relationship with the Son and the Father. 25 This is what He promised us: eternal life.
26 I also am writing to warn you about some who are attempting to deceive you. 27 You have an anointing. You received it from Him, and His anointing remains on you. You do not need any other teacher. But as His anointing instructs you in all the essentials (all the truth uncontaminated by darkness and lies), it teaches you this: “Remain connected to Him.”
28 So now, my little children, live in Him, so that whenever He is revealed, we will have confidence and not have to hang our heads in shame before Him when He comes. 29 If you know that He is just and faithful, then you also know that everyone who lives faithfully and acts justly has been born into a new life through Him.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.