Other Translations of Isaiah 49:23

New International Version

²³ Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who hope in me will not be disappointed."

English Standard Version

²³ Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame."

The Message

²³ Kings will be your babysitters, princesses will be your nursemaids. They'll offer to do all your drudge work - scrub your floors, do your laundry. You'll know then that I am God. No one who hopes in me ever regrets it."

New King James Version

²³ Kings shall be your foster fathers, And their queens your nursing mothers; They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, And lick up the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord, For they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me."

New Living Translation

²³ Kings and queens will serve you and care for all your needs. They will bow to the earth before you and lick the dust from your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord . Those who trust in me will never be put to shame."

Other Translations of Ezekiel 44:1-46:24

New International Version

44¹ Then the man brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, the one facing east, and it was shut. ² The Lord said to me, "This gate is to remain shut. It must not be opened; no one may enter through it. It is to remain shut because the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered through it. ³ The prince himself is the only one who may sit inside the gateway to eat in the presence of the Lord. He is to enter by way of the portico of the gateway and go out the same way."

⁴ Then the man brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. I looked and saw the glory of the Lord filling the temple of the Lord, and I fell facedown. ⁵ The Lord said to me, "Son of man, look carefully, listen closely and give attention to everything I tell you concerning all the regulations and instructions regarding the temple of the Lord. Give attention to the entrance to the temple and all the exits of the sanctuary. ⁶ Say to rebellious Israel, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Enough of your detestable practices, people of Israel! ⁷ In addition to all your other detestable practices, you brought foreigners uncircumcised in heart and flesh into my sanctuary, desecrating my temple while you offered me food, fat and blood, and you broke my covenant. ⁸ Instead of carrying out your duty in regard to my holy things, you put others in charge of my sanctuary. ⁹ This is what the Sovereign Lord says: No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and flesh is to enter my sanctuary, not even the foreigners who live among the Israelites.

¹⁰ " 'The Levites who went far from me when Israel went astray and who wandered from me after their idols must bear the consequences of their sin. ¹¹ They may serve in my sanctuary, having charge of the gates of the temple and serving in it; they may slaughter the burnt offerings and sacrifices for the people and stand before the people and serve them. ¹² But because they served them in the presence of their idols and made the people of Israel fall into sin, therefore I have sworn with uplifted hand that they must bear the consequences of their sin, declares the Sovereign Lord. ¹³ They are not to come near to serve me as priests or come near any of my holy things or my most holy offerings; they must bear the shame of their detestable practices. ¹⁴ And I will appoint them to guard the temple for all the work that is to be done in it. ¹⁵ " 'But the Levitical priests, who are descendants of Zadok and who guarded my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me, are to come near to minister before me; they are to stand before me to offer sacrifices of fat and blood, declares the Sovereign Lord. ¹⁶ They alone are to enter my sanctuary; they alone are to come near my table to minister before me and serve me as guards.

¹⁷ " 'When they enter the gates of the inner court, they are to wear linen clothes; they must not wear any woolen garment while ministering at the gates of the inner court or inside the temple. ¹⁸ They are to wear linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments around their waists. They must not wear anything that makes them perspire. ¹⁹ When they go out into the outer court where the people are, they are to take off the clothes they have been ministering in and are to leave them in the sacred rooms, and put on other clothes, so that the people are not consecrated through contact with their garments. ²⁰ " 'They must not shave their heads or let their hair grow long, but they are to keep the hair of their heads trimmed. ²¹ No priest is to drink wine when he enters the inner court. ²² They must not marry widows or divorced women; they may marry only virgins of Israelite descent or widows of priests. ²³ They are to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. ²⁴ " 'In any dispute, the priests are to serve as judges and decide it according to my ordinances. They are to keep my laws and my decrees for all my appointed festivals, and they are to keep my Sabbaths holy. ²⁵ " 'A priest must not defile himself by going near a dead person; however, if the dead person was his father or mother, son or daughter, brother or unmarried sister, then he may defile himself. ²⁶ After he is cleansed, he must wait seven days. ²⁷ On the day he goes into the inner court of the sanctuary to minister in the sanctuary, he is to offer a sin offeringOr "purification offering" ; also in verse 29 for himself, declares the Sovereign Lord. ²⁸ " 'I am to be the only inheritance the priests have. You are to give them no possession in Israel; I will be their possession. ²⁹ They will eat the grain offerings, the sin offerings and the guilt offerings; and everything in Israel devotedThe Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord. to the Lord will belong to them. ³⁰ The best of all the firstfruits and of all your special gifts will belong to the priests. You are to give them the first portion of your ground meal so that a blessing may rest on your household. ³¹ The priests must not eat anything, whether bird or animal, found dead or torn by wild animals.

45¹ " 'When you allot the land as an inheritance, you are to present to the Lord a portion of the land as a sacred district, 25,000 cubitsThat is, about 8 miles or about 13 kilometers; also in verses 3, 5 and 6 long and 20,000Septuagint (see also verses 3 and 5 and 48:9); Hebrew "10,000" cubitsThat is, about 6 1/2 miles or about 11 kilometers wide; the entire area will be holy. ² Of this, a section 500 cubitsThat is, about 875 feet or about 265 meters square is to be for the sanctuary, with 50 cubitsThat is, about 88 feet or about 27 meters around it for open land. ³ In the sacred district, measure off a section 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubitsThat is, about 3 1/3 miles or about 5.3 kilometers; also in verse 5 wide. In it will be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. ⁴ It will be the sacred portion of the land for the priests, who minister in the sanctuary and who draw near to minister before the Lord. It will be a place for their houses as well as a holy place for the sanctuary. ⁵ An area 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide will belong to the Levites, who serve in the temple, as their possession for towns to live in.Septuagint; Hebrew "temple; they will have as their possession 20 rooms" ⁶ " 'You are to give the city as its property an area 5,000 cubitsThat is, about 1 2/3 miles or about 2.7 kilometers wide and 25,000 cubits long, adjoining the sacred portion; it will belong to all Israel. ⁷ " 'The prince will have the land bordering each side of the area formed by the sacred district and the property of the city. It will extend westward from the west side and eastward from the east side, running lengthwise from the western to the eastern border parallel to one of the tribal portions. ⁸ This land will be his possession in Israel. And my princes will no longer oppress my people but will allow the people of Israel to possess the land according to their tribes.

⁹ " 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have gone far enough, princes of Israel! Give up your violence and oppression and do what is just and right. Stop dispossessing my people, declares the Sovereign Lord. ¹⁰ You are to use accurate scales, an accurate ephahAn ephah was a dry measure having the capacity of about 3/5 bushel or about 22 liters. and an accurate bath.A bath was a liquid measure equaling about 6 gallons or about 22 liters. ¹¹ The ephah and the bath are to be the same size, the bath containing a tenth of a homer and the ephah a tenth of a homer; the homer is to be the standard measure for both. ¹² The shekelA shekel weighed about 2/5 ounce or about 12 grams. is to consist of twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels equal one mina.That is, 60 shekels; the common mina was 50 shekels. Sixty shekels were about 1 1/2 pounds or about 690 grams.

¹³ " 'This is the special gift you are to offer: a sixth of an ephahThat is, probably about 6 pounds or about 2.7 kilograms from each homer of wheat and a sixth of an ephahThat is, probably about 5 pounds or about 2.3 kilograms from each homer of barley. ¹⁴ The prescribed portion of olive oil, measured by the bath, is a tenth of a bathThat is, about 2 1/2 quarts or about 2.2 liters from each cor (which consists of ten baths or one homer, for ten baths are equivalent to a homer). ¹⁵ Also one sheep is to be taken from every flock of two hundred from the well-watered pastures of Israel. These will be used for the grain offerings, burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to make atonement for the people, declares the Sovereign Lord. ¹⁶ All the people of the land will be required to give this special offering to the prince in Israel. ¹⁷ It will be the duty of the prince to provide the burnt offerings, grain offerings and drink offerings at the festivals, the New Moons and the Sabbaths-at all the appointed festivals of Israel. He will provide the sin offerings,Or "purification offerings" ; also in verses 19, 22, 23 and 25 grain offerings, burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to make atonement for the Israelites. ¹⁸ " 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: In the first month on the first day you are to take a young bull without defect and purify the sanctuary. ¹⁹ The priest is to take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, on the four corners of the upper ledge of the altar and on the gateposts of the inner court. ²⁰ You are to do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance; so you are to make atonement for the temple. ²¹ " 'In the first month on the fourteenth day you are to observe the Passover, a festival lasting seven days, during which you shall eat bread made without yeast. ²² On that day the prince is to provide a bull as a sin offering for himself and for all the people of the land. ²³ Every day during the seven days of the festival he is to provide seven bulls and seven rams without defect as a burnt offering to the Lord, and a male goat for a sin offering. ²⁴ He is to provide as a grain offering an ephah for each bull and an ephah for each ram, along with a hinThat is, about 1 gallon or about 3.8 liters of olive oil for each ephah. ²⁵ " 'During the seven days of the festival, which begins in the seventh month on the fifteenth day, he is to make the same provision for sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings and oil.

46¹ " 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The gate of the inner court facing east is to be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day and on the day of the New Moon it is to be opened. ² The prince is to enter from the outside through the portico of the gateway and stand by the gatepost. The priests are to sacrifice his burnt offering and his fellowship offerings. He is to bow down in worship at the threshold of the gateway and then go out, but the gate will not be shut until evening. ³ On the Sabbaths and New Moons the people of the land are to worship in the presence of the Lord at the entrance of that gateway. ⁴ The burnt offering the prince brings to the Lord on the Sabbath day is to be six male lambs and a ram, all without defect. ⁵ The grain offering given with the ram is to be an ephah,That is, probably about 35 pounds or about 16 kilograms; also in verses 7 and 11 and the grain offering with the lambs is to be as much as he pleases, along with a hinThat is, about 1 gallon or about 3.8 liters; also in verses 7 and 11 of olive oil for each ephah. ⁶ On the day of the New Moon he is to offer a young bull, six lambs and a ram, all without defect. ⁷ He is to provide as a grain offering one ephah with the bull, one ephah with the ram, and with the lambs as much as he wants to give, along with a hin of oil for each ephah. ⁸ When the prince enters, he is to go in through the portico of the gateway, and he is to come out the same way. ⁹ " 'When the people of the land come before the Lord at the appointed festivals, whoever enters by the north gate to worship is to go out the south gate; and whoever enters by the south gate is to go out the north gate. No one is to return through the gate by which they entered, but each is to go out the opposite gate. ¹⁰ The prince is to be among them, going in when they go in and going out when they go out. ¹¹ At the feasts and the appointed festivals, the grain offering is to be an ephah with a bull, an ephah with a ram, and with the lambs as much as he pleases, along with a hin of oil for each ephah. ¹² " 'When the prince provides a freewill offering to the Lord-whether a burnt offering or fellowship offerings-the gate facing east is to be opened for him. He shall offer his burnt offering or his fellowship offerings as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he has gone out, the gate will be shut. ¹³ " 'Every day you are to provide a year-old lamb without defect for a burnt offering to the Lord; morning by morning you shall provide it. ¹⁴ You are also to provide with it morning by morning a grain offering, consisting of a sixth of an ephahThat is, probably about 6 pounds or about 2.7 kilograms with a third of a hinThat is, about 1 1/2 quarts or about 1.3 liters of oil to moisten the flour. The presenting of this grain offering to the Lord is a lasting ordinance. ¹⁵ So the lamb and the grain offering and the oil shall be provided morning by morning for a regular burnt offering.

¹⁶ " 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: If the prince makes a gift from his inheritance to one of his sons, it will also belong to his descendants; it is to be their property by inheritance. ¹⁷ If, however, he makes a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, the servant may keep it until the year of freedom; then it will revert to the prince. His inheritance belongs to his sons only; it is theirs. ¹⁸ The prince must not take any of the inheritance of the people, driving them off their property. He is to give his sons their inheritance out of his own property, so that not one of my people will be separated from their property.' "

¹⁹ Then the man brought me through the entrance at the side of the gate to the sacred rooms facing north, which belonged to the priests, and showed me a place at the western end. ²⁰ He said to me, "This is the place where the priests are to cook the guilt offering and the sin offeringOr "purification offering" and bake the grain offering, to avoid bringing them into the outer court and consecrating the people." ²¹ He then brought me to the outer court and led me around to its four corners, and I saw in each corner another court. ²² In the four corners of the outer court were enclosedThe meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain. courts, forty cubits long and thirty cubits wide;That is, about 70 feet long and 53 feet wide or about 21 meters long and 16 meters wide each of the courts in the four corners was the same size. ²³ Around the inside of each of the four courts was a ledge of stone, with places for fire built all around under the ledge. ²⁴ He said to me, "These are the kitchens where those who minister at the temple are to cook the sacrifices of the people."

English Standard Version

44¹ Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east. And it was shut. ² And the Lord said to me, "This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut. ³ Only the prince may sit in it to eat bread before the Lord. He shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way."

⁴ Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple, and I looked, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord. And I fell on my face. ⁵ And the Lord said to me, "Son of man, mark well, see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I shall tell you concerning all the statutes of the temple of the Lord and all its laws. And mark well the entrance to the temple and all the exits from the sanctuary. ⁶ And say to the rebellious house,Septuagint; Hebrew lacks house to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: O house of Israel, enough of all your abominations, ⁷ in admitting foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary, profaning my temple, when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. YouSeptuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew They have broken my covenant, in addition to all your abominations. ⁸ And you have not kept charge of my holy things, but you have set others to keep my charge for you in my sanctuary. ⁹ "Thus says the Lord GOD: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, shall enter my sanctuary.

¹⁰ But the Levites who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols when Israel went astray, shall bear their punishment.Or iniquity; also verse 12 ¹¹ They shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple and ministering in the temple. They shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before the people, to minister to them. ¹² Because they ministered to them before their idols and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have sworn concerning them, declares the Lord GOD, and they shall bear their punishment. ¹³ They shall not come near to me, to serve me as priest, nor come near any of my holy things and the things that are most holy, but they shall bear their shame and the abominations that they have committed. ¹⁴ Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the temple, to do all its service and all that is to be done in it. ¹⁵ "But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me. And they shall stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the Lord GOD. ¹⁶ They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall approach my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge.

¹⁷ When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen garments. They shall have nothing of wool on them, while they minister at the gates of the inner court, and within. ¹⁸ They shall have linen turbans on their heads, and linen undergarments around their waists. They shall not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat. ¹⁹ And when they go out into the outer court to the people, they shall put off the garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers. And they shall put on other garments, lest they transmit holiness to the people with their garments. ²⁰ They shall not shave their heads or let their locks grow long; they shall surely trim the hair of their heads. ²¹ No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court. ²² They shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but only virgins of the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest. ²³ They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. ²⁴ In a dispute, they shall act as judges, and they shall judge it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts, and they shall keep my Sabbaths holy. ²⁵ They shall not defile themselves by going near to a dead person. However, for father or mother, for son or daughter, for brother or unmarried sister they may defile themselves. ²⁶ After he has become clean, they shall count seven days for him. ²⁷ And on the day that he goes into the Holy Place, into the inner court, to minister in the Holy Place, he shall offer his sin offering, declares the Lord GOD. ²⁸ "This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance: and you shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession. ²⁹ They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. ³⁰ And the first of all the firstfruits of all kinds, and every offering of all kinds from all your offerings, shall belong to the priests. You shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, that a blessing may rest on your house. ³¹ The priests shall not eat of anything, whether bird or beast, that has died of itself or is torn by wild animals.

45¹ "When you allot the land as an inheritance, you shall set apart for the Lord a portion of the land as a holy district, 25,000 cubitsA cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters long and 20,000Septuagint; Hebrew ten cubits broad. It shall be holy throughout its whole extent. ² Of this a square plot of 500 by 500 cubits shall be for the sanctuary, with fifty cubits for an open space around it. ³ And from this measured district you shall measure off a section 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 broad, in which shall be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. ⁴ It shall be the holy portion of the land. It shall be for the priests, who minister in the sanctuary and approach the Lord to minister to him, and it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. ⁵ Another section, 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits broad, shall be for the Levites who minister at the temple, as their possession for cities to live in.Septuagint; Hebrew as their possession, twenty chambers ⁶ "Alongside the portion set apart as the holy district you shall assign for the property of the city an area 5,000 cubits broad and 25,000 cubits long. It shall belong to the whole house of Israel. ⁷ "And to the prince shall belong the land on both sides of the holy district and the property of the city, alongside the holy district and the property of the city, on the west and on the east, corresponding in length to one of the tribal portions, and extending from the western to the eastern boundary ⁸ of the land. It is to be his property in Israel. And my princes shall no more oppress my people, but they shall let the house of Israel have the land according to their tribes.

⁹ "Thus says the Lord GOD: Enough, O princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression, and execute justice and righteousness. Cease your evictions of my people, declares the Lord GOD. ¹⁰ "You shall have just balances, a just ephah, and a just bath.An ephah was about 3/5 of a bushel or 22 liters; a bath was about 6 gallons or 22 liters ¹¹ The ephah and the bath shall be of the same measure, the bath containing one tenth of a homer,A homer was about 6 bushels or 220 liters and the ephah one tenth of a homer; the homer shall be the standard measure. ¹² The shekel shall be twenty gerahs;A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams; a gerah was about 1/50 ounce or 0.6 gram twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels shall be your mina.A mina was about 1 1/4 pounds or 0.6 kilogram

¹³ "This is the offering that you shall make: one sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat, and one sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley, ¹⁴ and as the fixed portion of oil, measured in baths, one tenth of a bath from each corA cor was about 6 bushels or 220 liters (the cor, like the homer, contains ten baths).See Vulgate; Hebrew (ten baths are a homer, for ten baths are a homer) ¹⁵ And one sheep from every flock of two hundred, from the watering places of Israel for grain offering, burnt offering, and peace offerings, to make atonement for them, declares the Lord GOD. ¹⁶ All the people of the land shall be obliged to give this offering to the prince in Israel. ¹⁷ It shall be the prince's duty to furnish the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the feasts, the new moons, and the Sabbaths, all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel: he shall provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings, to make atonement on behalf of the house of Israel. ¹⁸ "Thus says the Lord GOD: In the first month, on the first day of the month, you shall take a bull from the herd without blemish, and purify the sanctuary. ¹⁹ The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and the posts of the gate of the inner court. ²⁰ You shall do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who has sinned through error or ignorance; so you shall make atonement for the temple. ²¹ "In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall celebrate the Feast of the Passover, and for seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten. ²² On that day the prince shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a young bull for a sin offering. ²³ And on the seven days of the festival he shall provide as a burnt offering to the Lord seven young bulls and seven rams without blemish, on each of the seven days; and a male goat daily for a sin offering. ²⁴ And he shall provide as a grain offering an ephah for each bull, an ephah for each ram, and a hinA hin was about 4 quarts or 3.5 liters of oil to each ephah. ²⁵ In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month and for the seven days of the feast, he shall make the same provision for sin offerings, burnt offerings, and grain offerings, and for the oil.

46¹ "Thus says the Lord GOD: The gate of the inner court that faces east shall be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened. ² The prince shall enter by the vestibule of the gate from outside, and shall take his stand by the post of the gate. The priests shall offer his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be shut until evening. ³ The people of the land shall bow down at the entrance of that gate before the Lord on the Sabbaths and on the new moons. ⁴ The burnt offering that the prince offers to the Lord on the Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish. ⁵ And the grain offering with the ram shall be an ephah,An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters and the grain offering with the lambs shall be as much as he is able, together with a hinA hin was about 4 quarts or 3.5 liters of oil to each ephah. ⁶ On the day of the new moon he shall offer a bull from the herd without blemish, and six lambs and a ram, which shall be without blemish. ⁷ As a grain offering he shall provide an ephah with the bull and an ephah with the ram, and with the lambs as much as he is able, together with a hin of oil to each ephah. ⁸ When the prince enters, he shall enter by the vestibule of the gate, and he shall go out by the same way. ⁹ "When the people of the land come before the Lord at the appointed feasts, he who enters by the north gate to worship shall go out by the south gate, and he who enters by the south gate shall go out by the north gate: no one shall return by way of the gate by which he entered, but each shall go out straight ahead. ¹⁰ When they enter, the prince shall enter with them, and when they go out, he shall go out. ¹¹ "At the feasts and the appointed festivals, the grain offering with a young bull shall be an ephah, and with a ram an ephah, and with the lambs as much as one is able to give, together with a hin of oil to an ephah. ¹² When the prince provides a freewill offering, either a burnt offering or peace offerings as a freewill offering to the Lord, the gate facing east shall be opened for him. And he shall offer his burnt offering or his peace offerings as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he has gone out the gate shall be shut. ¹³ "You shall provide a lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering to the Lord daily; morning by morning you shall provide it. ¹⁴ And you shall provide a grain offering with it morning by morning, one sixth of an ephah, and one third of a hin of oil to moisten the flour, as a grain offering to the Lord. This is a perpetual statute. ¹⁵ Thus the lamb and the meal offering and the oil shall be provided, morning by morning, for a regular burnt offering.

¹⁶ "Thus says the Lord GOD: If the prince makes a gift to any of his sons as his inheritance, it shall belong to his sons. It is their property by inheritance. ¹⁷ But if he makes a gift out of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his to the year of liberty. Then it shall revert to the prince; surely it is his inheritance--it shall belong to his sons. ¹⁸ The prince shall not take any of the inheritance of the people, thrusting them out of their property. He shall give his sons their inheritance out of his own property, so that none of my people shall be scattered from his property."

¹⁹ Then he brought me through the entrance, which was at the side of the gate, to the north row of the holy chambers for the priests, and behold, a place was there at the extreme western end of them. ²⁰ And he said to me, "This is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the grain offering, in order not to bring them out into the outer court and so transmit holiness to the people." ²¹ Then he brought me out to the outer court and led me around to the four corners of the court. And behold, in each corner of the court there was another court-- ²² in the four corners of the court were smallSeptuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; the meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain courts, forty cubitsA cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters long and thirty broad; the four were of the same size. ²³ On the inside, around each of the four courts was a row of masonry, with hearths made at the bottom of the rows all around. ²⁴ Then he said to me, "These are the kitchens where those who minister at the temple shall boil the sacrifices of the people."

The Message

44¹ Then the man brought me back to the outside gate complex of the Sanctuary that faces east. But it was shut. ² God spoke to me: "This gate is shut and it's to stay shut. No one is to go through it because God, the God of Israel, has gone through it. It stays shut. ³ Only the prince, because he's the prince, may sit there to eat in the presence of God. He is to enter the gate complex through the porch and leave by the same way."

⁴ The man led me through the north gate to the front of the Temple. I looked, and - oh! - the bright Glory of God filling the Temple of God! I fell on my face in worship. ⁵ God said to me, "Son of man, get a grip on yourself. Use your eyes, use your ears, pay careful attention to everything I tell you about the ordinances of this Temple of God, the way all the laws work, instructions regarding it and all the entrances and exits of the Sanctuary. ⁶ "Tell this bunch of rebels, this family Israel, 'Message of God, the Master: No more of these vile obscenities, Israel, ⁷ dragging irreverent and unrepentant outsiders, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, into my Sanctuary, feeding them the sacrificial offerings as if it were the food for a neighborhood picnic. With all your vile obscenities, you've broken trust with me, the solemn covenant I made with you. ⁸ You haven't taken care of my holy things. You've hired out the work to foreigners who care nothing for this place, my Sanctuary. ⁹ No irreverent and unrepentant aliens, uncircumcised in heart or flesh, not even the ones who live among Israelites, are to enter my Sanctuary.'

¹⁰ "The Levites who walked off and left me, along with everyone else - all Israel - who took up with all the no-god idols, will pay for everything they did wrong. ¹¹ From now on they'll do only the menial work in the Sanctuary: guard the gates and help out with the Temple chores - and also kill the sacrificial animals for the people and serve them. ¹² Because they acted as priests to the no-god idols and made my people Israel stumble and fall, I've taken an oath to punish them. Decree of God, the Master. Yes, they'll pay for what they've done. ¹³ They're fired from the priesthood. No longer will they come into my presence and take care of my holy things. No more access to The Holy Place! They'll have to live with what they've done, carry the shame of their vile and obscene lives. ¹⁴ From now on, their job is to sweep up and run errands. That's it. ¹⁵ "But the Levitical priests who descend from Zadok, who faithfully took care of my Sanctuary when everyone else went off and left me, are going to come into my presence and serve me. They are going to carry out the priestly work of offering the solemn sacrifices of worship. Decree of God, the Master. ¹⁶ They're the only ones permitted to enter my Sanctuary. They're the only ones to approach my table and serve me, accompanying me in my work.

¹⁷ "When they enter the gate complex of the inside courtyard, they are to dress in linen. No woolens are to be worn while serving at the gate complex of the inside courtyard or inside the Temple itself. ¹⁸ They're to wear linen turbans on their heads and linen underclothes - nothing that makes them sweat. ¹⁹ When they go out into the outside courtyard where the people gather, they must first change out of the clothes they have been serving in, leaving them in the sacred rooms where they change to their everyday clothes, so that they don't trivialize their holy work by the way they dress. ²⁰ "They are to neither shave their heads nor let their hair become unkempt, but must keep their hair trimmed and neat. ²¹ "No priest is to drink on the job - no wine while in the inside courtyard. ²² "Priests are not to marry widows or divorcees, but only Israelite virgins or widows of priests. ²³ "Their job is to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, to show them how to discern between unclean and clean. ²⁴ "When there's a difference of opinion, the priests will arbitrate. They'll decide on the basis of my judgments, laws, and statutes. They are in charge of making sure the appointed feasts are honored and my Sabbaths kept holy in the ways I've commanded. ²⁵ "A priest must not contaminate himself by going near a corpse. But when the dead person is his father or mother, son or daughter, brother or unmarried sister, he can approach the dead. ²⁶ But after he has been purified, he must wait another seven days. ²⁷ Then, when he returns to the inside courtyard of the Sanctuary to do his priestly work in the Sanctuary, he must first offer a sin offering for himself. Decree of God, the Master. ²⁸ "As to priests owning land, I am their inheritance. Don't give any land in Israel to them. I am their 'land,' their inheritance. ²⁹ They'll take their meals from the grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings. Everything in Israel offered to God in worship is theirs. ³⁰ The best of everything grown, plus all special gifts, comes to the priests. All that is given in worship to God goes to them. Serve them first. Serve from your best and your home will be blessed. ³¹ "Priests are not to eat any meat from bird or animal unfit for ordinary human consumption, such as carcasses found dead on the road or in the field.

45¹ "When you divide up the inheritance of the land, you must set aside part of the land as sacred space for God: approximately seven miles long by six miles wide, all of it holy ground. ² Within this rectangle, reserve a seven-hundred-fifty-foot square for the Sanctuary with a seventy-five-foot buffer zone surrounding it. ³ Mark off within the sacred reserve a section seven miles long by three miles wide. The Sanctuary with its Holy of Holies will be placed there. ⁴ This is where the priests will live, those who lead worship in the Sanctuary and serve God there. Their houses will be there along with The Holy Place. ⁵ "To the north of the sacred reserve, an area roughly seven miles long and two and a quarter miles wide will be set aside as land for the villages of the Levites who administer the affairs of worship in the Sanctuary. ⁶ "To the south of the sacred reserve, measure off a section seven miles long and about a mile and a half wide for the city itself, an area held in common by the whole family of Israel. ⁷ "The prince gets the land abutting the seven-mile east and west borders of the central sacred square, extending eastward toward the Jordan and westward toward the Mediterranean. ⁸ This is the prince's possession in Israel. My princes will no longer bully my people, running roughshod over them. They'll respect the land as it has been allotted to the tribes.

⁹ "This is the Message of God, the Master: 'I've put up with you long enough, princes of Israel! Quit bullying and taking advantage of my people. Do what's just and right for a change. ¹⁰ Use honest scales - honest weights and honest measures. ¹¹ Every pound must have sixteen ounces. Every gallon must measure four quarts. The ounce is the basic measure for both. ¹² And your coins must be honest - no wooden nickels! Everyone in the Land Must Contribute

¹³ "'These are the prescribed offerings you are to supply: one-sixtieth part of your wheat, one-sixtieth part of your barley, ¹⁴ one-hundredth part of your oil, ¹⁵ one sheep out of every two hundred from the lush pastures of Israel. These will be used for the grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings for making the atonement sacrifices for the people. Decree of God, the Master. ¹⁶ "'Everyone in the land must contribute to these special offerings that the prince in Israel will administer. ¹⁷ It's the prince's job to provide the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings at the Holy Festivals, the New Moons, and the Sabbaths - all the commanded feasts among the people of Israel. Sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings for making atonement for the people of Israel are his responsibility. ¹⁸ "'This is the Message from God, the Master: On the first day of the first month, take an unblemished bull calf and purify the Sanctuary. ¹⁹ The priest is to take blood from the sin offerings and rub it on the doorposts of the Temple, on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the gate entrance to the inside courtyard. ²⁰ Repeat this ritual on the seventh day of the month for anyone who sins without knowing it. In this way you make atonement for the Temple. ²¹ "'On the fourteenth day of the first month, you will observe the Passover, a feast of seven days. During the feast you will eat bread made without yeast. ²² "'On Passover, the prince supplies a bull as a sin offering for himself and all the people of the country. ²³ Each day for each of the seven days of the feast, he will supply seven bulls and seven rams unblemished as a burnt offering to God, and also each day a male goat. ²⁴ "'He will supply about five and a half gallons of grain offering and a gallon of oil for each bull and each ram. ²⁵ "'On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and on each of the seven days of the feast, he is to supply the same materials for sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, and oil.

46¹ "'Message from God, the Master: The gate of the inside courtyard on the east is to be shut on the six working days, but open on the Sabbath. It is also to be open on the New Moon. ² The prince will enter through the entrance area of the gate complex and stand at the gateposts as the priests present his burnt offerings and peace offerings while he worships there on the porch. He will then leave, but the gate won't be shut until evening. ³ On Sabbaths and New Moons, the people are to worship before God at the outside entrance to that gate complex. ⁴ "'The prince supplies for God the burnt offering for the Sabbath - six unblemished lambs and an unblemished ram. ⁵ The grain offering to go with the ram is about five and a half gallons plus a gallon of oil, and a handful of grain for each lamb. ⁶ "'At the New Moon he is to supply a bull calf, six lambs, and a ram, all without blemish. ⁷ He will also supply five and a half gallons of grain offering and a gallon of oil for both ram and bull, and a handful of grain offering for each lamb. ⁸ "'When the prince enters, he will go through the entrance vestibule of the gate complex and leave the same way. ⁹ "'But when the people of the land come to worship God at the commanded feasts, those who enter through the north gate will exit from the south gate, and those who enter though the south gate will exit from the north gate. You don't exit the gate through which you enter, but through the opposite gate. ¹⁰ The prince is to be there, mingling with them, going in and out with them. ¹¹ "'At the festivals and the commanded feasts, the appropriate grain offering is five and a half gallons, with a gallon of oil for the bull and ram and a handful of grain for each lamb. ¹² "'When the prince brings a freewill offering to God, whether a burnt offering or a peace offering, the east gate is to be opened for him. He offers his burnt or peace offering the same as he does on the Sabbath. Then he leaves, and after he is out, the gate is shut. ¹³ "'Every morning you are to bring a yearling lamb unblemished for a burnt offering to God. ¹⁴ Also, every morning bring a grain offering of about a gallon of grain with a quart or so of oil to moisten it. Presenting this grain offering to God is standard procedure. ¹⁵ The lamb, the grain offering, and the oil for the burnt offering are a regular daily ritual.

¹⁶ "'A Message from God, the Master: If the prince deeds a gift from his inheritance to one of his sons, it stays in the family. ¹⁷ But if he deeds a gift from his inheritance to a servant, the servant keeps it only until the year of liberation (the Jubilee year). After that, it comes back to the prince. His inheritance is only for his sons. It stays in the family. ¹⁸ The prince must not take the inheritance from any of the people, dispossessing them of their land. He can give his sons only what he himself owns. None of my people are to be run off their land.'"

¹⁹ Then the man brought me through the north gate into the holy chambers assigned to the priests and showed me a back room to the west. ²⁰ He said, "This is the kitchen where the priests will cook the guilt offering and sin offering and bake the grain offering so that they won't have to do it in the outside courtyard and endanger the unprepared people out there with The Holy." ²¹ He proceeded to take me to the outside courtyard and around to each of its four corners. In each corner I observed another court. ²² In each of the four corners of the outside courtyard were smaller courts sixty by forty-five feet, each the same size. ²³ On the inside walls of the courts was a stone shelf, and beneath the shelves, hearths for cooking. ²⁴ He said, "These are the kitchens where those who serve in the Temple will cook the sacrifices of the people."

New King James Version

44¹ Then He brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary which faces toward the east, but it was shut. ² And the Lord said to me, "This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because the Lord God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut. ³ As for the prince, because he is the prince, he may sit in it to eat bread before the Lord; he shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gateway, and go out the same way."

⁴ Also He brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple; so I looked, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord; and I fell on my face. ⁵ And the Lord said to me, "Son of man, mark well, see with your eyes and hear with your ears, all that I say to you concerning all the ordinances of the house of the Lord and all its laws. Mark well who may enter the house and all who go out from the sanctuary. ⁶ Now say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord God: "O house of Israel, let us have no more of all your abominations. ⁷ When you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to defile it--My house--and when you offered My food, the fat and the blood, then they broke My covenant because of all your abominations. ⁸ And you have not kept charge of My holy things, but you have set others to keep charge of My sanctuary for you." ⁹ Thus says the Lord God: "No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter My sanctuary, including any foreigner who is among the children of Israel.

¹⁰ "And the Levites who went far from Me, when Israel went astray, who strayed away from Me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity. ¹¹ Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, as gatekeepers of the house and ministers of the house; they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them. ¹² Because they ministered to them before their idols and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity, therefore I have raised My hand in an oath against them," says the Lord God, "that they shall bear their iniquity. ¹³ And they shall not come near Me to minister to Me as priest, nor come near any of My holy things, nor into the Most Holy Place; but they shall bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed. ¹⁴ Nevertheless I will make them keep charge of the temple, for all its work, and for all that has to be done in it. ¹⁵ "But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near Me to minister to Me; and they shall stand before Me to offer to Me the fat and the blood," says the Lord God. ¹⁶ They shall enter My sanctuary, and they shall come near My table to minister to Me, and they shall keep My charge.

¹⁷ And it shall be, whenever they enter the gates of the inner court, that they shall put on linen garments; no wool shall come upon them while they minister within the gates of the inner court or within the house. ¹⁸ They shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen trousers on their bodies; they shall not clothe themselves with anything that causes sweat. ¹⁹ When they go out to the outer court, to the outer court to the people, they shall take off their garments in which they have ministered, leave them in the holy chambers, and put on other garments; and in their holy garments they shall not sanctify the people. ²⁰ They shall neither shave their heads nor let their hair grow long; but they shall keep their hair well trimmed. ²¹ No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court. ²² They shall not take as wife a widow or a divorced woman, but take virgins of the descendants of the house of Israel, or widows of priests. ²³ And they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. ²⁴ In controversy they shall stand as judges, and judge it according to My judgments. They shall keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed meetings, and they shall hallow My Sabbaths. ²⁵ They shall not defile themselves by coming near a dead person. Only for father or mother, for son or daughter, for brother or unmarried sister may they defile themselves. ²⁶ After he is cleansed, they shall count seven days for him. ²⁷ And on the day that he goes to the sanctuary to minister in the sanctuary, he must offer his sin offering in the inner court," says the Lord God. ²⁸ "It shall be, in regard to their inheritance, that I am their inheritance. You shall give them no possession in Israel, for I am their possession. ²⁹ They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering; every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs. ³⁰ The best of all firstfruits of any kind, and every sacrifice of any kind from all your sacrifices, shall be the priest's; also you shall give to the priest the first of your ground meal, to cause a blessing to rest on your house. ³¹ The priests shall not eat anything, bird or beast, that died naturally or was torn by wild beasts.

45¹ "Moreover, when you divide the land by lot into inheritance, you shall set apart a district for the Lord, a holy section of the land; its length shall be twenty-five thousand cubits, and the width ten thousand. It shall be holy throughout its territory all around. ² Of this there shall be a square plot for the sanctuary, five hundred by five hundred rods, with fifty cubits around it for an open space. ³ So this is the district you shall measure: twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand wide; in it shall be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. ⁴ It shall be a holy section of the land, belonging to the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who come near to minister to the Lord; it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. ⁵ An area twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand wide shall belong to the Levites, the ministers of the temple; they shall have twenty chambers as a possession. ⁶ "You shall appoint as the property of the city an area five thousand cubits wide and twenty-five thousand long, adjacent to the district of the holy section; it shall belong to the whole house of Israel. ⁷ "The prince shall have a section on one side and the other of the holy district and the city's property; and bordering on the holy district and the city's property, extending westward on the west side and eastward on the east side, the length shall be side by side with one of the tribal portions, from the west border to the east border. ⁸ The land shall be his possession in Israel; and My princes shall no more oppress My people, but they shall give the rest of the land to the house of Israel, according to their tribes."

⁹ 'Thus says the Lord God: "Enough, O princes of Israel! Remove violence and plundering, execute justice and righteousness, and stop dispossessing My people," says the Lord God. ¹⁰ "You shall have honest scales, an honest ephah, and an honest bath. ¹¹ The ephah and the bath shall be of the same measure, so that the bath contains one-tenth of a homer, and the ephah one-tenth of a homer; their measure shall be according to the homer. ¹² The shekel shall be twenty gerahs; twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels shall be your mina.

¹³ This is the offering which you shall offer: you shall give one-sixth of an ephah from a homer of wheat, and one-sixth of an ephah from a homer of barley. ¹⁴ The ordinance concerning oil, the bath of oil, is one-tenth of a bath from a kor. A kor is a homer or ten baths, for ten baths are a homer. ¹⁵ And one lamb shall be given from a flock of two hundred, from the rich pastures of Israel. These shall be for grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings, to make atonement for them," says the Lord God. ¹⁶ "All the people of the land shall give this offering for the prince in Israel. ¹⁷ Then it shall be the prince's part to give burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the feasts, the New Moons, the Sabbaths, and at all the appointed seasons of the house of Israel. He shall prepare the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel." ¹⁸ 'Thus says the Lord God: "In the first month, on the first day of the month, you shall take a young bull without blemish and cleanse the sanctuary. ¹⁹ The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the gateposts of the gate of the inner court. ²⁰ And so you shall do on the seventh day of the month for everyone who has sinned unintentionally or in ignorance. Thus you shall make atonement for the temple. ²¹ "In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall observe the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. ²² And on that day the prince shall prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bull for a sin offering. ²³ On the seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to the Lord, seven bulls and seven rams without blemish, daily for seven days, and a kid of the goats daily for a sin offering. ²⁴ And he shall prepare a grain offering of one ephah for each bull and one ephah for each ram, together with a hin of oil for each ephah. ²⁵ In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, at the feast, he shall do likewise for seven days, according to the sin offering, the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the oil."

46¹ 'Thus says the Lord God: "The gateway of the inner court that faces toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and on the day of the New Moon it shall be opened. ² The prince shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gateway from the outside, and stand by the gatepost. The priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings. He shall worship at the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be shut until evening. ³ Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the entrance to this gateway before the Lord on the Sabbaths and the New Moons. ⁴ The burnt offering that the prince offers to the Lord on the Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish; ⁵ and the grain offering shall be one ephah for a ram, and the grain offering for the lambs, as much as he wants to give, as well as a hin of oil with every ephah. ⁶ On the day of the New Moon it shall be a young bull without blemish, six lambs, and a ram; they shall be without blemish. ⁷ He shall prepare a grain offering of an ephah for a bull, an ephah for a ram, as much as he wants to give for the lambs, and a hin of oil with every ephah. ⁸ When the prince enters, he shall go in by way of the vestibule of the gateway, and go out the same way. ⁹ "But when the people of the land come before the Lord on the appointed feast days, whoever enters by way of the north gate to worship shall go out by way of the south gate; and whoever enters by way of the south gate shall go out by way of the north gate. He shall not return by way of the gate through which he came, but shall go out through the opposite gate. ¹⁰ The prince shall then be in their midst. When they go in, he shall go in; and when they go out, he shall go out. ¹¹ At the festivals and the appointed feast days the grain offering shall be an ephah for a bull, an ephah for a ram, as much as he wants to give for the lambs, and a hin of oil with every ephah. ¹² "Now when the prince makes a voluntary burnt offering or voluntary peace offering to the Lord, the gate that faces toward the east shall then be opened for him; and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings as he did on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he goes out the gate shall be shut. ¹³ You shall daily make a burnt offering to the Lord of a lamb of the first year without blemish; you shall prepare it every morning. ¹⁴ And you shall prepare a grain offering with it every morning, a sixth of an ephah, and a third of a hin of oil to moisten the fine flour. This grain offering is a perpetual ordinance, to be made regularly to the Lord. ¹⁵ Thus they shall prepare the lamb, the grain offering, and the oil, as a regular burnt offering every morning."

¹⁶ 'Thus says the Lord God: "If the prince gives a gift of some of his inheritance to any of his sons, it shall belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance. ¹⁷ But if he gives a gift of some of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his until the year of liberty, after which it shall return to the prince. But his inheritance shall belong to his sons; it shall become theirs. ¹⁸ Moreover the prince shall not take any of the people's inheritance by evicting them from their property; he shall provide an inheritance for his sons from his own property, so that none of My people may be scattered from his property." ' "

¹⁹ Now he brought me through the entrance, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers of the priests which face toward the north; and there a place was situated at their extreme western end. ²⁰ And he said to me, "This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the grain offering, so that they do not bring them out into the outer court to sanctify the people." ²¹ Then he brought me out into the outer court and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; and in fact, in every corner of the court there was another court. ²² In the four corners of the court were enclosed courts, forty cubits long and thirty wide; all four corners were the same size. ²³ There was a row of building stones all around in them, all around the four of them; and cooking hearths were made under the rows of stones all around. ²⁴ And he said to me, "These are the kitchens where the ministers of the temple shall boil the sacrifices of the people."

New Living Translation

44¹ Then the man brought me back to the east gateway in the outer wall of the Temple area, but it was closed. ² And the Lord said to me, "This gate must remain closed; it will never again be opened. No one will ever open it and pass through, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered here. Therefore, it must always remain shut. ³ Only the prince himself may sit inside this gateway to feast in the Lord 's presence. But he may come and go only through the entry room of the gateway."

⁴ Then the man brought me through the north gateway to the front of the Temple. I looked and saw that the glory of the Lord filled the Temple of the Lord, and I fell face down on the ground. ⁵ And the Lord said to me, "Son of man, take careful notice. Use your eyes and ears, and listen to everything I tell you about the regulations concerning the Lord 's Temple. Take careful note of the procedures for using the Temple's entrances and exits. ⁶ And give these rebels, the people of Israel, this message from the Sovereign Lord : O people of Israel, enough of your detestable sins! ⁷ You have brought uncircumcised foreigners into my sanctuary-people who have no heart for God. In this way, you defiled my Temple even as you offered me my food, the fat and blood of sacrifices. In addition to all your other detestable sins, you have broken my covenant. ⁸ Instead of safeguarding my sacred rituals, you have hired foreigners to take charge of my sanctuary. ⁹ "So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: No foreigners, including those who live among the people of Israel, will enter my sanctuary if they have not been circumcised and have not surrendered themselves to the Lord .

¹⁰ And the men of the tribe of Levi who abandoned me when Israel strayed away from me to worship idols must bear the consequences of their unfaithfulness. ¹¹ They may still be Temple guards and gatekeepers, and they may slaughter the animals brought for burnt offerings and be present to help the people. ¹² But they encouraged my people to worship idols, causing Israel to fall into deep sin. So I have taken a solemn oath that they must bear the consequences for their sins, says the Sovereign Lord . ¹³ They may not approach me to minister as priests. They may not touch any of my holy things or the holy offerings, for they must bear the shame of all the detestable sins they have committed. ¹⁴ They are to serve as the Temple caretakers, taking charge of the maintenance work and performing general duties. ¹⁵ "However, the Levitical priests of the family of Zadok continued to minister faithfully in the Temple when Israel abandoned me for idols. These men will serve as my ministers. They will stand in my presence and offer the fat and blood of the sacrifices, says the Sovereign Lord . ¹⁶ They alone will enter my sanctuary and approach my table to serve me. They will fulfill all my requirements.

¹⁷ "When they enter the gateway to the inner courtyard, they must wear only linen clothing. They must wear no wool while on duty in the inner courtyard or in the Temple itself. ¹⁸ They must wear linen turbans and linen undergarments. They must not wear anything that would cause them to perspire. ¹⁹ When they return to the outer courtyard where the people are, they must take off the clothes they wear while ministering to me. They must leave them in the sacred rooms and put on other clothes so they do not endanger anyone by transmitting holiness to them through this clothing. ²⁰ "They must neither shave their heads nor let their hair grow too long. Instead, they must trim it regularly. ²¹ The priests must not drink wine before entering the inner courtyard. ²² They may choose their wives only from among the virgins of Israel or the widows of the priests. They may not marry other widows or divorced women. ²³ They will teach my people the difference between what is holy and what is common, what is ceremonially clean and unclean. ²⁴ "They will serve as judges to resolve any disagreements among my people. Their decisions must be based on my regulations. And the priests themselves must obey my instructions and decrees at all the sacred festivals, and see to it that the Sabbaths are set apart as holy days. ²⁵ "A priest must not defile himself by being in the presence of a dead person unless it is his father, mother, child, brother, or unmarried sister. In such cases it is permitted. ²⁶ Even then, he can return to his Temple duties only after being ceremonially cleansed and then waiting for seven days. ²⁷ The first day he returns to work and enters the inner courtyard and the sanctuary, he must offer a sin offering for himself, says the Sovereign Lord . ²⁸ "The priests will not have any property or possession of land, for I alone am their special possession. ²⁹ Their food will come from the gifts and sacrifices brought to the Temple by the people-the grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings. Whatever anyone sets apart for the Lord will belong to the priests. ³⁰ The first of the ripe fruits and all the gifts brought to the Lord will go to the priests. The first batch of dough must also be given to the priests so the Lord will bless your homes. ³¹ The priests may not eat meat from any bird or animal that dies a natural death or that dies after being attacked by another animal.

45¹ "When you divide the land among the tribes of Israel, you must set aside a section for the Lord as his holy portion. This piece of land will be 8 miles long and 6 miles wide. The entire area will be holy. ² A section of this land, measuring 875 feet by 875 feet, will be set aside for the Temple. An additional strip of land 87 feet wide is to be left empty all around it. ³ Within the larger sacred area, measure out a portion of land 8 miles long and 3 miles wide. Within it the sanctuary of the Most Holy Place will be located. ⁴ This area will be holy, set aside for the priests who minister to the Lord in the sanctuary. They will use it for their homes, and my Temple will be located within it. ⁵ The strip of sacred land next to it, also 8 miles long and 3 miles wide, will be a living area for the Levites who work at the Temple. It will be their possession and a place for their towns. ⁶ "Adjacent to the larger sacred area will be a section of land 8 miles long and 1 miles wide. This will be set aside for a city where anyone in Israel can live. ⁷ "Two special sections of land will be set apart for the prince. One section will share a border with the east side of the sacred lands and city, and the second section will share a border on the west side. Then the far eastern and western borders of the prince's lands will line up with the eastern and western boundaries of the tribal areas. ⁸ These sections of land will be the prince's allotment. Then my princes will no longer oppress and rob my people; they will assign the rest of the land to the people, giving an allotment to each tribe.

⁹ "For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Enough, you princes of Israel! Stop your violence and oppression and do what is just and right. Quit robbing and cheating my people out of their land. Stop expelling them from their homes, says the Sovereign Lord . ¹⁰ Use only honest weights and scales and honest measures, both dry and liquid. ¹¹ The homer will be your standard unit for measuring volume. The ephah and the bath will each measure one-tenth of a homer. ¹² The standard unit for weight will be the silver shekel. One shekel will consist of twenty gerahs, and sixty shekels will be equal to one mina.

¹³ "You must give this tax to the prince: one bushel of wheat or barley for every 60 you harvest, ¹⁴ one percent of your olive oil, ¹⁵ and one sheep or goat for every 200 in your flocks in Israel. These will be the grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings that will make atonement for the people who bring them, says the Sovereign Lord . ¹⁶ All the people of Israel must join in bringing these offerings to the prince. ¹⁷ The prince will be required to provide offerings that are given at the religious festivals, the new moon celebrations, the Sabbath days, and all other similar occasions. He will provide the sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, liquid offerings, and peace offerings to purify the people of Israel, making them right with the Lord . ¹⁸ "This is what the Sovereign Lord says: In early spring, on the first day of each new year, sacrifice a young bull with no defects to purify the Temple. ¹⁹ The priest will take blood from this sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the Temple, the four corners of the upper ledge of the altar, and the gateposts at the entrance to the inner courtyard. ²⁰ Do this also on the seventh day of the new year for anyone who has sinned through error or ignorance. In this way, you will purify the Temple. ²¹ "On the fourteenth day of the first month, you must celebrate the Passover. This festival will last for seven days. The bread you eat during that time must be made without yeast. ²² On the day of Passover the prince will provide a young bull as a sin offering for himself and the people of Israel. ²³ On each of the seven days of the feast he will prepare a burnt offering to the Lord, consisting of seven young bulls and seven rams without defects. A male goat will also be given each day for a sin offering. ²⁴ The prince will provide a basket of flour as a grain offering and a gallon of olive oil with each young bull and ram. ²⁵ "During the seven days of the Festival of Shelters, which occurs every year in early autumn, the prince will provide these same sacrifices for the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the grain offering, along with the required olive oil.

46¹ "This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The east gateway of the inner courtyard will be closed during the six workdays each week, but it will be open on Sabbath days and the days of new moon celebrations. ² The prince will enter the entry room of the gateway from the outside. Then he will stand by the gatepost while the priest offers his burnt offering and peace offering. He will bow down in worship inside the gateway passage and then go back out the way he came. The gateway will not be closed until evening. ³ The common people will bow down and worship the Lord in front of this gateway on Sabbath days and the days of new moon celebrations. ⁴ "Each Sabbath day the prince will present to the Lord a burnt offering of six lambs and one ram, all with no defects. ⁵ He will present a grain offering of a basket of choice flour to go with the ram and whatever amount of flour he chooses to go with each lamb, and he is to offer one gallon of olive oil for each basket of flour. ⁶ At the new moon celebrations, he will bring one young bull, six lambs, and one ram, all with no defects. ⁷ With the young bull he must bring a basket of choice flour for a grain offering. With the ram he must bring another basket of flour. And with each lamb he is to bring whatever amount of flour he chooses to give. With each basket of flour he must offer one gallon of olive oil. ⁸ "The prince must enter the gateway through the entry room, and he must leave the same way. ⁹ But when the people come in through the north gateway to worship the Lord during the religious festivals, they must leave by the south gateway. And those who entered through the south gateway must leave by the north gateway. They must never leave by the same gateway they came in, but must always use the opposite gateway. ¹⁰ The prince will enter and leave with the people on these occasions. ¹¹ "So at the special feasts and sacred festivals, the grain offering will be a basket of choice flour with each young bull, another basket of flour with each ram, and as much flour as the worshiper chooses to give with each lamb. Give one gallon of olive oil with each basket of flour. ¹² When the prince offers a voluntary burnt offering or peace offering to the Lord, the east gateway to the inner courtyard will be opened for him, and he will offer his sacrifices as he does on Sabbath days. Then he will leave, and the gateway will be shut behind him. ¹³ "Each morning you must sacrifice a one-year-old lamb with no defects as a burnt offering to the Lord . ¹⁴ With the lamb, a grain offering must also be given to the Lord -about three quarts of flour with a third of a gallon of olive oil to moisten the choice flour. This will be a permanent law for you. ¹⁵ The lamb, the grain offering, and the olive oil must be given as a daily sacrifice every morning without fail.

¹⁶ "This is what the Sovereign Lord says: If the prince gives a gift of land to one of his sons as his inheritance, it will belong to him and his descendants forever. ¹⁷ But if the prince gives a gift of land from his inheritance to one of his servants, the servant may keep it only until the Year of Jubilee, which comes every fiftieth year. At that time the land will return to the prince. But when the prince gives gifts to his sons, those gifts will be permanent. ¹⁸ And the prince may never take anyone's property by force. If he gives property to his sons, it must be from his own land, for I do not want any of my people unjustly evicted from their property."

¹⁹ In my vision, the man brought me through the entrance beside the gateway and led me to the sacred rooms assigned to the priests, which faced toward the north. He showed me a place at the extreme west end of these rooms. ²⁰ He explained, "This is where the priests will cook the meat from the guilt offerings and sin offerings and bake the flour from the grain offerings into bread. They will do it here to avoid carrying the sacrifices through the outer courtyard and endangering the people by transmitting holiness to them." ²¹ Then he brought me back to the outer courtyard and led me to each of its four corners. In each corner I saw an enclosure. ²² Each of these enclosures was 70 feet long and 52 feet wide, surrounded by walls. ²³ Along the inside of these walls was a ledge of stone with fireplaces under the ledge all the way around. ²⁴ The man said to me, "These are the kitchens to be used by the Temple assistants to boil the sacrifices offered by the people."