Ezekiel 42–44

The Temple’s Chambers

42Then he led me out into ^xthe outer court, ^ytoward the north, and he brought me to ^xthe chambers that were opposite ^zthe separate yard and opposite ^athe building on the north. ²The length of the building whose door faced north was ^ba hundred cubits,¹ and ^cthe breadth fifty cubits. ³Facing ^dthe twenty cubits that belonged to the inner court, and facing ^ethe pavement that belonged to the outer court, was ^fgallery² against gallery in three stories. ⁴And ^gbefore the chambers was a passage inward, ten cubits wide and ^ha hundred cubits long,³ and ^gtheir doors were on the north. ⁵Now the upper chambers were narrower, for the galleries took more away from them than from the lower and middle chambers of the building. ⁶For they were in three stories, and they had no pillars like the pillars of the courts. Thus the upper chambers were set back from the ground more than the lower and the middle ones. ⁷And ⁱthere was a wall outside parallel to the chambers, toward the outer court, opposite the chambers, ^jfifty cubits long. ⁸For the chambers on the outer court were fifty cubits long, while those opposite ^kthe nave⁴ were ^la hundred cubits long. ⁹Below these chambers was ^man entrance on the east side, as one enters them from the outer court.

¹⁰In the thickness of ⁿthe wall of the court, on the south⁵ also, opposite ^othe yard and opposite ^othe building, there were ^pchambers ¹¹with ^qa passage in front of them. They were similar to the chambers on the north, of the same length and breadth, with the same exits⁶ and arrangements and ^qdoors, ¹²as were the entrances of the chambers on the south. There was an entrance at the beginning of the passage, the passage before ⁿthe corresponding wall on the east as one enters them.⁷

¹³Then he said to me, “The north chambers and the south chambers opposite ^othe yard are the holy chambers, ^rwhere the priests who approach the Lord ^sshall eat the ^tmost holy offerings. There they shall put the most holy offerings—^tthe grain offering, ^uthe sin offering, and ^uthe guilt offering—for the place is holy. ¹⁴When the priests enter the Holy Place, they shall not go out of it into the outer court ^vwithout laying there the garments in which they minister, for these are holy. ^vThey shall put on other garments before they go near to that which is for the people.”

¹⁵Now when he had finished measuring the interior of the temple area, he led me out by ^wthe gate that faced east, and measured the temple area all around. ¹⁶He measured the east side with ^xthe measuring reed, 500 cubits by the measuring reed all around. ¹⁷He measured the north side, 500 cubits by the measuring reed all around. ¹⁸He measured the south side, 500 cubits by the measuring reed. ¹⁹Then he turned to the west side and measured, 500 cubits by the measuring reed. ²⁰He measured it on the four sides. It had ^ya wall around it, ^z500 cubits long and ^z500 cubits broad, ^ato make a separation between the holy and the common.

The Glory of the Lord Fills the Temple

43Then he led me to ^bthe gate, the gate facing east. ²And behold, ^cthe glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. And ^dthe sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters, and ^ethe earth shone with his glory. ³And ^fthe vision I saw was just like the vision that I had seen ^gwhen he¹ came to destroy the city, and just like ^hthe vision that I had seen ⁱby the Chebar canal. And ^jI fell on my face. ⁴As ^cthe glory of the Lord ^kentered the temple by the gate facing east, ^5lthe Spirit lifted me up and brought me into ^mthe inner court; and behold, ⁿthe glory of the Lord filled the temple.

^6oWhile the man was standing beside me, ^pI heard one speaking to me out of the temple, ⁷and he said to me, ^q“Son of man, this is ^rthe place of my throne and ^sthe place of the soles of my feet, ^twhere I will dwell in the midst of the people of Israel forever. And the house of Israel shall no more ^udefile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoring and by the dead bodies² of their kings at their high places,^{3 8}by setting their threshold by my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with ^vonly a wall between me and them. They have ^wdefiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed, so I have consumed them in my anger. ⁹Now let them put away their whoring and the dead bodies of their kings far from me, ^tand I will dwell in their midst forever.

¹⁰“As for you, ^qson of man, ^xdescribe to the house of Israel the temple, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and they shall measure the plan. ¹¹And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, ^xmake known to them the design of the temple, its arrangement, ^yits exits and its entrances, that is, its whole design; and make known to them as well all its statutes and its whole design and all its laws, and write it down ^zin their sight, so that they may observe all its laws and all its statutes and carry them out. ¹²This is the law of the temple: the whole territory on the top of ^athe mountain ^ball around shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple.

The Altar

¹³“These are the measurements of ^cthe altar by cubits (the cubit being ^da cubit and a handbreadth):⁴ its base shall be one cubit high⁵ and one cubit broad, with a rim of one span⁶ around its edge. And this shall be the height of the altar: ¹⁴from the base on the ground to the lower ledge, two cubits, with a breadth of one cubit; and from the smaller ledge to the larger ledge, four cubits, with a breadth of one cubit; ¹⁵and the altar hearth, four cubits; and from the altar hearth projecting upward, ^efour horns. ¹⁶The altar hearth shall be ^fsquare, twelve cubits long by twelve broad. ¹⁷The ledge also shall be square, fourteen cubits long by fourteen broad, with a rim around it half a cubit broad, and its base one cubit all around. ^gThe steps of the altar shall face east.”

¹⁸And he said to me, ^h“Son of man, thus says the Lord God: These are the ordinances for the altar: On the day when it is erected for offering burnt offerings upon it and ⁱfor throwing blood against it, ¹⁹you shall give to ^jthe Levitical priests ^kof the family of Zadok, who draw near to me to minister to me, declares the Lord God, ^la bull from the herd for a sin offering. ²⁰And ^myou shall take some of its blood and put it on ^ethe four horns of the altar and on the four corners of the ledge and upon ⁿthe rim all around. ^oThus you shall purify the altar and make atonement for it. ²¹You shall also take the bull of the sin offering, and ^pit shall be burned in the appointed place belonging to the temple, outside the sacred area. ²²And on the second day you shall offer a male goat without blemish for a sin offering; and the altar shall be purified, as it was purified with the bull. ²³When you have finished ^opurifying it, you shall offer a bull from the herd without blemish and ^qa ram from the flock without blemish. ²⁴You shall present them before the Lord, and the priests ^rshall sprinkle salt on them and offer them up as a burnt offering to the Lord. ^25sFor seven days you shall provide daily a male goat for a sin offering; also, a bull from the herd and a ram from the flock, without blemish, shall be provided. ²⁶Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and cleanse it, and so consecrate it.^{7 27}And when they have completed these days, then ^tfrom the eighth day onward the priests shall offer on the altar your burnt offerings and your ^upeace offerings, and ^vI will accept you, declares the Lord God.”

The Gate for the Prince

44Then he brought me ^wback to the outer gate of the sanctuary, ^xwhich faces east. And it was shut. ²And the Lord said to me, “This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for ^ythe Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut. ³Only ^zthe prince may sit in it ^ato eat bread before the Lord. He ^bshall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.”

⁴Then he brought me by way of ^cthe north gate to the front of the temple, and I looked, and behold, ^dthe glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord. And ^eI fell on my face. ⁵And the Lord said to me, ^f“Son of man, mark well, ^gsee with your eyes, ^gand hear with your ears all that I shall tell you concerning ^hall the statutes of the temple of the Lord and all its laws. And mark well ^hthe entrance to the temple and all the exits from the sanctuary. ⁶And say to ⁱthe rebellious house,¹ to the ^jhouse of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: O house of Israel, ^kenough of all your abominations, ⁷in ^ladmitting foreigners, ^muncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary, ⁿprofaning my temple, when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. You² have broken my covenant, in addition to all your abominations. ⁸And ^oyou 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: ^pNo foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, shall enter my sanctuary. ¹⁰But ^qthe Levites who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols ^rwhen Israel went astray, ^sshall bear their punishment.^{3 11}They shall be ^tministers in my sanctuary, having oversight ^uat the gates of the temple and ministering in the temple. They shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and ^vthey shall stand before the people, to minister to them. ¹²Because they ministered to them before their idols and became ^wa stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have ^xsworn concerning them, declares the Lord God, and they shall bear their punishment. ¹³They ^yshall 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 ^zthey shall bear their shame and the abominations that they have committed. ¹⁴Yet I will appoint them to keep ^acharge of the temple, ^bto…