Ezekiel 43–46

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 do all its service and all that is to be done in it.

Rules for Levitical Priests

¹⁵“But ^cthe Levitical priests, ^cthe sons of Zadok, who kept ^athe charge of my sanctuary ^rwhen the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me ^dto minister to me. And they shall stand before me to offer me ^ethe fat and the blood, declares the Lord God. ¹⁶They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall approach ^fmy table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge. ¹⁷When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear ^glinen garments. They shall have nothing of wool on them, while they minister at the gates of the inner court, and within. ¹⁸They shall have linen turbans on their heads, and linen undergarments around their waists. They shall not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat. ¹⁹And when they go out into the outer court to the people, they shall put off the garments in which they have been ministering ^hand lay them in the holy chambers. And ⁱthey shall put on other garments, ^jlest they transmit holiness to the people with their garments. ^20kThey shall not shave their heads or ^llet their locks grow long; they shall surely trim the hair of their heads. ^21mNo priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court. ²²ⁿThey 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. ^23oThey shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and ^oshow them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. ^24pIn 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 ^qthey shall keep my Sabbaths holy. ^25rThey 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. ^26sAfter he⁴ has become clean, they shall count seven days for him. ²⁷And on the day that he goes into the Holy Place, ^tinto the inner court, to minister in the Holy Place, ^uhe shall offer his sin offering, declares the Lord God.

^28v“This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance: and ^wyou shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession. ^29xThey shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and ^yevery devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. ^30zAnd the first of all the firstfruits of all kinds, and every offering of all kinds from all your offerings, shall belong to the priests. ^aYou shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, ^bthat a blessing may rest on your house. ^31cThe priests shall not eat of ^danything, whether bird or beast, that has died of itself or is torn by wild animals.

The Holy District

45“When ^eyou allot the land as an inheritance, ^fyou shall set apart for the Lord a portion of the land as a holy district, 25,000 cubits¹ long and 20,000^2…