Ezekiel 44:4–46:18

4 Then he brought me by the way of the gate of the north to the front of the temple,d and I looked,e and look! The glory of Yahweh filled the templef of Yahweh, and I fell on my face. 5 And Yahweh said, “Son of man,g set your hearth and look with your eyes and with your ears hear ⌊everything⌋i I am saying to you concerning all the statutes of the templej of Yahweh and concerning all its laws,k and you must listen with your heart concerning the entrance of the templel with all of the exits of the sanctuary. 6 And you must say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Enough for you, house of Israel, ofm all of your detestable things! 7 Atn your bringing ⌊foreigners⌋o who are uncircumcised of heart and uncircumcised of flesh to be in my sanctuary to profane it, my temple,p ⌊as you offered my food, fat, and blood⌋,q sor you broke my covenant by all of your detestable things. 8 And you did not observe the responsibility of my sanctuary, buts you appointed themt as the keepers of my responsibility in my sanctuary for you.”

9 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Every ⌊foreigner⌋u uncircumcised of heart and uncircumcised of flesh shall not come into my sanctuary—not any of the ⌊foreigners⌋v who are in the midst of the ⌊Israelites⌋.w 10 ⌊But⌋x the Levites who removed themselves from me ⌊at the going astray of Israel⌋,y who went astray from me and went after their idols, as a result they will bear their guilt. 11 Then they will bez in my sanctuary, those serving in my sanctuary, as sentriesa at the gates of the templeb and as those serving the temple;c they will slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they will stand ⌊before them⌋d to serve them, 12 ⌊because⌋e they used to serve them ⌊before⌋f their idols and they were for the house of Israel like a stumbling block of iniquity. Therefore ⌊I swore⌋g concerning them,” ⌊declares⌋h the Lord Yahweh, “that they will bear their iniquity. 13 And they shall not approach me to serve as a priest for me and to come near to all ofi my holy objects, ⌊to the most holy objects⌋, j and they will bear their disgrace and the results of their detestable things they have done. 14 And I will appoint them as the keepers of the responsibility ofk the temple, for all of its workl and ⌊everything⌋ mwhich will be done in it.

15 But the Levitical priests, the descendantsn of Zadok, who cared for the responsibility of my sanctuary ⌊when the Israelites went astray⌋o from me, they will approach me to serve me, and they will stand ⌊before me⌋p to offer to me fat and blood,” ⌊declares⌋q the Lord Yahweh. 16 “They shall come to my sanctuary, and they shall approach my table to serve me, and they will observe my requirement. 17 ⌊And then⌋r ⌊when they come⌋s to the gates of the inner courtyards, they shall put on theirt inner linen garments and not wear wool garments ⌊when they serve⌋u in the gates of the inner courtyard and ⌊inside⌋v the temple. 18 Linen turbans shall be on their head and linen undergarments shall be on their waists; they shall not gird themselves with material causing perspiration. 19 When they go out to the outer courtyard to the people, they must take off their garment in which they were serving, and they must place them ⌊in the holy chambers⌋,w and they must put on other garments, so that they will not make the people holy with their garments. 20 And their head they shall not shave, or long hair they shall not let grow; short they shall clip their heads. 21 And no priest shall drink wine when they come into the inner courtyard. 22 And a widow or divorced woman they shall not take for themselves as wives, ⌊but only⌋x a virgin from the offspring of the house of Israel, or the widow who is a widow for a priest they may take.

23 And they will teach my people the difference between what is holy and what is unholy, and the difference between unclean and clean they must show them. 24 And at a legal dispute they themselves shall stand to judge; employingy my judgments they shall judge it, and with respect to my laws and my statutes. All my festivals they shall keep and my Sabbaths they shall consecrate. 25 And ⌊near a dead person⌋z hea shall not come to be defiled, ⌊but only⌋b for a father and for a mother and for a son and for a daughter, for a brother and for a sister ⌊who was not married⌋c may they defile themselves. 26 And, after hisd cleansing, they shall count for him seven days, 27 and then on the day of his coming into the sanctuary to the inner courtyard to serve in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering,” ⌊declares⌋e the Lord Yahweh.

28 And thus it will be to them as regards inheritance, that I am their inheritance, and so you shall not give to them property in Israel; I am their property. 29 The grain offering and the sin offering and the guilt offering, they themselves may eat them, and also all the consecrated possessionsf in Israel will be theirs. 30 And also what is first of all of the firstfruits of everything, and of all of the contribution of everything from all of your contributions, to the priest ⌊it belongs⌋,g and what is first of your dough you shall give to the priest, so that a blessing may rest on your house. 31 Any dead body or mangled carcass from the birdsh or from the animals,i the priests shall not eat.”

Instructions about Divisions of the Renewed Land

45 And when you allocate the land as an inheritance, you shall provide a contribution for Yahweh as a holy portion from the land, its length being twenty-five thousand cubitsa and its width ten thousand cubits;b it is holy in all its territory, all around. 2 And there shall be from this area five hundred cubitsc by five hundred cubits, squared all around, for the sanctuary; and fifty cubitsd e of open space shall be for it all around it. 3 And from this measured area you shall measure a length of twenty-fivef thousand cubitsg and a width of ten thousand cubits,h and in it will be the sanctuary, ⌊the most holy place⌋.i 4 Itj is a holy portion from the land; it will be for the priests, the servants of the sanctuary ⌊who approach⌋k to serve Yahweh, and it will be for them a place for houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. 5 And an area twenty-five thousand cubits in length and ten thousand cubits in width will be for the Levites, the servants of the temple. It will serve as property for them ⌊as cities to dwell in⌋.l 6 And as property of the city, you must set apart alongside the contribution of the sanctuary a portion five thousand cubitsm in width and twenty-five thousand cubitsn in length, and it shall be for the entire house of Israel.

7 And a portion will be foro the prince ⌊on both sides⌋p of ⌊the holy district⌋,q and both sides of the property of the city, and ⌊alongside⌋r the property of the city ⌊on the west⌋,s and alongside the property ⌊on the east⌋.t And also its lengthu ⌊corresponds to one of the tribal portions to the west⌋v running ⌊to the eastern border⌋.w 8 This shall be to him ⌊with respect to the land⌋x as property in Israel; and so my princes shall not again oppress my people, but they shall give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.”

9 Thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Enough of this for you, the princes of Israel; put away violence and destruction and do justice and righteousness; revoke your acts of dispossession from upony my people!” ⌊declares⌋z the Lord Yahweh. 10 There shall be for you ⌊an honest set of scales⌋a and ⌊an honest ephah⌋b and ⌊an honest bath⌋.c 11 The ephah and the bath shall be one unit of measurement;d the tenth part of the homer is the bath, and the tenth of the homer is the ephah; so the homer shall be itse unit of measurement. 12 And the shekel shall weigh twenty gerahs, twenty shekelsf and five and twenty shekelsg and ten and five shekels,h that shall make the mina for you.i

13 This is the contribution offering which you shall present: a sixth of the ephah from aj homer of wheat, and ak sixth of the ephah from al homer of barley. 14 And the quota of the olive oil, the bath of the olive oil, is the tenth part of a bath from a kor, which is ten baths, or a homer—for ten baths are equal to a homer. 15 And onem sheep from the flock from among two hundred from the pastures of Israel will be taken as a grain offering and as a burnt offering and as a fellowship offering to make atonement for them,” ⌊declares⌋n the Lord Yahweh. 16 “All of the people of the land shall join ino to this contribution withp the prince in Israel.

17 “But on the prince shall be the responsibility for the burnt offerings, and the grain offering, and the libation at the feasts, and at the New Moon festivals, and atq the Sabbaths at all of the assemblies of the house of Israel; he shall provide the sin offering, and the grain offering, and the burnt offering, and the fellowship offering to make atonement for the house of Israel. 18 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘On the first month on the first day of the month, you shall take a bull, ⌊a calf⌋r without defect, and you shall purify the sanctuary. 19 And the priest shall take from the blood of the sin offering, and he shall put it on the doorframe of the temples and on the four corners of the ledge of the altar and on the doorframe of the gate of the inner courtyard. 20 And so you shall do on the seventh day in the month for anyone doing wrong inadvertently or due to ignorance, and so you must make atonement for the temple.t

21 In the first month, on the ⌊fourteenth⌋u day of the month, you shall have the Passover, a feast lasting for ⌊seven days⌋,v when you shall eat unleavened breads. 22 And the prince shall provide on that day for himselfw and for all of the people of the land a bull as a sin offering. 23 And during the seven days of the religious feast he shall provide as a burnt offering to Yahweh seven bulls and seven rams without defect for each of the seven days, and as a sin offering a he-goat for each day. 24 And as a grain offering, an ephah forx the bull and an ephah fory the

Read more Explain verse Share

d	Or “house”
e	Or “saw”
f	Or “house”
g	Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
h	Or “pay close attention” or “listen closely”
i	Literally “all of which/what”
j	Or “house”
k	According to the reading tradition (Qere); cf. BHS
l	Or “house”
m	Or “from”
n	Or “in”
o	Literally “children/people of a foreign land”
p	Or “house”
q	Literally “in/at your offering my food and fat and blood”
r	Or “and”
s	Or “and”
t	That is, foreigners
u	Literally “child of a foreign land”
v	Literally “child of a foreign land”
w	Literally “sons/children of Israel”
x	Literally “For if”
y	Or “when Israel went astray”
z	Or “may be”
a	Or “guards”
b	Or “house”
c	Or “house”
d	Literally “to the face of them”
e	Literally “because that”
f	Literally “to the face of”
g	Literally “I raised my hand”
h	Literally “declaration of”
i	Or “any of”
j	Literally “to the holy objects of the holy objects”
k	Or “toward”
l	Or “tasks”
m	Literally “all”
n	Or “sons”
o	Literally “at going astray the children of Israel”
p	Literally “to the face of me”
q	Literally “declaration of”
r	Literally “and it will happen”
s	Literally “at their coming”
t	Hebrew “the”
u	Literally “at their serving”
v	Literally “and toward”
w	Literally “in the chambers of the holiness”
x	Literally “but if”
y	Or “with”
z	Literally “and to a dead person of a man”
a	That is, the priest
b	Literally “but if”
c	Literally “who not she was for a man”
d	That is, the priest
e	Literally “declaration of”
f	Hebrew “possession”
g	Literally “it shall be”
h	Hebrew “bird”
i	Hebrew “animal”
a	Or 8.33 miles
b	Hebrew 3.5 miles; LXX reads 6.67 miles in width, or 20,000 cubits (cf. 45:3, 5; 48:9)
c	That is, “875 feet by 875 feet”
d	Hebrew “cubit”
e	That is, “87.5 feet”
f	According to the reading tradition (Qere)
g	That is, 8.33 miles; cf. 45:5
h	That is, 3.5 miles; cf. 45:5
i	Literally “the holiness of holinesses”
j	Or “this area”
k	Literally “the ones who approach”
l	Literally “twenty chambers”
m	That is, 1.67 miles
n	That is, 8.33 miles
o	Hebrew “to”
p	Literally “from this and from this”
q	Literally “the contribution of the holiness”
r	Literally “to the front of”
s	Literally “from/on the side of the sea”
t	Literally “from/on the side of east”
u	Or “portion”
v	Literally “corresponding to one of the portions from the boundary of the sea”
w	Literally “to the boundary of the east”
x	Literally “to the land”
y	Or “against”
z	Literally “declaration of”
a	Literally “a set of scales of justice/honesty”
b	Literally “an ephah of honesty”
c	Literally “a bath of honesty”; a bath is a liquid measure
d	Or “shall be the same size”
e	Or “the”
f	Hebrew “shekel”
g	Hebrew “shekel”
h	Hebrew “shekel”
i	Meaning of Hebrew uncertain
j	Or “each”; literally “the”
k	Literally “the”
l	Literally “the”
m	Or “a”
n	Literally “declaration of”
o	Or “participate/ take part in”
p	Or possibly “for/to”
q	Or “on”
r	Literally “son of cattle,” or “son of the herd”
s	Or “house”
t	Or “house”
u	Literally “four ten”
v	Literally “a week of days”
w	Hebrew “him”
x	Hebrew “to”
y	Hebrew “to”

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