Ezekiel 43:13–46:24

The Altar of Sacrifice

¹³“And these are the measurements of the ^aaltar by cubits (the ^bcubit being a cubit and a handbreadth): the ¹base shall be a cubit and the width a cubit, and its border on its edge round about one span; and this shall be the height of the ²base of the altar.

¹⁴“From the base on the ground to the lower ^aledge shall be two cubits and the width one cubit; and from the smaller ledge to the larger ledge shall be four cubits and the width ¹one cubit.

¹⁵“The ¹altar hearth shall be four cubits; and from the altar hearth shall extend upwards four ^ahorns.

¹⁶“Now the ¹altar hearth shall be twelve cubits long by twelve wide, ^asquare in its four sides.

¹⁷“The ledge shall be fourteen cubits long by fourteen wide in its four sides, the border around it shall be half a cubit and its base shall be a cubit round about; and its ^asteps shall ^1bface the east.”

The Offerings

¹⁸And He said to me, “^aSon of man, thus says the Lord ¹God, ‘These are the statutes for the altar on the day it is built, to offer ^bburnt offerings on it and to ^csprinkle blood on it.

¹⁹‘You shall give to the Levitical priests who are from the offspring of ^aZadok, who draw ^bnear to Me to minister to Me,’ declares the Lord God, ‘a ^cyoung bull for a ^dsin offering.

²⁰‘You shall take some of its blood and put it on its four ^ahorns and on the four corners of the ^bledge and on the border round about; thus you shall ^ccleanse it and make atonement for it.

²¹‘You shall also take the bull for the sin offering, and it shall be ^aburned in the appointed place of the house, outside the sanctuary.

²²‘On the second day you shall offer a ^amale goat without blemish for a sin offering, and they shall ^bcleanse the altar as they cleansed it with the bull.

²³‘When you have finished cleansing it, you shall present a ^ayoung bull without blemish and a ^bram without blemish from the flock.

²⁴‘You shall present them before the Lord, and the priests shall throw ^asalt on them, and they shall offer them up as a burnt offering to the Lord.

²⁵‘^aFor seven days you shall prepare daily a goat for a sin offering; also a young bull and a ram from the flock, without blemish, shall be prepared.

²⁶‘For seven days they shall make atonement for the altar and purify it; so shall they ¹consecrate it.

²⁷‘When they have completed the days, it shall be that on the ^aeighth day and onward, the priests shall ¹offer your burnt offerings on the altar, and your ^bpeace offerings; and I will ^caccept you,’ declares the Lord God.”

Chapter 44

Gate for the Prince

¹Then He brought me back by the way of the ^aouter gate of the sanctuary, which faces the east; and it was shut.

²The Lord said to me, “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the ^aLord God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut.

³“As for the ^aprince, he shall sit in it as prince to ^beat bread before the Lord; he shall ^center by way of the ^dporch of the gate and shall go out ¹by the same way.”

⁴Then He brought me by way of the ^anorth gate to the front of the house; and I looked, and behold, the ^bglory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord, and I ^cfell on my face.

⁵The Lord said to me, “Son of man, ^1amark well, see with your eyes and hear with your ears all that I say to you concerning all the ^bstatutes of the house of the Lord and concerning all its laws; and mark well the entrance of the house, with all exits of the sanctuary.

⁶“You shall say to the ^1arebellious ones, to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord ²God, “^bEnough of all your abominations, O house of Israel,

⁷when you brought in ^aforeigners, ^buncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to profane it, even My house, when you ^coffered My food, the fat and the blood; for they ^dmade My covenant void—this in addition to all your abominations.

⁸“And you have not ^akept charge of My holy things yourselves, but you have set foreigners ¹to keep charge of My sanctuary.”

⁹‘Thus says the Lord God, “^aNo foreigner uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the sons of Israel, shall enter My sanctuary.

¹⁰“But the Levites who went far from Me when Israel went astray, who ^awent astray from Me after their idols, shall ^bbear the punishment for their iniquity.

¹¹“Yet they shall be ^aministers in My sanctuary, having ^boversight at the gates of the house and ^cministering in the house; they shall ^dslaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall ^estand before them to minister to them.

¹²“Because they ministered to them ^abefore their idols and became a ^bstumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have ^1csworn against them,” declares the Lord God, “that they shall ^dbear the punishment for their iniquity.

¹³“And they shall ^anot come near to Me to serve as a priest to Me, nor come near to any of My holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they will ^bbear their shame and their abominations which they have committed.

¹⁴“Yet I will ¹appoint them ²to ^akeep charge of the house, of all its service and of all that shall be done in it.

Ordinances for the Levites

¹⁵“But the ^aLevitical priests, the sons of ^bZadok, who ^ckept charge of My sanctuary when the sons of Israel ^dwent astray from Me, shall come near to Me to minister to Me; and they shall ^estand before Me to offer Me the ^ffat and the blood,” declares the Lord God.

¹⁶“They shall ^aenter My sanctuary; they shall come near to My ^btable to minister to Me and keep My charge.

¹⁷“It shall be that when they enter at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with ^alinen garments; and wool shall not ¹be on them while they are ministering in the gates of the inner court and in the house.

¹⁸“Linen ^aturbans shall be on their heads and ^blinen undergarments shall be on their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything which makes them sweat.

¹⁹“When they go out into the outer court, into the outer court to the people, they shall ^aput off their garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers; then they shall put on other garments so that they will ^bnot transmit holiness to the people with their garments.

²⁰“Also they shall ^anot shave their heads, yet they shall not ^blet their locks ¹grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads.

²¹“^aNor shall any of the priests drink wine when they enter the inner court.

²²“And they shall not ¹marry a widow or a ^adivorced woman but shall ^btake virgins from the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.

²³“Moreover, they shall teach My people the ^adifference between the holy and the profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

²⁴“In a dispute ^athey shall take their stand to judge; they shall judge it according to My ordinances. They shall also keep My laws and My statutes in all My ^bappointed feasts and ^csanctify My sabbaths.

²⁵“^1aThey shall not go to a dead person to defile themselves; however, for father, for mother, for son, for daughter, for brother, or for a sister who has not had a husband, they may defile themselves.

²⁶“After he is ^acleansed, seven days shall ¹elapse for him.

²⁷“On the day that he goes into the sanctuary, into the ^ainner court to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his ^bsin offering,” declares the Lord God.

²⁸“And it shall be with regard to an inheritance for them, that ^aI am their inheritance; and you shall give them no possession in Israel—I am their possession.

²⁹“They shall ^aeat the grain offering, the sin offering and the guilt offering; and every ^1bdevoted thing in Israel shall be theirs.

³⁰“The first of all the ^afirst fruits of every kind and every ¹contribution of every kind, from all your contributions, shall be for the priests; you shall also give to the priest the ^bfirst of your ²dough to cause a ^cblessing to rest on your house.

³¹“The priests shall not eat any bird or beast that has ^adied a natural death or has been torn to pieces.

Chapter 45

The Lord’s Portion of the Land

¹“And when you ^adivide by lot the land for inheritance, you shall offer ¹an ^ballotment to the Lord, a ^choly portion of the land; the length shall be the length of 25,000 ^dcubits, and the width shall be ²20,000. It shall be holy within all its boundary round about.

²“Out of this there shall be for the holy place a square round about ^afive hundred by five hundred cubits, and fifty cubits for its ^1bopen space round about.

³“From this ¹area you shall measure a length of 25,000 cubits and a width of 10,000 cubits; and in it shall be the sanctuary, the most holy place.

⁴“It shall be the holy portion of the land; it shall be for the ^apriests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who ^bcome near to minister to the Lord, and it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary.

⁵“An area ^a25,000 cubits in length and 10,000 in width shall be for the Levites, the ministers of the house, and for their possession ¹cities to dwell in.

⁶“You shall give the ^acity possession of an area 5,000 cubits wide and 25,000 cubits long, alongside the ¹allotment of the holy portion; it shall be for the whole house of Israel.

Portion for the Prince

⁷“The ^aprince shall have land on either side of the holy ¹allotment and the ²property of the city, adjacent to the holy allotment and the property of the city, on the west side toward the west and on the east side toward the east, and in length comparable to one of the portions, from the west border to the east border.

⁸“This shall be his land for a possession in Israel; so My princes shall no longer ^aoppress My people, but they shall give the rest of the land to the house of Israel ^baccording to their tribes.”

⁹‘Thus says the Lord ¹God, “^aEnough, you princes of Israel; put away ^bviolence and destruction, and ^cpractice justice and righteousness. Stop your ^dexpropriations from My people,” declares the Lord God.

¹⁰“You shall have ^ajust balances, a just ^bephah and a just bath.

¹¹“The ephah and the bath shall…