Ezekiel 42–44

The Priests’ Rooms

42Then the man led me north out into the outer courtyard and to the rooms across from the private area and the building. ²These rooms on the north side were one hundred seventy-five feet long and eighty-seven and one-half feet wide. ³There was thirty-five feet of the inner courtyard between them and the Temple. On the other side, they faced the stone pavement of the outer courtyard. The rooms were built in three stories like steps and had balconies. ⁴There was a path on the north side of the rooms, which was seventeen and one-half feet wide and one hundred seventy-five feet long. Doors led into the rooms from this path. ⁵The top rooms were narrower, because the balconies took more space from them. The rooms on the first and second stories of the building were wider. ⁶The rooms were on three stories. They did not have pillars like the pillars of the courtyards. So the top rooms were farther back than those on the first and second stories. ⁷There was a wall outside parallel to the rooms and to the outer courtyard. It ran in front of the rooms for eighty-seven and one-half feet. ⁸The row of rooms along the outer courtyard was eighty-seven and one-half feet long, and the rooms that faced the Temple were about one hundred seventy-five feet long. ⁹The lower rooms had an entrance on the east side so a person could enter them from the outer courtyard, ¹⁰at the start of the wall beside the courtyard.

There were rooms on the south side, which were across from the private area and the building. ¹¹These rooms had a path in front of them. They were like the rooms on the north with the same length and width and the same doors. ¹²The doors of the south rooms were like the doors of the north rooms. There was an entrance at the open end of a path beside the wall, so a person could enter at the east end.

¹³The man said to me, “The north and south rooms across from the private area are holy rooms. There the priests who go near the Lord will eat the most holy offerings. There they will put the most holy offerings: the grain offerings, sin offerings, and the penalty offerings, because the place is holy. ¹⁴The priests who enter the Holy Place must leave their serving clothes there before they go into the outer courtyard, because these clothes are holy. After they put on other clothes, they may go to the part of the Temple area which is for the people.”

Outside the Temple Area

¹⁵When the man finished measuring inside the Temple area, he brought me out through the east gateway. He measured the area all around. ¹⁶The man measured the east side with the measuring stick; it was eight hundred seventy-five feet by the measuring stick. ¹⁷He measured the north side; it was eight hundred seventy-five feet by the measuring stick. ¹⁸He measured the south side; it was eight hundred seventy-five feet by the measuring stick. ¹⁹He went around to the west side; it measured eight hundred seventy-five feet by the measuring stick. ²⁰So he measured the Temple area on all four sides. The Temple area had a wall all around it that was eight hundred seventy-five feet long and eight hundred seventy-five feet wide. It separated what was holy from that which was not holy.

The Lord Among His People

43Then the man led me to the outer east gateway, ²and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. It sounded like the roar of rushing water, and its brightness made the earth shine. ³The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when the Lord came to destroy the city and also like the vision I had seen by the Kebar River. I bowed facedown on the ground. ⁴The glory of the Lord came into the Temple area through the east gateway.

⁵Then the Spirit picked me up and brought me into the inner courtyard. There I saw the Lord’s glory filling the Temple. ⁶As the man stood at my side, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the Temple. ⁷The voice from the Temple said to me, “Human, this is my throne and the place where my feet rest. I will live here among the Israelites forever. The people of Israel will not make my holy name unclean again. Neither the people nor their kings will make it unclean with their sexual sins or with the dead bodies of their kings. ⁸The kings made my name unclean by putting their doorway next to my doorway, and their doorpost next to my doorpost so only a wall separated me from them. When they did their acts that I hate, they made my holy name unclean, and so I destroyed them in my anger. ⁹Now let them stop their sexual sins and take the dead bodies of their kings far away from me. Then I will live among them forever.

¹⁰“Human, tell the people of Israel about the Temple so they will be ashamed of their sins. Let them think about the plan of the Temple. ¹¹If they are ashamed of all they have done, let them know the design of the Temple and how it is built. Show them its exits and entrances, all its designs, and also all its rules and teachings. Write the rules as they watch so they will obey all the teachings and rules about the Temple. ¹²This is the teaching about the Temple: All the area around the top of the mountain is most holy. This is the teaching about the Temple.

The Altar

¹³“These are the measurements of the altar, using the measuring stick. The altar’s gutter is twenty-one inches high and twenty-one inches wide, and its rim is about nine inches around its edge. And the altar is this tall: ¹⁴From the ground up to the lower ledge, it measures three and one-half feet. It is twenty-one inches wide. It measures seven feet from the smaller ledge to the larger ledge and is twenty-one inches wide. ¹⁵The place where the sacrifice is burned on the altar is seven feet high, with its four corners shaped like horns and reaching up above it. ¹⁶It is square, twenty-one feet long and twenty-one feet wide. ¹⁷The upper ledge is also square, twenty-four and one-half feet long and twenty-four and one-half feet wide. The rim around the altar is ten and one-half inches wide, and its gutter is twenty-one inches wide all around. Its steps are on the east side.”

¹⁸Then the man said to me, “Human, this is what the Lord God says: These are the rules for the altar. When it is built, use these rules to offer burnt offerings and to sprinkle blood on it. ¹⁹You must give a young bull as a sin offering to the priests, the Levites who are from the family of Zadok and who come near me to serve me, says the Lord God. ²⁰Take some of the bull’s blood and put it on the four corners of the altar, on the four corners of the ledge, and all around the rim. This is how you will make the altar pure and ready for God’s service. ²¹Then take the bull for the sin offering and burn it in the proper place in the Temple area, outside the Temple building.

²²“On the second day offer a male goat that has nothing wrong with it for a sin offering. The priests will make the altar pure and ready for God’s service as they did with the young bull. ²³When you finish making the altar pure and ready, offer a young bull and a male sheep from the flock, which have nothing wrong with them. ²⁴You must offer them in the presence of the Lord, and the priests are to throw salt on them and offer them as a burnt offering to the Lord.

²⁵“You must prepare a goat every day for seven days as a sin offering. Also, the priests must prepare a young bull and male sheep from the flock, which have nothing wrong with them. ²⁶For seven days the priests are to make the altar pure and ready for God’s service. Then they will give the altar to God. ²⁷After these seven days, on the eighth day, the priests must offer your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings on the altar. Then I will accept you, says the Lord God.”

The Outer East Gate

44Then the man brought me back to the outer east gateway of the Temple area, but the gate was shut. ²The Lord said to me, “This gate will stay shut; it will not be opened. No one may enter through it, because the Lord God of Israel has entered through it. So it must stay shut. ³Only the ruler himself may sit in the gateway to eat a meal in the presence of the Lord. He must enter through the porch of the gateway and go out the same way.”

⁴Then the man brought me through the outer north gate to the front of the Temple. As I looked, I saw the glory of the Lord filling the Temple of the Lord, and I bowed facedown on the ground.

⁵The Lord said to me, “Human, pay attention. Use your eyes to see, and your ears to hear. See and hear everything I tell you about all the rules and teachings of the Temple of the Lord. Pay attention to the entrance to the Temple and to all the exits from the Temple area. ⁶Then speak to those who refuse to obey. Say to the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord God says: Stop doing all your acts that I hate, Israel! ⁷You brought foreigners into my Holy Place who were not circumcised in the flesh and had not given themselves to serving me. You dishonored my Temple when you offered me food, fat, and blood. You broke my agreement by all the things you did that I hate. ⁸You did not take care of my holy things yourselves but put foreigners in charge of my Temple. ⁹This is what the Lord God says: Foreigners who are not circumcised in flesh and who do not give themselves to serving me may not enter my Temple. Not even a foreigner living among the people of Israel may enter.

¹⁰“ ‘But the Levites who stopped obeying me when Israel left me and who followed their idols must be punished for their sin. ¹¹These Levites are to be servants in my Holy Place. They may guard the gates of the Temple and serve in the Temple area. They may kill the animals for the burnt offering and the sacrifices for the people. They may stand before the people to serve them. ¹²But these Levites helped the people worship their idols and caused the people of Israel to fall, so I make this promise: They will be punished for their sin, says the Lord God. ¹³They will not come near me to serve as priests, nor will they come near any…