Ezekiel 43–46

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 of my holy things or the most holy offerings. But they will be made ashamed of the things they did that I hate. ¹⁴I will put them in charge of taking care of the Temple area, all the work that must be done in it.

¹⁵“ ‘But the priests who are Levites and descendants of Zadok took care of my Holy Place when Israel left me, so they may come near to serve me. They may stand in my presence to offer me the fat and blood of the animals they sacrifice, says the Lord God. ¹⁶They are the only ones who may enter my Holy Place. Only they may come near my table to serve me and take care of the things I gave them to do.

¹⁷“ ‘When they enter the gates of the inner courtyard, they must wear linen robes. They must not wear wool to serve at the gates of the inner courtyard or in the Temple. ¹⁸They will wear linen turbans on their heads and linen underclothes. They will not wear anything that makes them perspire. ¹⁹When they go out into the outer courtyard to the people, they must take off their serving clothes before they go. They must leave these clothes in the holy rooms and put on other clothes. Then they will not let their holy clothes hurt the people.

²⁰“ ‘They must not shave their heads or let their hair grow long but must keep the hair of their heads trimmed. ²¹None of the priests may drink wine when they enter the inner courtyard. ²²The priests must not marry widows or divorced women. They may marry only virgins from the people of Israel or widows of priests. ²³They must teach my people the difference between what is holy and what is not holy. They must help my people know what is unclean and what is clean.

²⁴“ ‘In court they will act as judges. When they judge, they will follow my teachings. They must obey my laws and my rules at all my special feasts and keep my Sabbaths holy.

²⁵“ ‘They must not go near a dead person, making themselves unclean. But they are allowed to make themselves unclean if the dead person is their father, mother, son, daughter, brother, or a sister who has not married. ²⁶After a priest has been made clean again, he must wait seven days. ²⁷Then he may go into the inner courtyard to serve in the Temple, but he must offer a sin offering for himself, says the Lord God.

²⁸“ ‘These are the rules about the priests and their property: They will have me instead of property. You will not give them any land to own in Israel; I am what they will own. ²⁹They will eat the grain offerings, sin offerings, and penalty offerings. Everything Israel gives to me will be theirs. ³⁰The best fruits of all the first harvests and all the special gifts offered to me will belong to the priests. You will also give to the priests the first part of your grain that you grind and so bring a blessing on your family. ³¹The priests must not eat any bird or animal that died a natural death or one that has been torn by wild animals.

The Land Is Divided

45“ ‘When you divide the land for the Israelite tribes by throwing lots, you must give a part of the land to belong to the Lord. It will be about seven miles long and about six miles wide; all of this land will be holy. ²From this land, an area eight hundred seventy-five feet square will be for the Temple. There will…