Ezekiel 45–48

The Holy District

⁴⁵“When you allot the land as an inheritance, you shall set aside for the Lord a portion of the land as a holy district, twenty-five thousand cubits long and twenty^q thousand cubits wide; it shall be holy throughout its entire extent. ²Of this, a square plot of five hundred by five hundred cubits shall be for the sanctuary, with fifty cubits for an open space around it. ³In the holy district you shall measure off a section twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand wide, in which shall be the sanctuary, the most holy place. ⁴It shall be a holy portion of the land; it shall be for the priests who minister in the sanctuary and approach the Lord to minister to him, and it shall be both a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary.^{* 5}Another section, twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand cubits wide, shall be for the Levites who minister at the temple, as their holding for cities to live in.^r*

⁶“Alongside the portion set apart as the holy district you shall assign as a holding for the city an area five thousand cubits wide and twenty-five thousand cubits long; it shall belong to the whole house of Israel.^*

⁷“And to the prince shall belong the land on both sides of the holy district and the holding of the city, alongside the holy district and the holding of the city, on the west and on the east, corresponding in length to one of the tribal portions and extending from the western to the eastern boundary^{* 8}of the land. It is to be his property in Israel. And my princes shall no longer oppress my people, but they shall let the house of Israel have the land according to their tribes.^*

⁹“Thus says the Lord God: Enough, O princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression, and do what is just and right. Cease your evictions of my people, says the Lord God.^*

Weights and Measures

¹⁰“You shall have honest balances, an honest ephah, and an honest bath.^{s* 11}The ephah and the bath shall be of the same measure, the bath containing one-tenth of a homer and the ephah one-tenth of a homer; the homer shall be the standard measure. ¹²The shekel shall be twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels shall make a mina for you.^*

Offerings

¹³“This is the offering that you shall make: one-sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat, and one-sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley, ¹⁴and as the fixed portion of oil^t one-tenth of a bath^u from each cor (the cor,^v like the homer, contains ten baths), ¹⁵and one sheep from every flock of two hundred from the pastures of Israel. This is the offering for grain offerings, burnt offerings, and offerings of well-being, to make atonement for them, says the Lord God.^{* 16}All the people of the land shall join in making this offering in Israel through the prince. ¹⁷This shall be the obligation of the prince regarding the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the festivals, the new moons, and the Sabbaths, all the appointed festivals of the house of Israel: he shall provide the purification offerings, the grain offerings, the burnt offerings, and the offerings of well-being, to make atonement for the house of Israel.^*

Festivals

¹⁸“Thus says the Lord God: In the first month, on the first day of the month, you shall take a bull of the herd without blemish and purify the sanctuary.^{* 19}The priest shall take some of the blood of the purification offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and the posts of the gate of the inner court.^{* 20}You shall do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who has sinned through error or ignorance; so you shall make atonement for the temple.^*

²¹“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall celebrate the Festival of the Passover, and for seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten.^{* 22}On that day the prince shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a bull for a purification offering.^{* 23}And during the seven days of the festival he shall provide as a burnt offering to the Lord seven bulls and seven rams without blemish, on each of the seven days, and a male goat daily for a purification offering.^{* 24}He shall provide as a grain offering an ephah for each bull, an ephah for each ram, and a hin of oil to each ephah. ²⁵In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month and for the seven days of the festival, he shall make the same provision for purification offerings, burnt offerings, and grain offerings and for the oil.^*

Miscellaneous Regulations

⁴⁶“Thus says the Lord God: The gate of the inner court that faces east shall remain closed on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened.^{* 2}The prince shall enter by the vestibule of the gate from outside and shall take his stand by the post of the gate. The priests shall offer his burnt offering and his offerings of well-being, and he shall bow down at the entryway of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be closed until evening.^{* 3}The people of the land shall bow down at the entrance of that gate before the Lord on the Sabbaths and on the new moons.^{* 4}The burnt offering that the prince offers to the Lord on the Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish,^{* 5}and the grain offering with the ram shall be an ephah, and the grain offering with the lambs shall be as much as he wishes to give, together with a hin of oil to each ephah.^{* 6}On the day of the new moon he shall offer a bull of the herd without blemish and six lambs and a ram, which shall be without blemish;^{* 7}as a grain offering he shall provide an ephah with the bull and an ephah with the ram and with the lambs as much as he wishes, together with a hin of oil to each ephah.^{* 8}When the prince enters, he shall come in by the vestibule of the gate, and he shall go out by the same way.^*

⁹“When the people of the land come before the Lord at the appointed festivals, whoever enters by the north gate to worship shall go out by the south gate, and whoever enters by the south gate shall go out by the north gate: they shall not return by way of the gate by which they entered but shall go out straight ahead.^{* 10}When they come in, the prince shall come in with them, and when they go out, he shall go out.

¹¹“At the festivals and the appointed seasons the grain offering with a bull shall be an ephah and with a ram an ephah and with the lambs as much as one wishes to give, together with a hin of oil to an ephah.^{* 12}When the prince provides a freewill offering, either a burnt offering or offerings of well-being as a freewill offering to the Lord, the gate facing east shall be opened for him, and he shall offer his burnt offering or his offerings of well-being as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he has gone out the gate shall be closed.^*

¹³“You shall provide a lamb, a yearling, without blemish, for a burnt offering to the Lord daily; morning by morning you shall provide it.^{* 14}And you shall provide a grain offering with it morning by morning regularly, one-sixth of an ephah and one-third of a hin of oil to moisten the choice flour, as a grain offering to the Lord; this is the ordinance for all time.^{* 15}Thus the lamb and the grain offering and the oil shall be provided, morning by morning, as a regular burnt offering.^*

¹⁶“Thus says the Lord God: If the prince makes a gift to any of his sons out of his inheritance,^w it shall belong to his sons; it is their holding by inheritance.^{* 17}But if he makes a gift out of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his to the year of liberty; then it shall revert to the prince; only his sons may keep a gift from his inheritance.^{* 18}The prince shall not take any of the inheritance of the people, thrusting them out of their holding; he shall give his sons their inheritance out of his own holding, so that none of my people shall be dispossessed of their holding.”^*

¹⁹Then he brought me through the entrance, which was at the side of the gate, to the north row of the holy chambers for the priests, and there I saw a place at the extreme western end of them.^{* 20}He said to me, “This is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt offering and the purification offering and where they shall bake the grain offering, in order not to bring them out into the outer court and so communicate holiness to the people.”^*

²¹Then he brought me out to the outer court and led me past the four corners of the court, and in each corner of the court there was a court: ²²in the four corners of the court were small^x courts, forty cubits long and thirty wide; the four were of the same size. ²³On the inside, around each of the four courts,^y was a row of masonry, with hearths made at the bottom of the rows all around. ²⁴Then he said to me, “These are the kitchens where those who serve at the temple shall boil the sacrifices of the people.”^*

Water Flowing from the Temple

⁴⁷Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple; there water was flowing from below the entryway of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east), and the water was flowing down from below the south side of the temple, south of the altar.^{* 2}Then he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east,^z and the water was trickling out on the south side.^*

³Going on eastward with a cord in his hand, the man measured one thousand cubits and then led me through the water, and it was ankle-deep.^{* 4}Again he measured one thousand and led me through the water, and it was knee-deep. Again he measured one thousand and led me through the water, and it was up to the waist. ⁵Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross, for the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be crossed. ⁶He said to me,…