Sep 16 - Ezekiel 42-44
Ezekiel
1Then the man led me northward into the outer court and brought me to the rooms opposite the temple courtyard and opposite the outer wall on the north side.2The building whose door faced north was a hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide.3Both in the section twenty cubits from the inner court and in the section opposite the pavement of the outer court, gallery faced gallery at the three levels.4In front of the rooms was an inner passageway ten cubits wide and a hundred cubits long. Their doors were on the north.5Now the upper rooms were narrower, for the galleries took more space from them than from the rooms on the lower and middle floors of the building.6The rooms on the third floor had no pillars, as the courts had; so they were smaller in floor space than those on the lower and middle floors.7There was an outer wall parallel to the rooms and the outer court; it extended in front of the rooms for fifty cubits.8While the row of rooms on the side next to the outer court was fifty cubits long, the row on the side nearest the sanctuary was a hundred cubits long.9The lower rooms had an entrance on the east side as one enters them from the outer court.10On the south side along the length of the wall of the outer court, adjoining the temple courtyard and opposite the outer wall, were rooms11with a passageway in front of them. These were like the rooms on the north; they had the same length and width, with similar exits and dimensions. Similar to the doorways on the north12were the doorways of the rooms on the south. There was a doorway at the beginning of the passageway that was parallel to the corresponding wall extending eastward, by which one enters the rooms.13Then he said to me, "The north and south rooms facing the temple courtyard are the priests' rooms, where the priests who approach the LORD will eat the most holy offerings. There they will put the most holy offerings-the grain offerings, the sin offerings and the guilt offerings-for the place is holy.14Once the priests enter the holy precincts, they are not to go into the outer court until they leave behind the garments in which they minister, for these are holy. They are to put on other clothes before they go near the places that are for the people."15When he had finished measuring what was inside the temple area, he led me out by the east gate and measured the area all around:16He measured the east side with the measuring rod; it was five hundred cubits.17He measured the north side; it was five hundred cubits by the measuring rod.18He measured the south side; it was five hundred cubits by the measuring rod.19Then he turned to the west side and measured; it was five hundred cubits by the measuring rod.20So he measured the area on all four sides. It had a wall around it, five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide, to separate the holy from the common.
1Then the man brought me to the gate facing east,2and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory.3The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when he came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown.4The glory of the LORD entered the temple through the gate facing east.5Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.6While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the temple.7He said: "Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet. This is where I will live among the Israelites forever. The house of Israel will never again defile my holy name-neither they nor their kings-by their prostitution and the lifeless idols of their kings at their high places.8When they placed their threshold next to my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them, they defiled my holy name by their detestable practices. So I destroyed them in my anger.9Now let them put away from me their prostitution and the lifeless idols of their kings, and I will live among them forever.10"Son of man, describe the temple to the people of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their sins. Let them consider the plan,11and if they are ashamed of all they have done, make known to them the design of the temple-its arrangement, its exits and entrances-its whole design and all its regulations and laws. Write these down before them so that they may be faithful to its design and follow all its regulations.12"This is the law of the temple: All the surrounding area on top of the mountain will be most holy. Such is the law of the temple.13"These are the measurements of the altar in long cubits, that cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth: Its gutter is a cubit deep and a cubit wide, with a rim of one span around the edge. And this is the height of the altar:14From the gutter on the ground up to the lower ledge it is two cubits high and a cubit wide, and from the smaller ledge up to the larger ledge it is four cubits high and a cubit wide.15The altar hearth is four cubits high, and four horns project upward from the hearth.16The altar hearth is square, twelve cubits long and twelve cubits wide.17The upper ledge also is square, fourteen cubits long and fourteen cubits wide, with a rim of half a cubit and a gutter of a cubit all around. The steps of the altar face east."18Then he said to me, "Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: These will be the regulations for sacrificing burnt offerings and sprinkling blood upon the altar when it is built:19You are to give a young bull as a sin offering to the priests, who are Levites, of the family of Zadok, who come near to minister before me, declares the Sovereign LORD.20You are to take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar and on the four corners of the upper ledge and all around the rim, and so purify the altar and make atonement for it.21You are to take the bull for the sin offering and burn it in the designated part of the temple area outside the sanctuary.22"On the second day you are to offer a male goat without defect for a sin offering, and the altar is to be purified as it was purified with the bull.23When you have finished purifying it, you are to offer a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without defect.24You are to offer them before the LORD, and the priests are to sprinkle salt on them and sacrifice them as a burnt offering to the LORD.25"For seven days you are to provide a male goat daily for a sin offering; you are also to provide a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without defect.26For seven days they are to make atonement for the altar and cleanse it; thus they will dedicate it.27At the end of these days, from the eighth day on, the priests are to present your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar. Then I will accept you, declares the Sovereign LORD."
1Then the man brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, the one facing east, and it was shut.2The LORD said to me, "This gate is to remain shut. It must not be opened; no one may enter through it. It is to remain shut because the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered through it.3The prince himself is the only one who may sit inside the gateway to eat in the presence of the LORD. He is to enter by way of the portico of the gateway and go out the same way."4Then the man brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. I looked and saw the glory of the LORD filling the temple of the LORD, and I fell facedown.5The LORD said to me, "Son of man, look carefully, listen closely and give attention to everything I tell you concerning all the regulations regarding the temple of the LORD. Give attention to the entrance of the temple and all the exits of the sanctuary.6Say to the rebellious house of Israel, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Enough of your detestable practices, O house of Israel!7In addition to all your other detestable practices, you brought foreigners uncircumcised in heart and flesh into my sanctuary, desecrating my temple while you offered me food, fat and blood, and you broke my covenant.8Instead of carrying out your duty in regard to my holy things, you put others in charge of my sanctuary.9This is what the Sovereign LORD says: No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and flesh is to enter my sanctuary, not even the foreigners who live among the Israelites.10"'The Levites who went far from me when Israel went astray and who wandered from me after their idols must bear the consequences of their sin.11They may serve in my sanctuary, having charge of the gates of the temple and serving in it; they may slaughter the burnt offerings and sacrifices for the people and stand before the people and serve them.12But because they served them in the presence of their idols and made the house of Israel fall into sin, therefore I have sworn with uplifted hand that they must bear the consequences of their sin, declares the Sovereign LORD.13They are not to come near to serve me as priests or come near any of my holy things or my most holy offerings; they must bear the shame of their detestable practices.14Yet I will put them in charge of the duties of the temple and all the work that is to be done in it.15"'But the priests, who are Levites and descendants of Zadok and who faithfully carried out the duties of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me, are to come near to minister before me; they are to stand before me to offer sacrifices of fat and blood, declares the Sovereign LORD.16They alone are to enter my sanctuary; they alone are to come near my table to minister before me and perform my service.17"'When they enter the gates of the inner court, they are to wear linen clothes; they must not wear any woolen garment while ministering at the gates of the inner court or inside the temple.18They are to wear linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments around their waists. They must not wear anything that makes them perspire.19When they go out into the outer court where the people are, they are to take off the clothes they have been ministering in and are to leave them in the sacred rooms, and put on other clothes, so that they do not consecrate the people by means of their garments.20"'They must not shave their heads or let their hair grow long, but they are to keep the hair of their heads trimmed.21No priest is to drink wine when he enters the inner court.22They must not marry widows or divorced women; they may marry only virgins of Israelite descent or widows of priests.23They are to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.24"'In any dispute, the priests are to serve as judges and decide it according to my ordinances. They are to keep my laws and my decrees for all my appointed feasts, and they are to keep my Sabbaths holy.25"'A priest must not defile himself by going near a dead person; however, if the dead person was his father or mother, son or daughter, brother or unmarried sister, then he may defile himself.26After he is cleansed, he must wait seven days.27On the day he goes into the inner court of the sanctuary to minister in the sanctuary, he is to offer a sin offering for himself, declares the Sovereign LORD.28"'I am to be the only inheritance the priests have. You are to give them no possession in Israel; I will be their possession.29They will eat the grain offerings, the sin offerings and the guilt offerings; and everything in Israel devoted to the LORD will belong to them.30The best of all the firstfruits and of all your special gifts will belong to the priests. You are to give them the first portion of your ground meal so that a blessing may rest on your household.31The priests must not eat anything, bird or animal, found dead or torn by wild animals.