< Ezekiel 46 >

1 “This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘The gate of the inner court that faces east must be kept shut during the six days of work, but on the Sabbath day and on the day of the New Moon it shall be opened.
This is what the Lord has said: The doorway of the inner square looking to the east is to be shut on the six working days; but on the Sabbath it is to be open, and at the time of the new moon it is to be open.
2 The prince is to enter from the outside through the portico of the gateway and stand by the gatepost, while the priests sacrifice his burnt offerings and peace offerings. He is to bow in worship at the threshold of the gate and then depart, but the gate must not be shut until evening.
And the ruler is to go in through the covered way of the outer doorway outside, and take his place by the pillar of the doorway, and the priests will make his burned offering and his peace-offerings and he will give worship at the doorstep of the doorway; then he will go out, and the door will not be shut till the evening.
3 On the Sabbaths and New Moons the people of the land are also to bow in worship before the LORD at the entrance to that gateway.
And the people of the land are to give worship at the door of that doorway before the Lord on the Sabbaths and at the new moons.
4 The burnt offering that the prince presents to the LORD on the Sabbath day shall be six unblemished male lambs and an unblemished ram.
And the burned offering offered to the Lord by the ruler on the Sabbath day is to be six lambs without a mark on them and a male sheep without a mark;
5 The grain offering with the ram shall be one ephah, and the grain offering with the lambs shall be as much as he is able, along with a hin of oil per ephah.
And the meal offering is to be an ephah for the sheep, and for the lambs whatever he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah.
6 On the day of the New Moon he shall offer a young, unblemished bull, six lambs, and a ram without blemish.
And at the time of the new moon it is to be a young ox of the herd without a mark on him, and six lambs and a male sheep, all without a mark:
7 He is to provide a grain offering of an ephah with the bull, an ephah with the ram, and as much as he is able with the lambs, along with a hin of oil per ephah.
And he is to give a meal offering, an ephah for the ox and an ephah for the sheep, and for the lambs whatever he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah.
8 When the prince enters, he shall go in through the portico of the gateway, and he shall go out the same way.
And when the ruler comes in, he is to go in through the covered way of the doorway, and he is to go out by the same way.
9 When the people of the land come before the LORD at the appointed feasts, whoever enters by the north gate to worship must go out by the south gate, and whoever enters by the south gate must go out by the north gate. No one is to return through the gate by which he entered, but each must go out by the opposite gate.
But when the people of the land come before the Lord at the fixed feasts, he who comes in by the north doorway to give worship is to go out by the south doorway; and he who comes in by the south doorway is to go out by the north doorway: he is not to come back by the doorway through which he went in, but is to go straight before him.
10 When the people enter, the prince shall go in with them, and when they leave, he shall leave.
And the ruler, when they come in, is to come among them, and is to go out when they go out.
11 At the festivals and appointed feasts, the grain offering shall be an ephah with a bull, an ephah with a ram, and as much as one is able to give with the lambs, along with a hin of oil per ephah.
At the feasts and the fixed meetings the meal offerings are to be an ephah for an ox, and an ephah for a male sheep, and for the lambs whatever he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah.
12 When the prince makes a freewill offering to the LORD, whether a burnt offering or a peace offering, the gate facing east must be opened for him. He is to offer his burnt offering or peace offering just as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and the gate must be closed after he goes out.
And when the ruler makes a free offering, a burned offering or a peace-offering freely given to the Lord, the doorway looking to the east is to be made open for him, and he is to make his burned offering and his peace-offerings as he does on the Sabbath day: and he will go out; and the door will be shut after he has gone out.
13 And you shall provide an unblemished year-old lamb as a daily burnt offering to the LORD; you are to offer it every morning.
And you are to give a lamb a year old without any mark on it for a burned offering to the Lord every day: morning by morning you are to give it.
14 You are also to provide with it every morning a grain offering of a sixth of an ephah with a third of a hin of oil to moisten the fine flour—a grain offering to the LORD. This is a permanent statute.
And you are to give, morning by morning, a meal offering with it, a sixth of an ephah and a third of a hin of oil dropped on the best meal; a meal offering offered to the Lord at all times by an eternal order.
15 Thus they shall provide the lamb, the grain offering, and the oil every morning as a regular burnt offering.’
And they are to give the lamb and the meal offering and the oil, morning by morning, for a burned offering at all times.
16 This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘If the prince gives a gift to any of his sons as an inheritance, it will belong to his descendants. It will become their property by inheritance.
This is what the Lord has said: If the ruler gives a property to any of his sons, it is his heritage and will be the property of his sons; it is theirs for their heritage.
17 But if he gives a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, it will belong to that servant until the year of freedom; then it will revert to the prince. His inheritance belongs only to his sons; it shall be theirs.
And if he gives a part of his heritage to one of his servants, it will be his till the year of making free, and then it will go back to the ruler; for it is his sons' heritage, and is to be theirs.
18 The prince must not take any of the inheritance of the people by evicting them from their property. He is to provide an inheritance for his sons from his own property, so that none of My people will be displaced from his property.’”
And the ruler is not to take the heritage of any of the people, driving them out of their property; he is to give a heritage to his sons out of the property which is his: so that my people may not be sent away from their property.
19 Then the man brought me through the entrance at the side of the gate into the holy chambers facing north, which belonged to the priests, and he showed me a place there at the far western end
And he took me through by the way in at the side of the doorway into the holy rooms which are the priests', looking to the north: and I saw a place at the side of them to the west.
20 and said to me, “This is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the grain offering, so that they do not bring them into the outer court and transmit holiness to the people.”
And he said to me, This is the place where the offering for error and the sin-offering are to be cooked in water by the priests, and where the meal offering is to be cooked in the oven; so that they may not be taken out into the outer square to make the people holy.
21 Then he brought me into the outer court and led me around to its four corners, and I saw a separate court in each of its corners.
And he took me out into the outer square and made me go by the four angles of the square; and I saw that in every angle of the open square there was a space shut in.
22 In the four corners of the outer court there were enclosed courts, each forty cubits long and thirty cubits wide. Each of the four corner areas had the same dimensions.
In the four angles there were spaces walled in, forty cubits long and thirty wide; the four were of the same size.
23 Around the inside of each of the four courts was a row of masonry with ovens built at the base of the walls on all sides.
And there was a line of wall all round inside them, round all four, and boiling-places were made under it all round about.
24 And he said to me, “These are the kitchens where those who minister at the temple will cook the sacrifices offered by the people.”
And he said to me, These are the boiling-rooms, where the offering of the people is cooked by the servants of the house.

< Ezekiel 46 >