Jezekiel 46

1 Thus says the Lord God; The gate that is in the inner court, that looks eastward, shall be shut the six working days; [but] let it be opened on the sabbath-day, and it shall be opened on the day of the new moon.

“‘This is [also] what [I], Yahweh the Lord, declare: The east entryway of the inner courtyard must be shut during the six days in which people work each week, but on the Sabbath days and on the days when there is a new moon, that entryway must [remain] open until that evening.

2 And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of the inner gate, and shall stand at the entrance of the gate, and the priests shall prepare his whole burnt offerings and his peace-offerings, and he shall worship at the entrance of the gate: then shall he come forth; but the gate shall not be shut till evening.

The king must enter the courtyard through the entry room of the entryway, and stand alongside the entry post. [Then] the priests must sacrifice the animal that the king brought to be completely [on the altar], and also his offering to maintain fellowship with me. The king must worship me at the entrance of the entryway, and then he must go out. [After he leaves], the entryway will not be shut until that evening.

3 And the people of the land shall worship at the entrance of that gate, both on the sabbaths and at the new moons, before the Lord.

On the Sabbath days and on the [days when there is a] new moon, the people must worship [me] at the entrance of the entryway.

4 And the prince shall offer whole burnt offerings to the Lord on the sabbath-day, six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish;

The offering that the king brings to be completely burned on the Sabbath day must be six lambs and one ram, all with no defects.

5 and a free will offering, a meat-offering for the ram, and a meat-offering for the lambs, the gift of his hand, and a hin of oil for the meat-offering.

The offering [that he gives] with the ram must be a bushel of grain, and the grain [that he offers] with the lambs should be as much as he desires to offer, along with (1 gallon/3.8 liters) of [olive] oil for each bushel [of grain].

6 And on the day of the new moon a calf without blemish, and six lambs, and there shall be a ram without blemish;

[Then] each day that there is a new moon, he must offer a young bull, six lambs and a ram, all with no defects.

7 and a meat-offering for the ram, and there shall be a meat-offering for the calf as a free will offering, and for the lambs, according as his hand can furnish, and [there shall be] a hin of oil for the cake.

He must [also] provide one bushel of grain with the bull, one bushel of grain with the ram, and as much grain as he wants with the lambs, along with one quart/liter of [olive] oil with each bushel [of grain].

8 And when the prince goes in, he shall go in by the way of the porch of the gate, and he shall go forth by the way of the gate.

When the king enters [the temple area], he must enter through the entry room of the entryway, and he must go out through that same entry room [when he leaves].

9 And whenever the people of the land shall go in before the Lord at the feasts, he that goes in by the way of the north gate to worship shall go forth by the way of the south gate; and he that goes in by the way of the south gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate: he shall not return by the gate by which he entered, but he shall go forth opposite it.

When the Israeli people come to worship me at the festivals that I have appointed, those who enter the temple area through the north entryway must go out through the south entryway. And those who enter through the south entryway must go out through the north entryway. People must not go out through the entryway through which they entered; they must go out through the opposite entryway.

10 And the prince shall enter with them in the midst of them when they go in; and when they go forth, he shall go forth.

The king must go in when the other people go in, and go out when the people go out.

11 And in the feasts and in the general assemblies the free will oblation shall be a meat-offering for the calf, and a meat-offering for the ram, and for the lambs, as his hand can furnish, and a hin of oil for the meat-offering.

During the festivals and sacred feasts, the king must present a bushel of grain along with each bull or ram, and as much grain as he wants to bring, along with the lambs and (1 gallon/3.8 liters) of olive oil with each bushel of grain.

12 And if the prince should prepare [as] a thanksgiving a whole burnt-peace-offering to the Lord, and should open for himself the gate looking eastward, and offer his whole burnt offering, and his peace-offerings, as he does on the sabbath-day; then shall he go out, and shall shut the doors after he has gone out.

When the king gives an offering that is not required, either one to be completely burned [on the altar] or an offering to maintain fellowship with [me, Yahweh, the entryway on the east side of the courtyard] must be opened for him. Then he must present those offerings like he does on the Sabbath days. Then he must go out, and after he goes out, the entryway must be shut.

13 And he shall prepare daily as a whole burnt offering to the Lord a lamb of a year old without blemish: in the morning shall he prepare it.

Every day, during the morning, someone must provide a one-year-old lamb with no defects to be an offering to me that will be completely burned.

14 And he shall prepare a free will offering for it in the morning, the sixth part of a measure [of flour], and a third part of a hin of oil to mix [therewith] the fine flour, [as] a free will offering to the Lord, a perpetual ordinance.

Someone must also provide each morning an offering of flour. It must be one sixth of a bushel of flour mixed with one quart/liter of [olive] oil. These offerings of flour and olive oil to must be presented [to me], Yahweh, each day.

15 You shall prepare the lamb, and the free will offering, and the oil in the morning, [for] a perpetual whole burnt sacrifice.

The lamb and the offering of flour and [olive] oil must be presented to me every morning, to be completely burned on the altar.

16 Thus says the Lord God; If the prince shall give a gift to one of his sons out of his inheritance, this shall be to his sons a possession [as] an inheritance.

This is what I, Yahweh the Lord, declare: If the king gives some of his land to one of his sons, to belong to him permanently, it will then belong to his son’s descendants forever.

17 But if he give a gift to one of his servants, then it shall belong to him until the year of release; and [then] he shall restore [it] to the prince: but of the inheritance of his sons [the possession] shall continue to them.

However, if he gives some of his land to one of his servants, the servant is allowed to keep that land until the Year of Celebration. Then the king will own it again; the king’s land must belong to his descendants forever.

18 And the prince shall by no means take of the inheritance of the people, to oppress them: he shall give an inheritance to his sons out of his [own] possession: that my people be not scattered, every one from his possession.

The king must not take any land that the people own and force them to live somewhere else. The land that he gives to his sons must be from his own property, [not from anyone else’s property], in order that none of my people will be forced to leave his own property.’”

19 And he brought me into the entrance of the [place] behind the gate, into the chamber of the sanctuary belonging to the priests, that looks towards the north: and, behold, there was a place set apart.

Then, [in the vision], the man [who was showing the temple area to me] brought me through the entrance alongside the entryway and led me to the sacred rooms on the north side, the rooms that the priests used, and he showed me a place at the western end [of those rooms].

20 And he said to me, This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass-offerings and the sin-offerings, and there shall they bake the meat-offering always; so as not to carry [them] out into the outer court, to sanctify the people.

He said to me, “This is the place where the priests must cook the meat of the offerings that people bring in order to no longer be guilty for having sinned, and offerings for their sins, and where they will bake bread made with the flour brought to be offerings. [They will cook those things in their rooms] in order to avoid bringing them into the outer courtyard [to cook them there], lest someone [be punished because of] touching them.”

21 And he brought me into the outer court, and led me round upon the four sides of the court; and, behold, there was a court on [each of] the sides of the court,

Then the man brought me to the outer courtyard and led me to its four corners. In each corner I saw an enclosed area;

22 on [every] side a court, [even] a court for all the four [sides], and [each] little court belonging to the court was in length forty cubits, and [in] breadth thirty cubits, [there was] one measure to the four.

each of those areas was (70 feet/21.2 meters) long and (52-1/2 feet/15.9 meters) wide.

23 And [there were] chambers in them round about, round about the four, and cooking-places formed under the chambers round about.

Around the inside of each of those enclosed areas was a stone ledge, with places to make fires all around under each ledge.

24 And he said to me, These are the cooks' houses, where they that serve the house shall boil the sacrifices of the people.

The man said to me, “These are the kitchens where [the descendants of Levi] who work in the temple must cook the sacrifices that the people bring.”