Ezekiel 46

1 Thus says the Lord God: “The gate of the inner court which looks toward the east shall be closed for the six days on which work is done. Then, on the Sabbath day, it shall be opened. But also on the day of the new moon, it shall be opened.

“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.

2 And the prince shall enter from outside, by the way of the vestibule of the gate, and he shall stand at the threshold of the gate. And the priests shall offer his holocaust and his peace offerings. And he shall adore upon the threshold of the gate, and then depart. But the gate shall not be closed until evening.

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.

3 And the people of the land shall adore at the entrance of the same gate, on the Sabbaths and on the new moons, in the sight of the Lord.

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.

4 Now this holocaust, which the prince shall offer to the Lord on the Sabbath day, shall be six immaculate lambs, and one immaculate ram.

The burnt offering that the prince presents to the LORD on the Sabbath day shall be six unblemished male lambs and an unblemished ram.

5 The sacrifice shall be one ephah for each ram. But for the lambs, the sacrifice shall be whatever his hand shall give. And there shall be one hin of oil for each ephah.

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.

6 Then, on the day of the new moon, he shall offer one immaculate calf from the herd. Both the six lambs and the rams shall be immaculate.

On the day of the New Moon he shall offer a young, unblemished bull, six lambs, and a ram without blemish.

7 And he shall offer the sacrifice of one ephah for each calf, and also one ephah for each ram. But for the lambs, it shall be just as his hand will find. And there shall be one hin of oil for each ephah.

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.

8 And when the prince will enter, let him enter by the way of the vestibule of the gate, and let him go out by the same way.

When the prince enters, he shall go in through the portico of the gateway, and he shall go out the same way.

9 And when the people of the land will enter in the sight of the Lord on the solemnities, whoever enters by the north gate so that he may adore, shall depart by the way of the south gate. And whoever enters by the way of the south gate shall depart by the way of the north gate. He shall not return by way of the gate through which he entered. Instead, he shall depart from the direction opposite to it.

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.

10 But the prince in their midst shall enter when they enter, and he shall depart when they depart.

When the people enter, the prince shall go in with them, and when they leave, he shall leave.

11 And during the feasts and the solemnities, there shall be the sacrifice of one ephah for each calf, and one ephah for each ram. But for the lambs, the sacrifice shall be just as his hand will find. And there shall be one hin of oil for each ephah.

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.

12 But when the prince will offer a voluntary holocaust or a voluntary peace offering to the Lord, the gate which looks toward the east shall be opened to him. And he shall offer his holocaust and his peace offerings, just as is usually done on the Sabbath day. And he shall depart, and the gate shall be closed after he has gone out.

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.

13 And daily he shall offer, as a holocaust to the Lord, an immaculate lamb of the same age. He shall offer it always in the morning.

And you shall provide an unblemished year-old lamb as a daily burnt offering to the LORD; you are to offer it every morning.

14 And he shall offer as a sacrifice with it, morning after morning, one sixth part of an ephah, and one third part of a hin of oil, to be mixed with the fine flour, as a sacrifice to the Lord, by a continual and everlasting ordinance.

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.

15 He shall offer the lamb and the sacrifice and the oil, morning after morning, as an everlasting holocaust.

Thus they shall provide the lamb, the grain offering, and the oil every morning as a regular burnt offering.’

16 Thus says the Lord God: If the prince grants a gift to any of his sons, the inheritance of it will go to his sons; they shall possess it as an inheritance.

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.

17 But if he grants a legacy from his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his only until the year of remission, and then it shall be returned to the prince. For his inheritance shall go to his sons.

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.

18 And the prince shall not take from the inheritance of the people by force, nor from their possession. Instead, from his own possession, he shall give an inheritance to his sons, so that my people will not be scattered, each one from his possession.”

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.’”

19 And he led me in by the entrance which was at the side of the gate, into the storerooms of the sanctuary for the priests, which looked toward the north. And there was a place there which verged toward the west.

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

20 And he said to me: “This is the place where the priests will cook the offering for sin and the offering for trespasses. Here, they shall cook the sacrifice, so that they need not carry it to the outer court, and so that the people may be sanctified.”

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.”

21 And he led me away to the outer court, and he led me around by the four corners of the court. And behold, there was a little atrium at the corner of the court; a little atrium was at each corner of the court.

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.

22 At the four corners of the court, little atriums were positioned, forty cubits in length, and thirty in width; each of the four were of the same measure.

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.

23 And there was a wall all around, encircling the four little atriums. And kitchens had been constructed under the porticos on all sides.

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.

24 And he said to me: “This is the house of the kitchens, in which the ministers of the house of the Lord will cook the victims of the people.”

And he said to me, “These are the kitchens where those who minister at the temple will cook the sacrifices offered by the people.”