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 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 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 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 worship at the entrance of that gate, both on the sabbaths and at the new moons, before 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 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 burnt offering that the prince presents to the LORD on the Sabbath day shall be six unblemished male lambs and an unblemished ram.

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

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

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

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 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 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.

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

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.

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 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 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 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.

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 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.

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

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 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 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 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.

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

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 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.

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 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 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 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.

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 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 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, These are the cooks' houses, where they that serve the house shall boil the sacrifices 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.”