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 east gate of the inner court is to be kept shut during the six working days, but it shall be opened on the Sabbath and on the day of the New Moon

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 must come through the gateway porch from outside and he will stand by the gatepost, and the priests will sacrifice his burnt offerings and peace offerings. He is to bow in respect at the gate's threshold of the gate and leave, but the gate is not to 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.

The people of Israel will also bow before the Lord at the gateway entrance on Sabbaths and New Moons.

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 is to offer to the Lord on the Sabbath day shall be six male lambs and a ram, all without 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 grain offering to accompany the ram shall be one ephah, and the grain offering with the lambs shall be as much as he chooses, together with a hin of olive oil for every ephah 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;

On the day of the New Moon he is to offer a young bull, six lambs, and a ram. They are all to be without 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 is also to provide a grain offering of an ephah with the bull, an ephah with the ram, and as much as he is chooses with the lambs, together with a hin of olive oil for every ephah 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 prince enters, he is to come in through the gateway porch, and leave 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 Israel gather before the Lord at the regular religious festivals, anyone who enters through the north gate to worship has to leave through the south gate, and anyone who enters through the south gate leave through the north gate. No one is allowed to go back through the same gate through which they entered. Everyone must leave 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.

The prince is to enter when the people do; and leave when they 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 religious festivals and regular meetings, the grain offering will be an ephah with a bull, an ephah with a ram, and as much as people choose with the lambs, together with a hin of olive oil for every ephah 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 prince decides to make a freewill offering to the Lord, whether it's a burnt offering or a peace offering, the east gate is to be opened for him. He shall offer his burnt offering or peace offering in the same way he does on the Sabbath. When he leaves, the gate must be closed after him.

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 morning a year-old lamb without defects is to be sacrificed as a daily burnt offering to the Lord.

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.

Every morning a grain offering of a sixth of an ephah with a third of a hin of olive oil to moisten the best flour is to be provided as a grain offering to the Lord. This regulation is to be followed forever.

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

Make sure the lamb, the grain offering, and the olive oil is presented 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 of property to any of his sons to own, it will belong to his descendants. They will be able to inherit the property.

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 a gift of his property to one of his servants, that servant will only own it until the Jubilee Year. Then ownership will return to the prince. His property that he passes on through inheritance belongs only to his sons—it is 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 is not to take people's land, driving them off their property. He is to give land to his sons from his own property, so that none of my people shall be evicted from their 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.

The man took me through the entrance beside the gate into the north-facing holy rooms that belonged to the priests. He showed me a place 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 told me, “This is where the priests cook guilt offerings and sin offerings, and where they bake the grain offering. This is so that they don't take them to the outer courtyard and carry 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,

He took me into the outer courtyard and led me to each of its four corners. I saw a separate courtyard in each corner.

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.

There were separate walled courtyards in the four corners of the outer courtyard. They each measured forty cubits by thirty cubits—they were all the same size.

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

Each of the four courts had a stone ledge with ovens built into the base of the walls on every side.

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

He told me, “These are the kitchens where those who serve in the Temple will cook the people's sacrificial offerings.”