Ezekiel 46

1 Thus saith My Lord Yahweh, the gate of the inner court which looketh toward the east shall be shut, the six days of work, —but on the sabbath-day, shall it be opened, and on the day of the new moon, shall it be opened.

“‘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 The prince therefore shall enter by way of the porch of the gate without and shall stand by the post of the gate, and the priests shall offer his ascending-sacrifice and his peace offerings, and he shall bow down upon the threshold of the gate and then go forth, but the gate shall not be shut until the 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 bow down, at the entrance of that gate on the sabbaths and at the new moons, —before Yahweh.

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 ascending-sacrifice which the prince shall bring near unto Yahweh, [shall be] on the sabbath day, six he-lambs without defect and a ram without defect;

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 the meal-offering shall be an ephah to a ram, and to the he-lambs, the meal-offering shall be as one is able to give, — and of, a hin to an ephah.

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 But on the day of the new moon, a young bullock without defect, —and six he-lambs and a ram without defect, shall they be;

[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 an ephah to a bullock, and an ephah to a ram, shall he offer as a meal-offering, and for the he-lambs, just as his hand shall attain unto, —and of oil a hin to an ephah.

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 shall enter, by way of the porch of the gate, shall he go in, and by way thereof, shall he go out.

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 But when the people of the land shall enter before Yahweh on the appointed feasts, he that entereth by way of the north gate to bow down shall go forth by way of the south gate, and he that entereth by way of the south gate shall go forth by way of the north gate, —he shall not return by way of the gate by which he entered, but straight-forward, shall he go forth.

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 But as for the prince in their midst when they enter, shall he enter, and when they go forth, shall he 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 festivals and in the appointed feasts, the meal-offering! shall be an ephah to a bullock, and an ephah to a ram, but to the he-lambs, as one is able to give, —and of oil a hin to an ephah.

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, when the prince would offer as a freewill offering an ascending-sacrifice or peace-offerings as a free-will offering to Yahweh, then shall be opened to him the gate that looketh to the east, and he shall offer his ascending-sacrifice and his peace-offerings just as he would offer on the sabbath day, - and, when he shall go forth, then shall one shut the gate after he hath gone forth.

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, a he-lamb of the first year without defect, shalt thou offer as an ascending-sacrifice daily unto Yahweh, — morning by morning shalt thou offer 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, a meal-offering, shalt thou offer thereupon morning by morning, of the sixth of an ephah and, of oil, the third part of an hin to moisten the fine meal, —a meal-offering to Yahweh, age-abiding statutes continually.

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 Thus shall they offer the he-lamb and the meal-offering and the oil morning by morning, —a continual ascending-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 saith My Lord Yahweh, When the prince would bestow a gift upon any one of his sons, his own inheritance, shall it be, for his sons, shall it remain, — their possession, shall it be by way of 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 when he would bestow a gift out of his inheritance on any one of his servants, it shall remain his unto the year of liberation, then shall it return to the prince, —surely it is the inheritance of his sons, theirs, shall it remain.

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 So then the prince shall not take of the inheritance of the people to oppress them out of their possession, out of his own possession, shall he give an inheritance to his sons, —to the end that my people be not scattered, any one out of 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 Then he brought me in through the entrance which was by the side of the gate, into the chambers of the holy place for the priests, those facing the north, —and lo! there a place, in the hinder parts westwards.

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 Then said he unto me, — This, is the place where the priests, shall boil, the guilt-bearer and the sin-bearer, —where they shall bake the meal-offering, that one may not carry them forth into the outer court to hallow 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 So he caused me to go out into the outer court, and then made me pass through into the four corners of the court, —and lo! a court in each corner 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 in the four corners of the court, were courts covered over, forty long and thirty broad: of one measure, were those four.

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

23 And there was an enclosure round about in them round about to those four, —and boiling places had been made under the enclosures 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 unto me, — these, are the places of them who boil where they who wait upon the house shall boil the sacrifice 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.”