Ezekiel 46

1 “‘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 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 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 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 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 [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 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 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 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 The king must go in when the other people go in, and go out when the people go out.

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

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

24 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.”