Sep 19 - Ezekiel 44-46
Ezekiel
1And he turned me back, toward the way of the gate of the outer sanctuary, which looked toward the east. And it was closed2And the Lord said to me: "This gate will be closed; it will not be opened. And man shall not cross through it. For the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered through it, and it shall be close3to the prince. The prince himself will sit at it, so that he may eat bread before the Lord; he will enter by the way of the vestibule of the gate, and he will depart by the same way.4And he led me in, along the way of the north gate, in the sight of the house. And I saw, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. And I fell upon my face5And the Lord said to me: "Son of man, set within your heart, and see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I am speaking to you about all the ceremonies of the house of the Lord and about all its laws. And set your heart upon the ways of the temple, along all the exits of the sanctuary6And you shall say to the house of Israel, which provokes me: Thus says the Lord God: Let all your wicked deeds be sufficient for you, O house of Israel7For you bring in foreign sons, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, so that they may be in my sanctuary and may defile my house. And you offer my bread, the fat, and the blood, yet you have broken my covenant by all your wicked deeds8And you have not observed the precepts of my sanctuary, yet you have stationed observers of my vigil in my sanctuary for yourselves9Thus says the Lord God: Any foreigner, any foreign son who is in the midst of the sons of Israel, who is uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall not enter into my sanctuary10And as for the Levites, they have withdrawn far away from me, in the errors of the sons of Israel, and they have gone astray from me after their idols, and they have borne their iniquity11They will be caretakers in my sanctuary, and doorkeepers at the gates of the house, and ministers to the house. They will slay the holocausts and the victims of the people. And they will stand before them, so that they may minister to them12But because they ministered to them in the sight their idols, and they became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, for this reason, I have lifted up my hand against them, says the Lord God, and they will bear their iniquity13And they shall not draw near to me, so as to exercise the priesthood for me, and they shall not approach to any of my holy things, which are near the Holy of Holies. Instead, they will bear their shame and their wicked deeds, which they committed14And I will make them doorkeepers of the house, for all its ministries and for all that will be done within it15But the priests and the Levites who are the sons of Zadok, who observed the ceremonies of my sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from me, these shall draw near to me, so that they may minister for me. And they shall stand in my sight, so that they may offer to me the fat and the blood, says the Lord God16They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall draw near to my table, so that they may minister for me, and so that they may observe my ceremonies17And when they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments. Neither shall anything woolen be placed over them, when they minister within the gates of the inner and the outer court18They shall have linen bands on their heads, and linen undergarments over their loins, and they shall not be girded so as to sweat19And when they go forth to the outer court to the people, they shall strip off their vestments, in which they ministered, and they shall place them in the storeroom of the sanctuary, and they shall clothe themselves with other garments. And they shall not sanctify the people in their vestments20Now they shall not shave their heads, and they shall not grow long hair. Instead, they shall trim the hair of their heads21And no priest shall drink wine, when he will be entering into the inner court22And they shall not take as wife a widow or one who has been divorced. Instead, they shall take virgins from the offspring of the house of Israel. But they may also take a widow, if she is the widow of a priest23And they shall teach my people the difference between holy and defiled, and they shall distinguish for them between clean and unclean24And when there has been a controversy, they shall stand in my judgments, and they shall judge. They shall observe my laws and my precepts, in all my solemnities, and they shall sanctify my Sabbaths25And they shall not enter to a dead person, lest they be defiled, except to father or mother, or son or daughter, or brother, or to a sister who does not have another man. By these, they may become unclean26And after he will have been cleansed, they shall number for him seven days27And on the day when he enters into the sanctuary, to the inner court, so that he may minister to me in the sanctuary, he shall make an offering because of his offense, says the Lord God28And there shall be no inheritance for them. I am their inheritance. And you shall not give them any possession in Israel. For I am their possession29They shall eat the victim both for sin and for offenses. And every vowed offering in Israel shall be theirs30And the first-fruits of all the firstborn, and all the libations out of all that is offered, shall belong to the priests. And you shall give the first-fruits of your foods to the priest, so that he may return a blessing to your house31The priests shall not consume anything which has died on its own, or which was seized by a beast, whether from the fowl or the cattle.
1"And when you will begin to divide the land by lot, separate as first-fruits for the Lord a sanctified portion of the land, in length twenty-five thousand and in width ten thousand. It will be holy within all its borders all around2And there shall be, out of the entire region, a sanctified portion of five hundred by five hundred, foursquare all around, with fifty cubits for its suburbs on all sides3And with this measure, you shall measure a length of twenty-five thousand, and a width of ten thousand, and within it shall be the temple and the Holy of Holies4The sanctified portion of the land shall be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who approach for the ministry of the Lord. And it shall be a place for their houses, and for the holy place of the sanctuary5Now twenty-five thousand in length, and ten thousand in width shall be for the Levites, who minister in the house. They shall possess twenty storerooms6And you shall appoint a possession in the city of five thousand in width, and twenty-five thousand in length, in accord with the separation of the sanctuary, for the entire house of Israel7Appoint the same for the prince, on one side and on the other, in the separation of the sanctuary, and in the possession of the city, opposite the face of the separation of the sanctuary, and opposite the face of the possession of the city, from the side of the sea even to the sea, and from the side of the east even to the east. And the length shall be just as in each part, from the western border even to the eastern border8A portion of the land in Israel shall be for him. And the princes shall no longer plunder my people. Instead, they shall give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes9Thus says the Lord God: Let this be sufficient for you, O princes of Israel! Cease from iniquity and robberies, and execute judgment and justice. Separate your confines from my people, says the Lord God10You shall have just scales, and a just unit of dry measure, and a just unit of liquid measure11The units of dry and liquid measure shall be one uniform measure, so that a bath contains one tenth part of a cor, and an ephah contains one tenth part of a cor; each shall be of equal volume in accord with the measure of a cor12Now the shekel consists of twenty obols. Furthermore, twenty shekels, and twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels makes one mina13And these are the first-fruits that you shall take: a sixth part of an ephah from each cor of wheat, and a sixth part of an ephah from each cor of barley14Likewise, a measure of oil, a bath of oil, is one tenth part of a cor. And ten baths make one cor. For ten baths complete one cor15And take one ram from each flock of two hundred, out of those that Israel tends for sacrifice and holocausts and peace offerings, in order to make an expiation for them, says the Lord God16All the people of the land will take hold of these first-fruits for the prince in Israel17And concerning the prince, there shall be holocausts and sacrifice and libations, on solemnities and new moons and Sabbaths, and on all the solemnities of the house of Israel. He himself shall offer the sacrifice for sin, and the holocaust, and the peace offerings, in order to make expiation for the house of Israel18Thus says the Lord God: In the first month, on the first of the month, you shall take an immaculate calf from the herd, and you shall expiate the sanctuary19And the priest shall take from the blood that will be for the sin offering. And he shall place it on the doorposts of the house, and on the four corners of the rim of the altar, and on the posts of the gate of the inner court20And so shall you do on the seventh day of the month, on behalf of each one who was ignorant or who was deceived by error. And you shall make expiation for the house21In the first month, the fourteenth day of the month shall be for you the solemnity of the Passover. For seven days, unleavened bread shall be eaten22And on that day, the prince shall offer, on behalf of himself and on behalf of all the people of the land, a calf for sin23And during the solemnity of the seven days, he shall offer a holocaust to the Lord of seven immaculate calves and seven immaculate rams, daily for seven days, and a he-goat from among the she-goats, daily for sin24And he shall offer the sacrifice of an ephah for each calf, and an ephah for each ram, and a hin of oil for every ephah25In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, during the solemnities, he shall do just as was said above for the seven days, as much for the sin offering, as for the holocaust and sacrifice and oil.
1Thus 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 opened2And 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 evening3And 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 Lord4Now this holocaust, which the prince shall offer to the Lord on the Sabbath day, shall be six immaculate lambs, and one immaculate ram5The 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 ephah6Then, 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 immaculate7And 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 ephah8And 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 way9And 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 it10But the prince in their midst shall enter when they enter, and he shall depart when they depart11And 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 ephah12But 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 out13And daily he shall offer, as a holocaust to the Lord, an immaculate lamb of the same age. He shall offer it always in the morning14And 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 ordinance15He shall offer the lamb and the sacrifice and the oil, morning after morning, as an everlasting holocaust16Thus 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 inheritance17But 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 sons18And 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.19And 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 west20And 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.21And 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 court22At 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 measure23And there was a wall all around, encircling the four little atriums. And kitchens had been constructed under the porticos on all sides24And 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.