The Gate for the Prince

44 Then he brought me ^wback to the outer gate of the sanctuary, ^xwhich faces east. And it was shut. 2 And the Lord said to me, “This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for ^ythe Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut. 3 Only ^zthe prince may sit in it ^ato eat bread before the Lord. He ^bshall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.”

4 Then he brought me by way of ^cthe north gate to the front of the temple, and I looked, and behold, ^dthe glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord. And ^eI fell on my face. 5 And the Lord said to me, ^f“Son of man, mark well, ^gsee with your eyes, ^gand hear with your ears all that I shall tell you concerning ^hall the statutes of the temple of the Lord and all its laws. And mark well ^hthe entrance to the temple and all the exits from the sanctuary. 6 And say to ⁱthe rebellious house,¹ to the ^jhouse of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: O house of Israel, ^kenough of all your abominations, 7 in ^ladmitting foreigners, ^muncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary, ⁿprofaning my temple, when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. You² have broken my covenant, in addition to all your abominations. 8 And ^oyou have not kept charge of my holy things, but you have set others to keep my charge for you in my sanctuary.

9 “Thus says the Lord God: ^pNo foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, shall enter my sanctuary. 10 But ^qthe Levites who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols ^rwhen Israel went astray, ^sshall bear their punishment.³ 11 They shall be ^tministers in my sanctuary, having oversight ^uat the gates of the temple and ministering in the temple. They shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and ^vthey shall stand before the people, to minister to them. 12 Because they ministered to them before their idols and became ^wa stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have ^xsworn concerning them, declares the Lord God, and they shall bear their punishment. 13 They ^yshall not come near to me, to serve me as priest, nor come near any of my holy things and the things that are most holy, but ^zthey shall bear their shame and the abominations that they have committed. 14 Yet I will appoint them to keep ^acharge of the temple, ^bto do all its service and all that is to be done in it.

Rules for Levitical Priests

15 “But ^cthe Levitical priests, ^cthe sons of Zadok, who kept ^athe charge of my sanctuary ^rwhen the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me ^dto minister to me. And they shall stand before me to offer me ^ethe fat and the blood, declares the Lord God. 16 They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall approach ^fmy table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge. 17 When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear ^glinen garments. They shall have nothing of wool on them, while they minister at the gates of the inner court, and within. 18 They shall have linen turbans on their heads, and linen undergarments around their waists. They shall not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat. 19 And when they go out into the outer court to the people, they shall put off the garments in which they have been ministering ^hand lay them in the holy chambers. And ⁱthey shall put on other garments, ^jlest they transmit holiness to the people with their garments. 20 ^kThey shall not shave their heads or ^llet their locks grow long; they shall surely trim the hair of their heads. 21 ^mNo priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court. 22 ⁿThey shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but only virgins of the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest. 23 ^oThey shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and ^oshow them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. 24 ^pIn a dispute, they shall act as judges, and they shall judge it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts, and ^qthey shall keep my Sabbaths holy. 25 ^rThey shall not defile themselves by going near to a dead person. However, for father or mother, for son or daughter, for brother or unmarried sister they may defile themselves. 26 ^sAfter he⁴ has become clean, they shall count seven days for him. 27 And on the day that he goes into the Holy Place, ^tinto the inner court, to minister in the Holy Place, ^uhe shall offer his sin offering, declares the Lord God.

28 ^v“This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance: and ^wyou shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession. 29 ^xThey shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and ^yevery devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. 30 ^zAnd the first of all the firstfruits of all kinds, and every offering of all kinds from all your offerings, shall belong to the priests. ^aYou shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, ^bthat a blessing may rest on your house. 31 ^cThe priests shall not eat of ^danything, whether bird or beast, that has died of itself or is torn by wild animals.

The Holy District

45 “When ^eyou allot the land as an inheritance, ^fyou shall set apart for the Lord a portion of the land as a holy district, 25,000 cubits¹ long and 20,000² cubits broad. It shall be holy throughout its whole extent. 2 ^gOf this a square plot of 500 by 500 cubits shall be for the sanctuary, with fifty cubits for ^han open space around it. 3 And ⁱfrom this measured district you shall measure off a section 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 broad, ^jin which shall be the sanctuary, ^kthe Most Holy Place. 4 ^lIt shall be the holy portion of the land. It shall be for the priests, who minister in the sanctuary and approach the Lord to minister to him, and it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. 5 ^mAnother section, 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits broad, shall be for the Levites who minister at the temple, as their possession for cities to live in.³

6 “Alongside the portion set apart as the holy district ⁿyou shall assign for the property of the city an area 5,000 cubits broad and 25,000 cubits long. ^oIt shall belong to the whole house of Israel.

The Portion for the Prince

7 ^p“And to ^qthe prince shall belong the land on both sides of the holy district and the property of the city, alongside the holy district and the property of the city, on the west and on the east, corresponding in length to one of the tribal portions, and extending from the western to the eastern boundary 8 of the land. It is to be his property in Israel. And ^rmy princes shall no more oppress my people, but ^sthey shall let the house of Israel have the land according to their tribes.

9 “Thus says the Lord God: ^tEnough, O princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression, and execute justice and righteousness. Cease ^uyour evictions of my people, declares the Lord God.

10 ^v“You shall have just balances, a just ephah, and a just bath.⁴ 11 The ephah and the bath shall be ^wof the same measure, ^xthe bath containing one tenth of a homer,⁵ and the ephah one tenth of a homer; the homer shall be the standard measure. 12 ^yThe shekel shall be twenty gerahs;⁶ twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels shall be your mina.⁷

13 ^z“This is the offering that you shall make: one sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat, and one sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley, 14 and as the fixed portion of oil, measured in baths, one tenth of a bath from each cor⁸ (the cor, like the homer, contains ^aten baths).⁹ 15 And one sheep from every flock of two hundred, from the watering places of Israel for grain offering, burnt offering, and peace offerings, ^bto make atonement for them, declares the Lord God. 16 All the people of the land shall be obliged to give this offering to the prince in Israel. 17 ^cIt shall be the prince’s duty to furnish the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the feasts, the new moons, and the Sabbaths, all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel: he shall provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings, to make atonement on behalf of the house of Israel.

18 “Thus says the Lord God: In the first month, ^don the first day of the month, you shall take a bull from the herd without blemish, and ^epurify the sanctuary. 19 ^fThe priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it ^gon the doorposts of the temple, the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and the posts of the gate of the inner court. 20 You shall do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who has sinned through error or ignorance; so you shall make atonement for the temple.

21 ^h“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall celebrate the Feast of the Passover, and for seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten. 22 On that day the prince ⁱshall provide for himself and all the people of the land a young bull for a sin offering. 23 And on ^jthe seven days of the festival he shall provide as a burnt offering to the Lord seven young bulls and seven rams without blemish, on each of the seven days; and ^ka male goat daily for a sin offering. 24 And ^lhe shall provide as ^ma grain offering an ephah for each bull, an ephah for each ram, and a hin¹⁰ of oil to each ephah. 25 ⁿIn the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month and for the seven days of the feast, ^ohe shall make the same provision for sin offerings, burnt offerings, and grain offerings, and for the oil.

The Prince and the Feasts

46 “Thus says the Lord God: ^pThe gate of ^qthe inner court that faces east shall be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day it shall be opened, and ^ron the day of the new moon it shall be opened. 2 ^sThe prince shall enter by the vestibule of the gate from outside, and shall take his stand by ^tthe post of the gate. ^uThe priests shall offer his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at ^vthe threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be shut until evening. 3 ^wThe people of the land shall bow down at the entrance of that gate before the Lord on the Sabbaths and on the new moons. 4 ^xThe burnt offering that the prince offers to the Lord ^yon the Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish. 5 And ^zthe grain offering with the ram shall be an ephah,¹ and the grain offering with the lambs shall be ^aas much as he is able, together with a hin² of oil to each ephah. 6 On the day of the new moon he shall offer a bull from the herd without blemish, and six lambs and a ram, which shall be without blemish. 7 As a grain offering he shall provide an ephah with the bull and an ephah with the ram, and with the lambs ^bas much as he is able, together with a hin of oil to each ephah. 8 ^cWhen the prince enters, he shall enter by the vestibule of the gate, and he shall go out by the same way.

9 ^d“When the people of the land ^ecome before the Lord at the appointed feasts, he who enters by the north gate to worship shall go out by the south gate, and he who enters by the south gate shall go out by the north gate: no one shall return by way of the gate by which he entered, but each shall go out straight ahead. 10 When they enter, ^fthe prince shall enter with them, and when they go out, he shall go out.

11 “At the feasts and the appointed festivals, ^zthe grain offering with a young bull shall be an ephah, and with a ram an ephah, and with the lambs ^bas much as one is able to give, together with a hin of oil to an ephah. 12 When the prince provides ^ga freewill offering, either a burnt offering or peace offerings as a freewill offering to the Lord, ^hthe gate facing east shall be opened for him. And he shall offer his burnt offering or his peace offerings ⁱas he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he has gone out the gate shall be shut.

13 ^j“You shall provide a lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering to the Lord daily; morning by morning you shall provide it. 14 And ^kyou shall provide a grain offering with it morning by morning, one sixth of an ephah, and one third of a hin of oil to moisten the flour, as a grain offering to the Lord. This is a perpetual statute. 15 Thus the lamb and the meal offering and the oil shall be provided, morning by morning, for ^la regular burnt offering.

16 “Thus says the Lord God: If the prince makes a gift to any of his sons as his inheritance, it shall belong to his sons. It is their property by inheritance. 17 But if he makes a gift ^mout of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his to ⁿthe year of liberty. Then it shall revert to the prince; surely it is his inheritance—it shall belong to his sons. 18 ^oThe prince shall not take any of the inheritance of the people, ^pthrusting them out of their property. He shall give his sons their inheritance out of his own property, so that none of my people shall be ^qscattered from his property.”

Boiling Places for Offerings

19 Then he brought me through the entrance, which was ^rat the side of the gate, to the north row of ^sthe holy chambers for the priests, and behold, a place was there at the extreme western end of them. 20 And he said to me, “This is the place where the priests ^tshall boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where ^uthey shall bake the grain offering, in order not to bring them out into the outer court and so ^vtransmit holiness to the people.”

21 Then he brought me out to the outer court and led me around to the four corners of the court. And behold, in each corner of the court there was another court— 22 in the four corners of the court were small³ courts, forty cubits⁴ long and thirty broad; the four were of the same size. 23 On the inside, around each of the four courts was a row of masonry, with hearths made at the bottom of the rows all around. 24 Then he said to me, “These are the kitchens where those who ^wminister at the temple ^tshall boil the sacrifices of the people.”

Water Flowing from the Temple

47 Then he brought me back to ^xthe door of the temple, and behold, ^ywater was issuing from below ^zthe threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of ^athe altar. 2 Then he brought me out by way of ^bthe north gate and led me around on the outside to ^cthe outer gate that faces toward the east; and behold, the water was trickling out on the south side.

3 Going on eastward with a measuring line in his hand, ^dthe man measured a thousand cubits,¹ and then led me through the water, and it was ankle-deep. 4 Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was knee-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was waist-deep. 5 Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen. It was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through. 6 And he said to me, ^e“Son of man, ^fhave you seen this?”

Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 7 As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river ^gvery many trees on the one side and on the other. 8 And he said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into ^hthe Arabah, and enters the sea;² when the water flows into ⁱthe sea, the water will become fresh.³ 9 And wherever the river goes,⁴ every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea⁵ may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. 10 Fishermen will stand beside the sea. From ^jEngedi to ^kEneglaim it will be a place for the spreading of nets. Its fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of ^lthe Great Sea.⁶ 11 But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt. 12 And on the banks, ^mon both sides of the river, there will grow ⁿall kinds of trees for food. ^oTheir leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, ^pbut they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and ^ptheir leaves for healing.”

Division of the Land

13 Thus says the Lord God: “This is the boundary⁷ by which ^qyou shall divide the land for inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel. ^rJoseph shall have two portions. 14 And you shall divide equally what ^sI swore ^tto give to your fathers. ^uThis land shall fall to you as your inheritance.

15 “This shall be the boundary of the land: On the north side, from ^lthe Great Sea ^vby way of Hethlon to Lebo-hamath, and on to ^wZedad,⁸ 16 ^xBerothah, Sibraim (which lies on the border between ^yDamascus and ^vHamath), as far as Hazer-hatticon, which is on the border of Hauran. 17 So the boundary shall run from the sea to ^zHazar-enan, which is on the northern border of Damascus, with the border of Hamath to the north.⁹ This shall be the north side.¹⁰

18 “On the east side, the boundary shall run between Hauran and Damascus; along the Jordan between ^aGilead and the land of Israel; to ^bthe eastern sea and as far as Tamar.¹¹ This shall be the east side.

19 “On the south side, it shall run from ^cTamar as far as ^dthe waters of Meribah-kadesh, from there along ^ethe Brook of Egypt¹² to ^fthe Great Sea. This shall be the south side.

20 “On the west side, the Great Sea shall be the boundary to a point ^vopposite Lebo-hamath. This shall be the west side.

21 ^g“So you shall divide this land among you according to the tribes of Israel. 22 ^hYou shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and ⁱfor the sojourners who reside among you and have had children among you. ^jThey shall be to you as native-born children of Israel. With you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. 23 In whatever tribe the sojourner resides, there you shall assign him his inheritance, declares the Lord God.

48 “These are the names of the tribes: Beginning at the northern extreme, beside ^kthe way of Hethlon ^lto Lebo-hamath, as far as ^mHazar-enan (which is on the northern border of ⁿDamascus over against Hamath), and extending¹ from the east side to the west,^{2 o}Dan, one portion. 2 Adjoining the territory of Dan, from the east side to the west, ^oAsher, one portion. 3 Adjoining the territory of Asher, from the east side to the west, ^oNaphtali, one portion. 4 Adjoining the territory of Naphtali, from the east side to the west, Manasseh, one portion. 5 Adjoining the territory of Manasseh, from the east side to the west, Ephraim, one portion. 6 Adjoining the territory of Ephraim, from the east side to the west, Reuben, one portion. 7 Adjoining the territory of Reuben, from the east side to the west, Judah, one portion.