The Priests' Duties and Privileges
15
“But the Levitical priests descended from Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from Me, will approach Me to serve Me. They will stand before Me to offer Me fat and blood.” This is the declaration of the Lord
God
.
16
“They are the ones who may enter My sanctuary and draw near to My table to serve Me. They will keep My mandate.
17
When they enter the gates of the inner court they must wear linen garments; they must not have on them anything made of wool when they minister at the gates of the inner court and within it.
18
They must wear linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments around their waists. They are not to put on anything that makes them sweat.
19
Before they go out to the outer court, to the people, they must take off the clothes they have been ministering in, leave them in the holy chambers, and dress in other clothes so that they do not transmit holiness to the people through their clothes.
20
“They may not shave their heads or let their hair grow long, but must carefully trim their hair.
21
No priest may drink wine before he enters the inner court.
22
He is not to marry a widow or a divorced woman, but must marry a virgin from the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.
23
They must teach My people the difference between the holy and the common, and explain to them the difference between the
•clean
and the
•unclean
.
24
“In a dispute, they will officiate as judges and decide the case according to My ordinances. They must observe My laws and statutes regarding all My appointed festivals, and keep My Sabbaths holy.
25
A priest may not come near a dead person so that he becomes defiled. However, he may defile himself for a father, a mother, a son, a daughter, a brother, or an unmarried sister.
26
After he is cleansed, he is to count off seven days for himself.
27
On the day he goes into the sanctuary, into the inner court to minister in the sanctuary, he must present his
•sin
offering.” This is the declaration of the Lord
God
.
28
“This will be their inheritance: I am their inheritance. You are to give them no possession in Israel: I am their possession.
29
They will eat the
•grain
offering, the sin offering, and the
•restitution
offering. Everything in Israel that is permanently dedicated to the
Lord
will belong to them.
30
The best of all the
•firstfruits
of every kind and contribution of every kind from all your gifts will belong to the priests. You are to give your first batch of dough to the priest so that a blessing may rest on your homes.
31
The priests may not eat any bird or animal that died naturally or was mauled by wild beasts.
Ezekiel
The Sacred Portion of the Land
45
“When you divide the land by lot as an inheritance, you must set aside a donation to the
Lord
, a holy portion of the land, 8
1
/
3
miles long and 6
2
/
3
miles wide. This entire tract of land will be holy.
2
In this area there will be a square section for the sanctuary, 875 by 875 feet, with 87
1
/
2
feet of open space all around it.
3
From this holy portion, you will measure off an area 8
1
/
3
miles long and 3
1
/
3
miles wide, in which the sanctuary, the most holy place, will stand.
4
It will be a holy area of the land to be used by the priests who minister in the sanctuary, who draw near to serve the
Lord
. It will be a place for their houses, as well as a holy area for the sanctuary.
5
There will be another area 8
1
/
3
miles long and 3
1
/
3
miles wide for the Levites who minister in the temple; it will be their possession for towns to live in.
6
“As the property of the city, you must set aside an area 1
2
/
3
of a mile wide and 8
1
/
3
miles long, adjacent to the holy donation of land. It will be for the whole house of Israel.
7
And the prince will have the area on each side of the holy donation of land and the city's property, adjacent to the holy donation and the city's property, stretching to the west on the west side and to the east on the east side. Its length will correspond to one of the tribal portions from the western boundary to the eastern boundary.
8
This will be his land as a possession in Israel. My princes will no longer oppress My people but give the rest of the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.
9
“This is what the Lord
God
says: You have gone too far, princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression and do what is just and right. Put an end to your evictions of My people.” This is the declaration of the Lord
God
.
10
“You must have honest scales, an honest dry measure, and an honest liquid measure.
11
The dry measure and the liquid measure will be uniform, with the liquid measure containing 5
1
/
2
gallons and the dry measure holding half a bushel. Their measurement will be a tenth of the standard larger capacity measure.
12
The
•shekel
will weigh 20
gerahs
. Your mina will equal 60 shekels.
The People's Contribution to the Sacrifices
13
“This is the contribution you are to offer: Three quarts from five bushels of wheat and three quarts from five bushels of barley.
14
The quota of oil in liquid measures will be one percent of every cor. The cor equals 10 liquid measures or one standard larger capacity measure, since 10 liquid measures equal one standard larger capacity measure.
15
And the quota from the flock is one animal out of every 200 from the well-watered pastures of Israel. These are for the
•grain
offerings,
•burnt
offerings, and
•fellowship
offerings, to make
•atonement
for the people.” This is the declaration of the Lord
God
.
16
“All the people of the land must take part in this contribution for the prince in Israel.
17
Then the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and
•drink
offerings for the festivals, New Moons, and Sabbaths — for all the appointed times of the house of Israel — will be the prince's responsibility. He will provide the
•sin
offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and fellowship offerings to make atonement on behalf of the house of Israel.
18
“This is what the Lord
God
says: In the first month, on the first day of the month, you are to take a young, unblemished bull and purify the sanctuary.
19
The priest must take some of the blood from the sin offering and apply it to the temple doorposts, the four corners of the altar's ledge, and the doorposts of the gate to the inner court.
20
You must do the same thing on the seventh day of the month for everyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance. In this way you will make atonement for the temple.
21
“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you are to celebrate the
•Passover
, a festival of seven days during which unleavened bread will be eaten.
22
On that day the prince will provide a bull as a sin offering on behalf of himself and all the people of the land.
23
During the seven days of the festival, he will provide seven bulls and seven rams without blemish as a burnt offering to the
Lord
on each of the seven days, along with a male goat each day for a sin offering.
24
He will also provide a grain offering of half a bushel per bull and half a bushel per ram, along with a gallon of oil for every half bushel.
25
At the festival that begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, he will provide the same things for seven days — the same sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, and oil.
Ezekiel
Sacrifices at Appointed Times
46
“This is what the Lord
God
says: The gate of the inner court that faces east must be closed during the six days of work, but it will be opened on the Sabbath day and opened on the day of the New Moon.
2
The prince should enter from the outside by way of the gate's portico and stand at the doorpost of the gate while the priests sacrifice his
•burnt
offerings and
•fellowship
offerings. He will bow in worship at the threshold of the gate and then depart, but the gate must not be closed until evening.
3
The people of the land will also bow in worship before the
Lord
at the entrance of that gate on the Sabbaths and New Moons.
4
“The burnt offering that the prince presents to the
Lord
on the Sabbath day is to be six unblemished lambs and an unblemished ram.
5
The
•grain
offering will be half a bushel with the ram, and the grain offering with the lambs will be whatever he wants to give, as well as a gallon of oil for every half bushel.
6
On the day of the New Moon, the burnt offering is to be a young, unblemished bull, as well as six lambs and a ram without blemish.
7
He will provide a grain offering of half a bushel with the bull, half a bushel with the ram, and whatever he can afford with the lambs, together with a gallon of oil for every half bushel.
8
When the prince enters, he must go in by way of the gate's portico and go out the same way.
9
“When the people of the land come before the
Lord
at the appointed times, whoever enters by way of the north gate to worship must go out by way of the south gate, and whoever enters by way of the south gate must go out by way of the north gate. No one must return through the gate by which he entered, but must go out by the opposite gate.
10
When the people enter, the prince will enter with them, and when they leave, he will leave.
11
At the festivals and appointed times, the grain offering will be half a bushel with the bull, half a bushel with the ram, and whatever he wants to give with the lambs, along with a gallon of oil for every half bushel.
12
“When the prince makes a freewill offering, whether a burnt offering or a fellowship offering as a freewill offering to the
Lord
, the gate that faces east must be opened for him. He is to offer his burnt offering or fellowship offering just as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he will go out, and the gate must be closed after he leaves.
13
“You must offer an unblemished year-old male lamb as a daily burnt offering to the
Lord
; you will offer it every morning.
14
You must also prepare a grain offering every morning along with it: three quarts, with one-third of a gallon of oil to moisten the fine flour — a grain offering to the
Lord
. This is a permanent statute to be observed regularly.
15
They will offer the lamb, the grain offering, and the oil every morning as a regular burnt offering.
Transfer of Royal Lands
16
“This is what the Lord
God
says: If the prince gives a gift to each of his sons as their inheritance, it will belong to his sons. It will become their property by inheritance.
17
But if he gives a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, it will belong to that servant until the year of freedom, when it will revert to the prince. His inheritance belongs only to his sons; it is theirs.
18
The prince must not take any of the people's inheritance, evicting them from their property. He is to provide an inheritance for his sons from his own property, so that none of My people will be displaced from his own property.”
The Temple Kitchens
19
Then he brought me through the entrance that was at the side of the gate, into the priests' holy chambers, which faced north. I saw a place there at the far western end.
20
He said to me, “This is the place where the priests will boil the
•restitution
offering and the
•sin
offering, and where they will bake the grain offering, so that they do not bring them into the outer court and transmit holiness to the people.”
21
Next he brought me into the outer court and led me past its four corners. There was a separate court in each of its corners.
22
In the four corners of the outer court there were enclosed courts, 70 feet long by 52
1
/
2
feet wide. All four corner areas had the same dimensions.
23
There was a stone wall around the inside of them, around the four of them, with ovens built at the base of the walls on all sides.
24
He said to me: “These are the kitchens where those who minister at the temple will cook the people's sacrifices.”
Ezekiel
The Life-Giving River
47
Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple and there was water flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the temple faced east. The water was coming down from under the south side of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar.
2
Next he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate that faced east; there the water was trickling from the south side.
3
As the man went out east with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a third of a mile and led me through the water. It came up to my ankles.
4
Then he measured off a third of a mile and led me through the water. It came up to my knees. He measured off another third of a mile and led me through the water. It came up to my waist.
5
Again he measured off a third of a mile , and it was a river that I could not cross on foot. For the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be crossed on foot.