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46 Thus says the Lord God: The gate of the inner court that faces east shall be shut during the six working days, but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and also on the day of the New Moon it shall be opened.

And the prince shall enter by the porch or vestibule of the gate from without and shall stand by the sidepost of the gate. The priests shall prepare and offer his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be shut until evening.

The people of the land shall worship at the entrance of that gate before the Lord on the Sabbaths and on the New Moons.

And the burnt offering that the prince shall offer to the Lord on the Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish.

And the bloodless or meal offering with the ram shall be an ephah, and the meal offering with the lambs shall be as much as he is able and willing to give, and a hin of oil with each ephah.

And on the day of the New Moon the offering shall be a young bull without blemish and six lambs and a ram without blemish.

And the prince shall provide and make a meal or bloodless offering, an ephah for the bullock and an ephah for the ram, and for the lambs as he is able and willing according to what has been made available to his hand, and a hin of oil to each ephah.

And when the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the porch or vestibule of that gate and he shall go out by way of it.

But when the people of the land shall come before the Lord at the appointed solemn feasts, he who enters 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; he shall not return by the gate by which he came in but shall go out by the opposite gate [straight ahead].(A)

10 And the prince, when they go in, shall go in with them, and when they go out, he shall go out.

11 And in the appointed and solemn feasts the meal or bloodless offering shall be with a bullock an ephah, and with a ram an ephah, and with the lambs as much as the prince is willing and able to give [from what has been made available to him], and a hin of oil with each ephah.

12 When the prince shall prepare and make a freewill burnt offering or peace offerings voluntarily to the Lord, the gate that faces east shall be opened for him, and he shall offer his burnt offering and his peace offerings as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he has gone out, the gate shall be shut.

13 And a lamb a year old without blemish shall you [the priests, for the congregation] offer daily to the Lord; you shall prepare and offer it every morning.

14 And you [the priests] shall prepare a meal offering to go with it every morning, one-sixth of an ephah with one-third of a hin of oil to moisten the fine flour. This is a perpetual ordinance for a continual meal offering to the Lord.

15 Thus shall they prepare and offer the lamb and the meal offering and the oil every morning for a continual burnt offering.

16 Thus says the Lord God: If the prince gives a gift to any of his sons out of his inheritance, it shall belong to his sons; it is their property by inheritance.

17 But if he gives a gift out of his inheritance to one of his servants, then it shall be his until the year of liberty [the Year of Jubilee]; after that it shall be returned to the prince; only his sons may keep a gift from his inheritance [permanently].

18 Moreover, the prince shall not take of the people’s inheritance by oppression, thrusting them out of their property; what he gives to his sons he shall take out of his own possession, so that none of My people shall be separated from his [inherited] possession.

19 Then he [my guide] led me through the entrance which was at the side of the gate into the holy chambers for the priests, which faced the north; and behold, there was a place at the extreme western end of them.

20 And he said to me, This is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the [bloodless] meal offering, to prevent their having to bring them into the outer court, lest they should thereby wrongfully sanctify (separate and consecrate for holy service) the people who are there.

21 And he brought me out into the outer court and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court, and behold, in every corner of the court there was a court.

22 In the four corners of the court there were courts joined on and enclosed, forty cubits long and thirty broad; these four in the corners were the same size.

23 And there was a row of masonry inside them, round about [each of] the four courts, and it was made with hearths for boiling at the bottom of the rows round about.

24 Then said he to me, These are the kitchens of those who do the boiling, where the ministers [the Levites] of the temple shall boil the sacrifices of the people.

46 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The gate of the inner court(A) facing east(B) is to be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day and on the day of the New Moon(C) it is to be opened. The prince is to enter from the outside through the portico(D) of the gateway and stand by the gatepost. The priests are to sacrifice his burnt offering(E) and his fellowship offerings. He is to bow down in worship at the threshold of the gateway and then go out, but the gate will not be shut until evening.(F) On the Sabbaths(G) and New Moons the people of the land are to worship in the presence of the Lord at the entrance of that gateway.(H) The burnt offering the prince brings to the Lord on the Sabbath day is to be six male lambs and a ram, all without defect. The grain offering given with the ram is to be an ephah,[a] and the grain offering with the lambs is to be as much as he pleases, along with a hin[b] of olive oil for each ephah.(I) On the day of the New Moon(J) he is to offer a young bull, six lambs and a ram, all without defect.(K) He is to provide as a grain offering one ephah with the bull, one ephah with the ram, and with the lambs as much as he wants to give, along with a hin of oil for each ephah.(L) When the prince enters, he is to go in through the portico(M) of the gateway, and he is to come out the same way.(N)

“‘When the people of the land come before the Lord at the appointed festivals,(O) whoever enters by the north gate to worship is to go out the south gate; and whoever enters by the south gate is to go out the north gate. No one is to return through the gate by which they entered, but each is to go out the opposite gate. 10 The prince is to be among them, going in when they go in and going out when they go out.(P) 11 At the feasts and the appointed festivals, the grain offering is to be an ephah with a bull, an ephah with a ram, and with the lambs as much as he pleases, along with a hin of oil for each ephah.(Q)

12 “‘When the prince provides(R) a freewill offering(S) to the Lord—whether a burnt offering or fellowship offerings—the gate facing east is to be opened for him. He shall offer his burnt offering or his fellowship offerings as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he has gone out, the gate will be shut.(T)

13 “‘Every day you are to provide a year-old lamb without defect for a burnt offering to the Lord; morning by morning(U) you shall provide it.(V) 14 You are also to provide with it morning by morning a grain offering, consisting of a sixth of an ephah[c] with a third of a hin[d] of oil(W) to moisten the flour. The presenting of this grain offering to the Lord is a lasting ordinance.(X) 15 So the lamb and the grain offering and the oil shall be provided morning by morning for a regular(Y) burnt offering.(Z)

16 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: If the prince makes a gift from his inheritance to one of his sons, it will also belong to his descendants; it is to be their property by inheritance.(AA) 17 If, however, he makes a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, the servant may keep it until the year of freedom;(AB) then it will revert to the prince. His inheritance belongs to his sons only; it is theirs. 18 The prince must not take(AC) any of the inheritance(AD) of the people, driving them off their property. He is to give his sons their inheritance out of his own property, so that not one of my people will be separated from their property.’”

19 Then the man brought me through the entrance(AE) at the side of the gate to the sacred rooms facing north,(AF) which belonged to the priests, and showed me a place at the western end. 20 He said to me, “This is the place where the priests are to cook the guilt offering and the sin offering[e] and bake the grain offering, to avoid bringing them into the outer court and consecrating(AG) the people.”(AH)

21 He then brought me to the outer court and led me around to its four corners, and I saw in each corner another court. 22 In the four corners of the outer court were enclosed[f] courts, forty cubits long and thirty cubits wide;[g] each of the courts in the four corners was the same size. 23 Around the inside of each of the four courts was a ledge of stone, with places for fire built all around under the ledge. 24 He said to me, “These are the kitchens where those who minister at the temple are to cook the sacrifices of the people.”

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 46:5 That is, probably about 35 pounds or about 16 kilograms; also in verses 7 and 11
  2. Ezekiel 46:5 That is, about 1 gallon or about 3.8 liters; also in verses 7 and 11
  3. Ezekiel 46:14 That is, probably about 6 pounds or about 2.7 kilograms
  4. Ezekiel 46:14 That is, about 1 1/2 quarts or about 1.3 liters
  5. Ezekiel 46:20 Or purification offering
  6. Ezekiel 46:22 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
  7. Ezekiel 46:22 That is, about 70 feet long and 53 feet wide or about 21 meters long and 16 meters wide