Ezekiel 42-44

Darby Translation

42 And he brought me forth into the outer court, the way toward the north; and he brought me to the cells that were over against the separate place and which were over against the building, toward the north,

² before the length of the hundred cubits: the entry was on the north, and the breadth was fifty cubits,

³ over against the twenty [cubits] that pertained to the inner court, and over against the pavement that pertained to the outer court; there was gallery against gallery in the third [story];

⁴ and before the cells was a walk of ten cubits in breadth, [and] a way of a hundred cubits inward; and their entries were toward the north.

⁵ And the upper cells, because the galleries encroached on them, were shorter than the lower, and than the middle-most of the building.

⁶ For they were in three [stories], but had not pillars as the pillars of the courts; therefore [the third story] was straitened more than the lowest and the middle-most from the ground.

⁷ And the wall that was without, answering to the cells, toward the outer court in the front of the cells, its length was fifty cubits:

⁸ for the length of the cells that were against the outer court was fifty cubits; but behold, before the temple it was a hundred cubits.

⁹ And under these cells was the entry from the east, as one goeth into them from the outer court.

¹⁰ In the breadth of the wall of the court toward the south, before the separate place, and before the building, were cells;

¹¹ and a passage before them, like the appearance of the cells that were toward the north, according to their length, according to their breadth and all their goings out, and according to their fashions, and according to their doors.

¹² And according to the doors of the cells that were toward the south there was a door at the head of the way, the way directly before the corresponding wall toward the east as one entereth into them.

¹³ And he said unto me, The north cells [and] the south cells, which are before the separate place, they are holy cells, where the priests that come near unto Jehovah shall eat the most holy things; there shall they lay the most holy things, both the oblation and the sin-offering and the trespass-offering: for the place is holy.

¹⁴ When the priests enter in, they shall not go forth from the sanctuary into the outer court, but there they shall lay their garments wherein they minister, for they are holy; and they shall put on other garments, and shall approach to that which is for the people.

¹⁵ And when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me forth toward the gate whose front was toward the east, and measured [the enclosure] round about.

¹⁶ He measured the east side with the measuring-reed, five hundred reeds, with the measuring-reed round about.

¹⁷ He measured the north side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring-reed round about.

¹⁸ He measured the south side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring-reed.

¹⁹ He turned about to the west side, [and] measured five hundred reeds with the measuring-reed.

²⁰ He measured it on the four sides; it had a wall round about, five hundred long, and five hundred broad, to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common.

43 And he brought me unto the gate, the gate which looked toward the east.

² And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east; and his voice was like the voice of many waters; and the earth was lit up with his glory.

³ And the appearance of the vision that I saw was according to the vision that I had seen when I came to destroy the city; and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar: and I fell upon my face.

⁴ And the glory of Jehovah came into the house by the way of the gate whose front was toward the east.

⁵ And the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of Jehovah filled the house.

⁶ And I heard one speaking unto me out of the house; and a man was standing by me.

⁷ And he said unto me, Son of man, [this is] the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever; and the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, they nor their kings, with their fornication, and with the carcases of their kings [in] their high places,

⁸ in that they set their threshold by my threshold, and their post by my post, and [there was only] a wall between me and them, and they defiled my holy name with their abominations which they committed; and I consumed them in mine anger.

⁹ Now let them put away their fornication, and the carcases of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever.

¹⁰ Thou, son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be confounded at their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern.

¹¹ And if they be confounded at all that they have done, make known to them the form of the house, and its fashion, and its goings out, and its comings in, and all its forms, and all its statutes, yea, all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof; and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the statutes thereof, and do them.

¹² This is the law of the house: Upon the top of the mountain all its border round about is most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.

¹³ And these are the measures of the altar in cubits: the cubit is a cubit and a hand breadth. The bottom was a cubit [in height] and the breadth a cubit, and its border on the edge thereof round about, one span: and this was the base of the altar.

¹⁴ And from the bottom upon the ground to the lower settle was two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the small settle to the great settle, four cubits, and the breadth a cubit.

¹⁵ And the upper altar was four cubits; and from the hearth of God and upward were four horns.

¹⁶ And the hearth of God was twelve [cubits] long, by twelve broad, square in the four sides thereof.

¹⁷ And the settle was fourteen [cubits] long by fourteen broad in the four sides thereof; and the border about it, half a cubit; and the bottom thereof a cubit round about: and its steps looked toward the east.

¹⁸ And he said unto me, Son of man, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it, to offer up burnt-offerings thereon, and to sprinkle blood thereon.

¹⁹ And thou shalt give to the priests the Levites that are of the seed of Zadok, who come near unto me, to minister unto me, saith the Lord Jehovah, a young bullock for a sin-offering.

²⁰ And thou shalt take of its blood, and put it on the four horns thereof, and on the four corners of the settle, and upon the border round about: so shalt thou purge and make atonement for it.

²¹ And thou shalt take the bullock of the sin-offering, and it shall be burned in the appointed place of the house, outside the sanctuary.

²² And on the second day thou shalt present a he-goat without blemish for a sin-offering; and they shall purge the altar, as they purged it with the bullock.

²³ When thou hast ended purging it, thou shalt present a young bullock without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without blemish;

²⁴ and thou shalt present them before Jehovah; and the priests shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt-offering unto Jehovah.

²⁵ Seven days shalt thou offer daily a goat for a sin-offering; they shall also offer a young bullock, and a ram out of the flock without blemish.

²⁶ Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and purify it, and consecrate it.

²⁷ And when these days are ended, it shall be that upon the eighth day and onwards the priests shall offer your burnt-offerings upon the altar, and your peace-offerings; and I will accept you, saith the Lord Jehovah.

44 And he brought me back toward the outer gate of the sanctuary which looked toward the east; and it was shut.

² And Jehovah said unto me, This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter in by it: for Jehovah, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it; and it shall be shut.

³ As for the prince, he, the prince, shall sit in it to eat bread before Jehovah: he shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.

⁴ And he brought me the way of the north gate before the house; and I beheld, and lo, the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah: and I fell upon my face.

⁵ And Jehovah said unto me, Son of man, apply thy heart, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the statutes of the house of Jehovah, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary;

⁶ and say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Let it suffice you of all your abominations, O house of Israel,

⁷ in that ye have brought strangers, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, [even] my house, when ye offered my bread, the fat and the blood; and they have broken my covenant besides all your abominations.

⁸ And ye have not kept the charge of my holy things, but have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.

⁹ Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: No stranger, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel.

¹⁰ But the Levites who went away far from me, when Israel went astray, going astray from me after their idols, they shall even bear their iniquity;

¹¹ but they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house, and doing the service of the house: they shall slaughter the burnt-offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them.

¹² Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and were unto the house of Israel a stumbling-block of iniquity; therefore have I lifted up my hand against them, saith the Lord Jehovah, that they shall bear their iniquity.

¹³ And they shall not draw near unto me, to do the office of a priest unto me, nor to draw near to any of my holy things, [even] to the most holy; but they shall bear their confusion, and their abominations which they have committed.

¹⁴ And I will make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein.

¹⁵ But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall approach unto me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to present unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord Jehovah.

¹⁶ They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall approach unto my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge.

¹⁷ And it shall come to pass when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, when they minister in the gates of the inner court, and towards the house.

¹⁸ They shall have linen tires upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird on anything that causeth sweat.

¹⁹ And when they go forth into the outer court, into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they ministered, and lay them in the holy cells; and they shall put on other garments, that they may not hallow the people with their garments.

²⁰ Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long: they shall duly poll their heads.

²¹ Neither shall any priest drink wine when they enter into the inner court.

²² And they shall not take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away; but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that is the widow of a priest.

²³ And they shall teach my people [the difference] between holy and profane, and cause them to discern between unclean and clean.

²⁴ And in controversy they shall stand to judge: they shall judge it according to my judgments; and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my solemnities; and they shall hallow my sabbaths.

²⁵ And they shall come at no dead person to become unclean; but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister that hath had no husband, they may become unclean.

²⁶ And after he is cleansed, they shall count unto him seven days.

²⁷ And on the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, unto the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall present his sin-offering, saith the Lord Jehovah.

²⁸ And it shall be unto them for an inheritance; I am their inheritance: and ye shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession.

²⁹ They shall eat the oblation and the sin-offering and the trespass-offering; and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs.

³⁰ And the first of all the first-fruits of every [kind], and every heave-offering of every [kind], of all your heave-offerings, shall be for the priests; ye shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest on thy house.

³¹ The priests shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself, or of that which is torn, whether of fowl or of beast.