Ezekiel 43-45

New Life Version

The Lord Returns to the House of God

43 Then he brought me to the east gate, ² and I saw the shining-greatness of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters, and the earth was shining because of His greatness. ³ It was like the special dream that I saw when He came to destroy the city. It was like the special dream that I saw by the Chebar River. I fell with my face to the ground. ⁴ As the shining-greatness of the Lord came into the house through the east gate, ⁵ the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner open space. And the shining-greatness of the Lord filled the house.

⁶ While the man was standing beside me, I heard Someone speaking to me from inside the house. ⁷ And He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place for My throne and for the bottom of My feet, where I will live among the people of Israel forever. No longer will the people of Israel or their kings make My holy name unclean, by worshiping other gods or by the dead bodies of their kings. ⁸ They put their doorways by My doorways, and their door pillars beside My door pillars, with only a wall between Me and them. In doing so, they have made My holy name unclean by the hated sins they have done. So I have destroyed them in My anger. ⁹ Now let them put their worship of other gods and the dead bodies of their kings far from Me. And I will live among them forever.

¹⁰ “Son of man, tell the people of Israel about the house of the Lord, that they may be ashamed of their sins. Let them look over the plan. ¹¹ And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, let them know how the house is built, the house with its doors and gateways, and its whole plan. Let them know all its laws. Write it down in front of them, so that they will see its whole plan and obey all its laws. ¹² This is the law of the house: All the ground around it on top of the mountain will be most holy. This is the law of the house.

The Altar

¹³ “This is the length, width, and height of the altar by cubits (with the length of the hand being added to the length of each arm). The base will be one cubit long and one cubit wide, with a side piece going around it as wide as a man’s spread hand. This will be the height of the altar: ¹⁴ The base will be two cubits long from the base on the ground to its top, and one cubit wide. And it will be four cubits from the smaller part up to its larger top part, and one cubit wide. ¹⁵ The altar fireplace will be four cubits high, and four horns will go up from the top four corners of the altar one cubit high. ¹⁶ This top part of the altar will be twelve cubits long and twelve cubits wide, the same on each of the four sides. ¹⁷ The side of it will be fourteen cubits long and fourteen cubits wide, the same on each of the four sides. And a side piece half a cubit will be around that. Its base will be a cubit wide all around, and its steps will be on the east side.”

¹⁸ And He said to me, “Son of man, the Lord God says, ‘These are the laws for giving burnt gifts and for putting blood on the altar on the day it is built: ¹⁹ You must give a young bull for a sin gift to the Levite religious leaders of the sons of Zadok. They are the ones who come near Me to do My work,’ says the Lord God. ²⁰ ‘You must take some of the bull’s blood and put it on the four horns of the altar, and on the four corners of the top of the altar, and on the side piece that goes around it. In this way you will make it clean and free from sin. ²¹ You must also take the bull for the sin gift, and burn it in the chosen place of the house, outside the holy place. ²² On the second day you must give a male goat that is perfect for a sin gift. And the altar will be made clean, as it was made clean with the bull. ²³ When you have finished making it clean, you must give a young bull that is perfect, and a ram from the flock that is perfect. ²⁴ You must bring them before the Lord. The religious leaders will throw salt on them, and burn them on the altar as a gift to the Lord. ²⁵ You must make ready a goat for a sin gift each day for seven days. Also make ready a young bull and a ram from the flock. They must be perfect. ²⁶ For seven days they must make the altar free from sin and make it pure, so it will be set apart to Me. ²⁷ At the end of these days, from the eighth day on, the religious leaders will give your burnt gifts and peace gifts on the altar. And I will receive you,’ says the Lord God.”

The Use of the East Gate

44 Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the holy place, toward the east, and it was shut. ² The Lord said to me, “This gate must stay shut. It must not be opened. No one may come in through it, for the Lord God of Israel has come in through it. So it must stay shut. ³ Only the ruler may sit at the gate to eat bread before the Lord. He must come in through the porch of the gate, and go out the same way.”

Those Who Could Go In to the House of God

⁴ Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the house. There I saw the shining-greatness of the Lord filling the Lord’s house, and I fell with my face to the ground. ⁵ The Lord said to me, “Son of man, be careful to see with your eyes and to hear with your ears everything that I say to you about all the rules and laws of the Lord’s house. Be careful to learn which persons are allowed to go in and out of the Lord’s house, and which persons are not allowed. ⁶ Tell the sinful people of Israel, ‘The Lord God says, “Enough of your hated sins, O people of Israel! ⁷ You have brought in strangers, who had not gone through the religious act of becoming a Jew, and who were sinful in their heart. You brought them into My holy place to make it unclean, when you brought My food of the fat and the blood. You have broken My agreement by all your hated sins. ⁸ And you have not taken care of My holy things yourselves. You have let strangers take care of My holy place.” ⁹ ‘So the Lord God says, “No stranger among the people of Israel who has not gone through the religious act of becoming a Jew, and is sinful in his heart, may come into My holy place.

Levites Cannot Be Religious Leaders

¹⁰ “The Levites who went far from Me when Israel left Me to follow their false gods, will be punished for their sin. ¹¹ They may do the work in My holy place. They may watch over the gates of the house and do the work in the house. They may kill the burnt gifts and the gifts brought by the people. And they may stand in front of the people to serve them. ¹² But because they served them in front of their false gods and caused the people of Israel to sin, I have promised,” says the Lord God, “that they will be punished for their sin. ¹³ They must not come near Me to serve Me as a religious leader. They must not come near any of My holy things and the things that are most holy. But they must suffer their shame because of the hated sins they have done. ¹⁴ Yet I will have them take care of the house and do all the work that is needed to be done in it.

Zadok’s Sons to Serve in the House of God

¹⁵ “But the Levite religious leaders of the sons of Zadok took care of My holy place when the people of Israel left Me. So they will come near Me to serve Me. They will stand before Me to give Me the fat and the blood,” says the Lord God. ¹⁶ “They will come into My holy place and come near My table, to serve Me and to do My work. ¹⁷ When they come through the gates of the inner open space, they will be dressed in linen clothing. They must not wear any wool while they are serving inside the gates of the inner open space or in the house. ¹⁸ They will wear linen head-coverings and linen underclothes. They must not dress in anything that makes their bodies wet with heat. ¹⁹ When they go out to the people in the outer open space, they must take off the clothes they wear while they serve Me, and lay them in the holy rooms. Then they will put on other clothes, so that they do not make the people holy because of their clothing. ²⁰ And they must not cut all the hair from their heads, yet they must not let their hair grow long. They must only cut their hair shorter. ²¹ None of the religious leaders may drink wine when they come into the inner open space. ²² They must not marry a woman whose husband has died, or who has been divorced. But they may marry women of Israel who have never had a man, or a woman whose husband was a religious leader before he died. ²³ They will teach My people the difference between what is holy and what is not. And they will teach them to know what is unclean and what is clean. ²⁴ In an argument, the religious leaders will serve as judges, and will judge by My Laws. They will also keep My Laws in all My special suppers. And they will keep My Day of Rest holy. ²⁵ They must not make themselves unclean by going near a dead person. But they may make themselves unclean if the dead person is their father or mother, son or daughter, brother, or sister who was not married. ²⁶ After a religious leader has become clean again, he must wait seven days. ²⁷ And on the day he goes into the holy place, into the inner open space to serve in the holy place, he must bring his sin gift,” says the Lord God.

²⁸ “I am to be the only part that the religious leaders have. You must not give them any land in Israel for their own. I am their part. ²⁹ They will eat the grain gift, the sin gift, and the guilt gift. Everything in Israel that is set apart to Me will be theirs. ³⁰ The first of all the first fruits of every kind, and every kind of gift you bring, will be for the religious leaders. And you must give them the first of your grain, so that good will come to your house. ³¹ The religious leaders must not eat any bird or animal that has died of itself or has been torn to pieces.

The Land Is Divided

45 “When the land is divided and each family receives its part, you must give a part to the Lord. This will be a holy piece of land, as long as 12,500 long steps and as wide as 5,000 long steps. This whole piece of land will be holy. ² Of this, there will be a piece of land for the holy place, as long as 250 long steps and as wide as 250 long steps. It will have four sides of the same length. And there will be an open space around it as wide as fifty cubits. ³ In the holy piece of land, number a length of 12,500 long steps and a width of 5,000 long steps. And in it will be the most holy place. ⁴ It will be the holy part of the land. It will be for the religious leaders, those who do the work in the holy place, who come near to serve the Lord. It will also be a place for their houses, and a holy place for the Lord’s House. ⁵ Another piece of land as long as 12,500 long steps and as wide as 5,000 long steps will be for the Levites who serve in the house. It will be land to build their houses on. ⁶ Next to the holy piece of land, another piece as wide as 2,500 long steps and as long as 12,500 long steps will be set aside for a city belonging to all the people of Israel. ⁷ The ruler will have land on both sides of the holy piece of land and the place for the city. His land will be next to these two pieces of land, on the west side and on the east side. It will be as long as one of the shares of land, from the west side of the whole land to the east side. ⁸ This land in Israel will belong to him. So My rulers will no longer make it hard for My people. They will give the rest of the land to the people of Israel by their family groups.”

⁹ ‘The Lord God says, “Enough, you rulers of Israel! Stop ruling in bad ways with your power and do what is right and good. Stop driving My people off their land,” says the Lord God. ¹⁰ “Be honest in your weights. ¹¹ One barrel of grain must be the same amount as one barrel of water. And one-tenth part of a barrel of grain must be the same amount as one-tenth part of a barrel of water. ¹² The silver piece of money must be worth the same as twenty small silver pieces. And sixty silver pieces of money must be worth the same as the heavy silver weight.

¹³ “This is the gift that you must bring: One-sixtieth part of a barrel of wheat, one-sixtieth part of a barrel of barley, ¹⁴ and one-hundredth part of a barrel of oil. ¹⁵ Also bring one lamb from each flock of 200 sheep from the well-watered fields of Israel. Bring them for a grain gift, a burnt gift, and a peace gift, to pay for the people’s sins,” says the Lord God. ¹⁶ “All the people of the land must take these gifts to the ruler in Israel. ¹⁷ It will be the ruler’s duty to bring the burnt gifts, the grain gifts, and the drink gifts, to the special suppers on the new moons and on the Days of Rest, and to all the special suppers of the people of Israel. He must bring the sin gift, the grain gift, the burnt gift, and the peace gifts, to pay for the sins of the people of Israel.”

The Special Suppers

¹⁸ ‘The Lord God says, “On the first day of the first month, you must take a young bull that is perfect and make the holy place clean. ¹⁹ The religious leader will take some of the blood from the sin gift and put it on the door pillars of the house, on the four corners of the altar, and on the pillars of the gate of the inner open space. ²⁰ You must do the same on the seventh day of the month for every one who sins by mistake or because he does not know any better. In this way you will keep the Lord’s house holy.

²¹ “On the fourteenth day of the first month, you will have the Passover, a special supper that lasts for seven days. Every one will eat bread made without yeast. ²² On that day the ruler is to bring a bull as a sin gift for himself and all the people of the land. ²³ During the seven days of the special supper he will bring as a burnt gift to the Lord seven bulls and seven rams that are perfect, on each of the seven days. And he will bring a male goat each day for a sin gift. ²⁴ For a grain gift he will bring a tenth part of a barrel of grain for each bull, a tenth part of a barrel for each ram. And he will bring a large jar of oil for each tenth part of a barrel of grain. ²⁵ On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and for the seven days of the special supper, he is to bring the same amount for the sin gift, the burnt gift, the grain gift, and the oil.”