Bible in 90 Days

Chapter 36

Restoration of the Land.^{[a] 1} Son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say: Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. ² Thus says the Lord God, The enemy has gloated over you, saying: “Aha! These ancient heights have become our possession.”

³ In reply, prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord God: Since you have been ravaged and hounded from all sides, and thus have become the possession of the rest of the nations and the object of people’s gossip and slander, ⁴ therefore, mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God and what the Lord God says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, to the desolate ruins and the deserted towns which have been plundered and have become a source of ridicule to the surrounding nations.

⁵ Therefore, thus says the Lord God: With seething jealousy I am speaking against the rest of the nations, and against the whole of Edom, who, with wholehearted joy and utter contempt, took my country as their possession so that they might plunder its pastures.

⁶ Therefore, prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys: Thus says the Lord God: I am speaking with jealous fury because you have been forced to endure the insults of the nations. ⁷ Therefore, thus says the Lord God: I raise my hand and swear that the nations all around you will have to endure insults.

⁸ As for you, mountains of Israel, you shall grow branches and bear fruit for my people Israel, for they will soon return home. ⁹ Behold, I am coming to you. It is to you that I shall turn. You will be tilled and sown, ¹⁰ and I will multiply your population, that of the whole house of Israel. The towns will again be inhabited, and the ruins will be rebuilt.

¹¹ Furthermore, I will settle large numbers of human beings and animals upon you. They will multiply and be fruitful, and I will make you as populous as in your former times. Moreover, I will make you more prosperous than ever before. Thus you will know that I am the Lord. ¹² I will cause my people Israel to tread your soil once again. They will possess you, and you will be their heritage. Never again will they be left childless.

¹³ Thus says the Lord God: Because it has been said of you, “You are a land that devours people, and you bereave your nation of children,” ¹⁴ therefore, you will no longer devour people or make your nation childless, says the Lord God. ¹⁵ I will never again let you hear the taunts of the nations; no longer will you be forced to endure the insults of the peoples; no longer will your people be deprived of their children, says the Lord God.

¹⁶ Restoration of the People.^[b]This word of the Lord was addressed to me: ¹⁷ Son of man, when the people of the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it with their conduct and their deeds. In my eyes, their conduct was like the uncleanness of a woman during her menstrual period.

¹⁸ Therefore, I poured out my wrath upon them because of the blood that they had shed upon the land, and because of their idols with which they had defiled it. ¹⁹ I scattered them throughout the nations, and they were dispersed in many lands. I passed sentence on them in accordance with their conduct and their deeds.

²⁰ But whenever they came to the nations, they profaned my holy name, so that the people there would say about them, “These are the people of the Lord, yet they have been banished from his land.” ²¹ However, I have relented because of my concern about my holy name which the house of Israel has profaned among the nations where they have gone.

²² Therefore, say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am acting, but for the sake of my holy name which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. ²³ I intend to prove the holiness of my great name which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. Thus, the nations will know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when through you I will display my holiness in their sight.

²⁴ I will take you from among the nations and gather you from all the foreign lands, and I will bring you back to your own land. ²⁵ I will sprinkle clean water upon you to cleanse you from everything that defiles you. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.

²⁶ I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you. I will remove from your body a heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh in its place. ²⁷ I will put my Spirit in you and make you follow my statutes and my ordinances.

²⁸ Then you will live in the land that I gave to your ancestors. You will be my people, but I shall be your God. ²⁹ I will save you from everything that defiles you. I will command the grain to be abundant and not allow any famine to afflict you. ³⁰ I will make abundant the fruit of the trees and the crops in your fields, so that you will never have to suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.

³¹ Then you will remember your evil conduct and your wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and your abominable deeds. ³² I assure you that it is not for your sake that I am doing all this, says the Lord God. Let that be clearly understood. Be ashamed and feel intense disgrace for your conduct, O house of Israel.

³³ Thus says the Lord God: On the day when I cleanse you from all your sins, I will repopulate your towns, and your ruins will be rebuilt. ³⁴ The wasteland will be cultivated instead of being a desolate sight to all who walk past it.

³⁵ People will say, “The land that was desolate is now like the Garden of Eden, and the towns that were once in ruins, desolate wastelands, are now inhabited once again and fortified.” ³⁶ Then the neighboring nations that are still left around you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt what was destroyed and replanted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it.

³⁷ Thus says the Lord God: I also will allow the house of Israel to persuade me to do this for them: I shall increase their numbers like a flock. ³⁸ Like the flocks of sacrificial sheep in Jerusalem on its appointed feasts, so shall the formerly ruined cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.

Chapter 37

Vision of the Dry Bones.^{[c] 1} The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he carried me away by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley that was full of bones. ² He made me walk among them in every direction so that I would be aware how great was the number of these bones on the floor of the valley, and they were exceedingly dry.

³ He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I replied, “Lord God, only you can know that.” ⁴ Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them: Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵ Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I am going to cause breath to enter you, and you will come to life. ⁶ I will put sinews on you and cause flesh to grow over you and cover you with skin. I will put breath within you, and you will live, and you will know that I am the Lord.”

⁷ Therefore, I prophesied as I had been commanded to do, and as I was prophesying, I heard a noise, a sound of rattling, as the bones came together, bone uniting with bone. ⁸ As I watched, sinews and flesh grew upon the bones, and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

⁹ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the Spirit. Prophesy, son of man, and say to the Spirit: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O Spirit, and breathe into these slain so that they may live.” ¹⁰ I prophesied as he had commanded me, and the Spirit entered into them. They came to life and stood on their feet, an immense army.

¹¹ Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They continue to say, ‘Our bones are dried up, our hope has vanished, and we are cut off completely.’ ¹² Therefore, prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: My people, I am going to open your graves and raise you up from them and bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³ Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you up from them, O my people. ¹⁴ When I put my Spirit within you, you will live, and I will resettle you on your own soil. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and I have done this, says the Lord.’ ”

¹⁵ Union of the Two Sticks.^[d] This word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁶ Son of man, take a stick and write on it: “Judah and those Israelites associated with him.” Then take another stick and write on it: “Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.” ¹⁷ Then join the two sticks together so that they form one stick in your hand.

¹⁸ When your countrymen say to you, “Will you not tell us what you mean by this?” ¹⁹ say to them: Thus says the Lord God: I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in Ephraim’s hand, and of the tribes of Israel loyal to him, and I will join it to the stick of Judah. I will make them a single stick instead of two, and they shall be one in my hand.

²⁰ When the sticks upon which you have written are held up in your hand for everyone to see, ²¹ say to them: Thus says the Lord God: I will take the Israelites from the nations among which they have been exiled. I will gather them from every side and bring them back to their land.

²² I will unify them into one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will rule over them all. Never again will they be two separate nations, nor will they be divided into two kingdoms. ²³ They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and their loathsome images or with any of their transgressions. I will save them from all of their sins of apostasy that they have committed, and I will cleanse them. Thus, they will be my people, and I will be their God.

²⁴ My servant David will be their king, and they all will have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be scrupulous in obeying my statutes. ²⁵ They will live in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, the land in which your ancestors lived. They and their children and their children’s children will live there forever, and my servant David will be their prince forever.

²⁶ I will make a covenant of peace with them, and I will bless and multiply them and establish my sanctuary among them forever. ²⁷ I will make my dwelling with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. ²⁸ Then the nations will know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel when I establish my sanctuary among them forevermore.

Chapter 38

First Prophecy against Gog.^{[e] 1} This word of the Lord came to me: ² Son of man, turn your face toward Gog, in the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him.

³ Say: Thus says the Lord God: I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. ⁴ I will turn you around and affix hooks in your jaws, and I will lead you forth with your entire army—your horses and your horsemen, all of them fully equipped, and a huge horde with bucklers and shields, all of them brandishing their swords.

⁵ Accompanying them will be the forces of Persia, Ethiopia, and Put, all with shields and helmets; ⁶ Gomer^[f] and all its troops; Beth-togarmah from the far north with all its troops—a huge assemblage gathered in support of you. ⁷ Get ready and be prepared, you and all your troops and all your allies that have come together to support you. Keep yourselves at my disposal.

⁸ After a long period of time, you will be given orders, and sometime thereafter you will invade a land that has emerged from ruin. Its people have been assembled from many nations on the mountains of Israel which had long been desolate, and all of them are living in safety. ⁹ You will advance, coming forth like a storm. You will cover the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and the many nations who have come to support you.

¹⁰ Thus says the Lord God: On that day thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme. ¹¹ You will say, “I will attack this country that has no means of defense and march against this peaceful nation which dwells with a sense of security, even though it has no walls or bars or gates. ¹² I will plunder and loot and strip bare the settlements which once lay in ruins but are now inhabited by a people gathered from the nations who dwell at the very center of the world, a people engaged in trade and breeding cattle.”

¹³ Sheba and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish and all her villages, will say to you, “Is it for plunder that you have come? Have you assembled your horde to carry off silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, and to seize a great amount of booty?”

¹⁴ Second Prophecy against Gog. Therefore, prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog: Thus says the Lord God: On that day when my people Israel are living securely, will you not rouse yourself ¹⁵ and come forth from your home in the far recesses of the north, you and many nations with you, a mighty army of soldiers beyond counting, all of them riding on horses? ¹⁶ You will come forth against my people Israel like a cloud covering the earth. In the final days, I will bring you against my land so that the nations will know me when through you, O Gog, I display my holiness before their eyes.

¹⁷ Thus says the Lord God: It was you of whom I spoke in former days through my servants, the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for many years that I would bring you against them. ¹⁸ On that day, when Gog attacks the land of Israel, says the Lord God, my fury will be aroused.

¹⁹ In my jealousy and in my blazing wrath, I swear that there will be a tremendous earthquake in the land of Israel. ²⁰ The fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, and the beasts of the field, and all the reptiles that crawl on the ground, and every human being on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. Mountains will be thrown down, cliffs will crumble, and every wall will tumble to the ground.

²¹ I will summon the sword against Gog on all my mountains, says the Lord God, and the swords of all will be turned against their comrades. ²² With pestilence and bloodshed, I will bring judgment upon him, and I will pour down torrential rain, hailstones, fire and brimstone upon him and his troops and the many nations that are supporting him. ²³ I will, thereby, display my greatness and my holiness and make myself known to many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

Chapter 39

Third Prophecy against Gog. ¹ Son of man, prophesy against Gog and say: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am coming against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. ² I will turn you around and drive you forward. I will lead you from the most remote recesses of the north and bring you to the mountains of Israel.

³ Then I will strike the bow from your left hand and cause your arrows to drop from your right hand. ⁴ You will fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops as well as the nations that are with you. I will give you as food to birds of prey of every kind and to the wild beasts.

⁵ You will fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. ⁶ I will send fire on Magog and upon those who live undisturbed in the coastlands. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

⁷ I will make my holy name known among my people Israel, and I will not allow my holy name to be profaned. Thus the nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. ⁸ All this will happen. All this will take place, says the Lord God. This is the day about which I have spoken.

⁹ Then those who dwell in the towns of Israel will go forth and set fire to the weapons to provide themselves with fuel—bucklers and shields, bows and arrows, clubs and spears—and they will make fires of them for seven years. ¹⁰ They will have no need to bring in wood from the fields or cut down any trees in the forests, inasmuch as they will use their weapons to make fires. They will despoil those who despoiled them and plunder those who plundered them, says the Lord God.

¹¹ On that day I will give to Gog a well-known place in Israel for his grave, the Valley of Abarim east of the sea, a valley that is inaccessible to travelers. There Gog and all his horde will be buried. It will be called the Valley of Hamon-gog. ¹² The house of Israel will spend seven months burying them in order to purify the land.

¹³ All the people of the land will bury them, thus gaining renown for doing so on the day that I reveal my glory, says the Lord God. ¹⁴ Some men will be designated for the assignment to pass through the land and bury any travelers who remain lying on the ground, so as to purify it. They will begin their search at the end of seven months.

¹⁵ As these searchers go through the country, if anyone sees a human bone, he must put up a marker beside it until the gravediggers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog. ¹⁶ (A city named Hamonah is there also.) Thus the land will be purified.

¹⁷ As for you, son of man, the Lord God says this: Say to the wild birds of every kind and to all the wild animals: Assemble and come together. Gather from all sides for the sacrificial feast I am preparing for you, a magnificent sacrificial feast on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁸ You will consume the flesh of the mighty, and you will drink the blood of the princes of the earth—of rams, lambs, goats, and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan.

¹⁹ At the sacrificial feast I am preparing for you, you will eat fat until you are filled and drink blood until you are drunk. ²⁰ At my table you will be filled with horses and riders, with warriors and soldiers of every kind, says the Lord God.

²¹ Israel’s Reunion.^[g] I will display my glory among the nations, and all the nations will see the punishment that I inflict and the hand that I lay upon them. ²² From that day forward, the house of Israel will know that I am the Lord, their God.

²³ Furthermore, the nations will know that the people of the house of Israel were exiled because of their iniquity, inasmuch as they dealt treacherously with me. Therefore, I hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies, so that they all fell by the sword. ²⁴ I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their offenses, and I hid my face from them.

²⁵ Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name. ²⁶ They will forget their disgrace and all the acts of infidelity they committed against me when they will live in security in their land, with no one to make them afraid.

²⁷ When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from the lands of their enemies, I will display through them my holiness in the sight of many nations. ²⁸ Then they will know that I am the Lord, their God, because, having sent them into exile among the nations, I then reunited them into their own land and left none of them behind. ²⁹ Never again will I hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, says the Lord God.

The New Israel^[h]

The Future Temple

Chapter 40

The Man with a Measuring Rod. ¹ During the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, fourteen years after the fall of the city, on that very day the hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me there. ² In divine visions, he brought me to the land of Israel and set me down on a very high mountain, to the south of which a city seemed to have been built.

³ When he had brought me there, I beheld a man whose appearance was like that of bronze. He had a linen cord^[i] and a measuring rod in his hand, and he was standing in the gateway. ⁴ The man said to me, “Son of man, look carefully and listen attentively, and pay close attention to all that I will show you. That is the reason why you were brought here. Report to the house of Israel everything that you see.”

⁵ Then I beheld an outer wall that surrounded the temple on all sides. The length of the measuring rod that the man was holding was six cubits long, each cubit^[j] being a cubit and a handbreadth in length. He measured the thickness and the height of the wall; each was one rod.

The East Gate. ⁶ Then he went to the gate which faced eastward, mounted its steps, and measured the gate’s threshold; it was one rod deep. ⁷ Each cell was one rod long and one rod wide, and the walls between the cells measured five cubits. The threshold of the gate adjoining the vestibule of the gate at the inner end measured one rod.

⁸ Then he measured the vestibule of the gateway, ⁹ which was eight cubits, and its pilasters, which were two cubits. The vestibule of the gate was at the inner end. ¹⁰ Inside the east gate were three cells on each side. All of them were identical in size, and the pilasters on either side were also of equal size.

¹¹ After this, he measured the width of the entrance of the gateway, which was ten cubits, while its length was thirteen cubits. ¹² There was a wall, one cubit high, in front of each cell, and the cells were six cubits square. ¹³ He then measured the width of the gate from the back wall of one cell to the back of the cell on the opposite side. The width was twenty-five cubits from wall to wall. ¹⁴ After this, he measured the vestibule, which was twenty cubits, and also the pilasters adjoining the court on either side, which were six cubits.

¹⁵ From the front of the entrance gate to the far end of its portico, the distance was fifty cubits. ¹⁶ Both the guardrooms and their pilasters had windows on the inside of the gateway, and the vestibules also had windows all around; the pilasters were decorated with palm trees.

¹⁷ The Outer Court. Then he brought me to the outer court, where there were rooms and a paved terrace all around the court. There was a total of thirty rooms. ¹⁸ The pavement was laid along the side of the gates, its width equaling the length of the gates. This was the lower pavement. ¹⁹ Then he measured the width of the court, from the front of the lower gateway to the outside of the inner court; there were one hundred cubits between them.

²⁰ The North Gate. Then he measured the length and breadth of the gate leading into the outer court that faced north. ²¹ Its cells, three on either side, and its pilasters and its vestibules were of the same size as those of the first gate. Its depth was fifty cubits, and its width was twenty-five cubits.

²² Its windows, its vestibule, and its palm trees were identical in size to those of the gate that faced toward the east. Seven steps led up to it, and its vestibule was at the inner end. ²³ Opposite the north gate there was a gate that led to the inner court, exactly like the one opposite the east gate. He measured one hundred cubits from one gate to the other.

²⁴ The South Gate. Then he led me to the south side, and I saw a gate facing south. He measured its cells, its pilasters, and its vestibule; they all had the same dimensions as the others. ²⁵ The gate and its vestibule had windows all around. Each window was fifty cubits in depth and twenty-five cubits in width.

²⁶ There were seven steps leading up to it. Its vestibule was on the inside, and palm trees decorated its pilasters, one on either side. ²⁷ The inner court had a gate facing south. He measured the distance from this gate to the outer gate on the south—one hundred cubits.

²⁸ The Inner Court Gates. Then he brought me into the inner court by the south gate. He measured the south gate, which had the same dimensions as the others. ²⁹ Its cells, its pilasters, and its vestibule were the same size as those of the others. The gate and its vestibule had windows all around; it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

³⁰ The vestibules of the gateways around the inner court were twenty-five cubits wide and five cubits deep. ³¹ However, the major vestibule faced the outer court. Palm trees were carved on its pilasters, and it had a stairway of eight steps.

³² Then he brought me to the inner court on the east side and measured the gate, its dimensions were identical to those of the others. ³³ Its cells, its pilasters, and its vestibule were the same size as those of the others. The gate and its vestibule had windows all around; it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. ³⁴ Its vestibule opened onto the outer court. There were palm trees carved on its pilasters, and there were eight steps leading up to it.

³⁵ Then he brought me to the north gate, and he measured it. Its dimensions were identical to those of the others. ³⁶ Its cells, its pilasters, and its vestibule were of the same size as those of the others, and it had windows all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide. ³⁷ Its portico faced the outer court; it had a palm tree carved on its pilasters on either side, and its stairway had eight steps.

³⁸ The Side Chambers.^[k]There was a room that was entered through a door in the vestibule of the gateway. That was where the burnt offerings were to be washed. ³⁹ In the vestibule of the gate, there were two tables on either side, on which the burnt offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings were slaughtered.

⁴⁰ On the outside of the vestibule, near the entrance of the north gate, were two tables, and on the other side of the vestibule of the gate were two tables. ⁴¹ Thus, four tables were inside the gate and four tables were outside the gate—eight tables upon which the sacrifices were slaughtered.

⁴² There were also four slabs of cut stone that were used for holocausts—one and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, and a cubit high—on which were placed the instruments for slaughtering the burnt offerings and the other sacrifices. ⁴³ Double-pronged hooks, a handbreadth wide, were attached to the nearby wall, and on the tables the flesh of the offering was laid.

⁴⁴ Then he led me into the inner court, where there were two rooms—one on the side of the north gate, facing south; the other on the side of the south gate, facing north. ⁴⁵ He said to me, “This room that faces south is for the priests who are in charge of the temple. ⁴⁶ The room that faces north is for the priests who have charge of the altar. These are the descendants of Zadok, who alone among the descendants of Levi are allowed to come near to minister to the Lord.” ⁴⁷ Thereupon, he measured the court. It was a perfect square, one hundred cubits long and one hundred cubits wide, with the altar standing in front of the temple.

⁴⁸ The Temple. Then he brought me into the vestibule of the temple and measured the pilasters of the vestibule; it was five cubits on either side. The width of the gate was fourteen cubits, and the side walls of the gate were three cubits on either side. ⁴⁹ The vestibule was twenty cubits long and twelve cubits wide. There were ten steps leading up to it, and there were pillars beside the pilasters, one on either side.

Chapter 41

¹ Then he brought me into the sanctuary and measured the pilasters. They were six cubits wide on each side. ² The width of the entrance was ten cubits, and the walls on either side of the entrance were five cubits each. Then he measured the length of the nave, which was fifty cubits, while its width was twenty cubits.

³ Then he went into the inner room and measured the pilasters at the entrance; they were two cubits. The width of the entrance was six cubits, and the walls at either side of the entrance were seven cubits. ⁴ Beyond the nave, he measured the length of the inner sanctuary, which was twenty cubits, and its width, which was also twenty cubits, after which he said to me, “This is the Holy of Holies.”

⁵ Then he measured the wall of the temple, which was six cubits thick. The width of the side chambers was four cubits all around the temple. ⁶ The side chambers were on three levels, one above the other, with thirty chambers on each level. There were ledges all around the wall of the temple that were designed to serve as supports for the side chambers, but there were no supports in the wall of the temple itself.

⁷ The passageway leading upward to the side chambers became broader from story to story, for the structure surrounding the temple was constructed in successive stages, so that the width of the cells increased from one story to the next. One ascended from the lowest story to the highest story by means of the middle one.

⁸ I also noted that there was a raised pavement encircling the temple all around. This formed the foundation of the side chambers, measuring a full rod, six cubits high. ⁹ The thickness of the outer wall of the side chambers was five cubits. Between the cells of the temple ¹⁰ and the chambers of the court, there was an open space, twenty cubits wide, surrounding the temple on every side.

¹¹ The side chambers had entrances to the open space, one entrance on the north side and one on the south side. The width of the free space was five cubits all around. ¹² On the western side, the building that faced the temple yard was seventy cubits wide. The wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length was ninety cubits.

¹³ Then, he measured the temple, whose length was one hundred cubits. ¹⁴ The temple courtyard and the buildings with its walls were also one hundred cubits. ¹⁵ Next, he measured the length of the building facing the courtyard, and together with its walls on either side, it came to one hundred cubits.

The Temple Interior. The inner nave of the temple and the inner room and outer vestibule ¹⁶ were paneled with precious wood from the floor up to the windows and thresholds, and the windows were covered with latticework. ¹⁷ The wood extended up to the lintel of the door, even to the outer sanctuary. And on all the walls throughout the inner room and the nave there was a pattern ¹⁸ that depicted cherubim and palm trees, with one palm tree between every pair of cherubim.

Each cherub had two faces: ¹⁹ a human face turned toward the palm tree on one side, and the face of a young lion turned toward the palm tree on the other side. ²⁰ From the floor to the lintel above the door, the cherubim and the palm trees were carved on the wall. ²¹ The doorposts of the temple were square.

In front of the sanctuary, there was something that resembled ²² an altar of wood, three cubits high and two cubits long. Its corners, its base, and its sides were of wood. He said to me, “This is the table of the Lord.” ²³ The nave and the holy place each had a double door. ²⁴ The double doors each had two hinged leaves, two leaves for each door.

²⁵ Carved upon the doors of the nave were cherubim and palm trees, like those carved in the walls. Also, there was a wooden lattice over the vestibule. ²⁶ On both sides of the vestibule were recessed windows and palm trees.

Chapter 42

Other Structures. ¹ Then he led me toward the north into the outer court and brought me to the rooms that were opposite the temple courtyard and facing the building on the north. ² The length of the building on the north side was one hundred cubits, and its width was fifty cubits.

³ Facing the twenty cubits of the inner court and the pavement of the outer court, there were three parallel rows of chambers on each level facing each other. ⁴ In front of the chambers, there was a passageway, ten cubits wide and one hundred cubits long, and the entrances to the rooms faced north.

⁵ The chambers on the upper level were narrower than those on the two levels below because the galleries took up more of the width on the upper level. ⁶ For they were divided into three stories and they had no pillars as the courts had. Thus, the upper chambers were more narrow than those on the lower and middle levels.

⁷ There was an outer wall parallel to the chambers that extended out toward the outer court; it was fifty cubits long. ⁸ The chambers facing the outer court were fifty cubits long, while those facing the temple were one hundred cubits long.

⁹ Below these chambers there was a passage that one entered from the east so that one could enter them from the outer court. ¹⁰ On the south side that faced the open area and the building, there were chambers.

¹¹ There was a passage that ran in front of these chambers. They were identical in design to those on the north, with the same length and width, and with the same exits and entrances and doorways. ¹² Before the chambers on the south side, there was an entrance from the east at the end of each passage, by means of which one could enter from the east.

¹³ Then he said to me, “The north and the south chambers which open out onto the courtyard are the chambers of the sanctuary. It is there that the priests approach the Lord and eat the most sacred offerings. There they deposit these most sacred offerings—the grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings—for this is a holy place. ¹⁴ When the priests have entered the holy place, they must not depart from the holy place and enter the outer court without first leaving there the vestments they have worn while performing their duties, since these vestments are holy. They shall first clothe themselves in other garments before they go near the area designated for the people.”

¹⁵ Measurements of the Outer Court. When he had completed his measurements of the interior of the temple area, he brought me out through the gateway that faces east, and he measured the temple area all around.

¹⁶ He measured the east side with his measuring rod, and it was five hundred cubits. ¹⁷ He then turned and measured the north side, and it was five hundred cubits. ¹⁸ He next turned and measured the south side, and it was five hundred cubits. ¹⁹ Then he turned and measured the west side, and it was five hundred cubits.

²⁰ Thus, he measured the area on all four sides. The wall around it was five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide, to separate the sacred from the profane.

Restoration of the Temple

Chapter 43

The Lord’s Return.^1 [l]Then the man brought me to the gate that faces the east, ² and there I beheld the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. The sound of his coming was like the sound of a mighty torrent of waters, and the earth shone with his glory.

³ The vision I beheld was like the man I had seen when he had come to destroy the city, and like the vision I had seen by the River Chebar, and I fell prostrate.

⁴ As the glory of the Lord entered the temple by way of the east gate, ⁵ the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the inner court, and I beheld the glory of the Lord fill the temple.

⁶ While the man stood beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from the temple. ⁷ He said to me: Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet. This is where I will dwell forever among the Israelites. Never again will the house of Israel defile my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their whoring and by the corpses of their kings.

⁸ When they placed their threshold next to my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall separating me and them, they were defiling my holy name by the loathsome practices in which they engaged. Therefore, I will destroy them in my anger.^{[m] 9} From now on, they must cease their harlotry and remove the corpses of their kings from my presence. Then I will dwell among them forever.

¹⁰ The Temple Law. As for you, son of man, describe this temple to the house of Israel, so that they will be truly ashamed of their iniquities. ¹¹ And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design and arrangement of the temple, its exits and entrances, its shape, and all its ordinances. ¹² This is the law of the temple: all the surrounding area on the top of the mountain shall be most holy. Such is the law of the temple.

¹³ Measurements of the Altar.^[n]These were the dimensions of the altar in cubits of one cubit and a handbreadth. Its base was one cubit high and one cubit wide, with a rim of one span around its edge. This was the height of the altar. ¹⁴ From its base on the ground up to the lower ledge, it was two cubits high and one cubit wide, and from the lower ledge to the upper ledge, it was four cubits high and again one cubit wide.

¹⁵ The altar hearth was four cubits high, and from the hearth, four horns projected upward. ¹⁶ The hearth was a square, twelve cubits long by twelve cubits wide. ¹⁷ The upper ledge was also a square, fourteen cubits long by fourteen cubits wide, with a rim around it a half cubit wide and a surrounding base of one cubit. The steps of the altar face the east.

¹⁸ Then he said to me: Son of man, thus says the Lord God: These are the regulations for the altar when it has been erected for the offering of holocausts upon it and for the sprinkling of blood upon it. ¹⁹ You are to present a young bull as a sin offering to the Levitical priests of the family of Zadok who are authorized to draw near me in order to minister to me, says the Lord God.

²⁰ You are to take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar and on the four corners of the ledge and upon the surrounding rim. Thus, you will purify it and make atonement for it. ²¹ Then take the bull designated for the sin offering and immolate it in the designated part of the temple area outside the sanctuary.

²² On the second day, you are to present an unblemished male goat as a sin offering, and the altar must be purified again, as was done with the bull. ²³ When you have finished purifying it, choose an unblemished young bull and an unblemished ram from the flock. ²⁴ After you present them before the Lord, the priests will throw salt on them and offer them to the Lord as burnt offerings.

²⁵ For seven days you are to offer a male goat for a sin offering, as well as a young bull and an unblemished ram from the flock. ²⁶ In this way, they will make atonement for the altar and cleanse it, and thereby consecrate it.

²⁷ Once these days have been completed, from the eighth day onward the priests will offer your burnt offerings and your peace offerings on the altar. Then I will accept you, says the Lord.

Chapter 44

The Shut Gate. ¹ Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary that faces east, but it was shut. ² The Lord said to me: This gate will remain closed. It shall not be opened, and no one may enter through it. ³ Only the prince himself may sit inside the gate to eat his meal in the presence of the Lord. He must enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and he must depart by the same way.

The New Law

Admittance to the Temple. ⁴ Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. And when I looked, I beheld the glory of the Lord filling the Lord’s temple, and I fell upon my face. ⁵ Then he said to me: Son of man, pay attention, look carefully, and listen closely to everything that I will tell you in regard to all the ordinances of the temple of the Lord and all its laws. Also, mark carefully those who are admitted to the temple and those who are to be excluded from the sanctuary.

⁶ Say to the rebels of the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: I have endured enough of these abominable practices in which you engage, O house of Israel. ⁷ You have allowed foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and body, to enter my sanctuary and profane it when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. Thus, you have broken my covenant with all of your loathsome practices.

⁸ Instead of taking charge of my sacred offerings, you have assigned foreigners to serve me in my sanctuary in your place. ⁹ Thus says the Lord God: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, shall be permitted to enter my sanctuary, not even those foreigners who dwell among the Israelites.

¹⁰ Levites. But as for the Levites who abandoned me when Israel strayed far from me by following its idols, they must suffer the consequences for their iniquity. ¹¹ They may be permitted to serve as ministers in my sanctuary, with the responsibility of guarding the gates of the temple and serving in the temple. They may be allowed to slaughter the burnt offerings and the sacrifices for the people as well as attending to the needs of the people and serving them.

¹² However, because they used to minister to them in front of their idols and thereby caused the house of Israel to fall into a state of sin, therefore, I have sworn an oath against them, says the Lord God, that they shall be punished for their iniquity. ¹³ They may never again be permitted to approach me in order to serve as priests, nor will they be allowed to come near any of my holy things or my most sacred offerings. Rather, they must bear the shame of their abominable deeds. ¹⁴ However, I will assign them the responsibility of service to the temple and for all the work that has to be done in it.

¹⁵ Priests. As for the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok, who continued to fulfill faithfully their responsibility for caring for my sanctuary when the Israelites strayed far from me, they shall draw near me in order to minister to me, and they will stand in my presence to offer me the fat and the blood, says the Lord God. ¹⁶ They are the ones who will enter my sanctuary, the ones who will approach my table to minister to me and serve me.

¹⁷ Whenever they approach the gates of the inner court, the priests are to wear linen vestments. They must not wear any garment of wool when they minister at the gates of the inner court or inside the temple. ¹⁸ They are to have linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments on their loins, and they may not wear anything that might cause them to perspire.

¹⁹ Before they go out to the people in the outer court, they are to remove the clothes in which they have been performing their ministry, and they are then to put on other garments so that they will not communicate holiness to the people with their garments.

²⁰ Priests are not permitted to shave their heads or to let their hair grow long. Rather, they must keep their hair carefully trimmed, ²¹ nor are they allowed to drink wine on the day they are to enter the inner court.

²² Priests may not marry either widows or divorced women, but only virgins of the race of Israel. However, they may marry women who are the widows of priests. ²³ They shall teach my people to distinguish between the sacred and the profane, and they shall make known to them the difference between what is clean and what is unclean.

²⁴ In any dispute, the priests are to serve as judges, and they shall render their decisions according to my decrees. They must observe my laws and my statutes for all of my appointed feasts, and they shall keep my Sabbaths holy.

²⁵ Priests may not make themselves unclean by coming near a dead person. However, if the deceased is a father or mother, son or daughter, brother or unmarried sister, then they are permitted to defile themselves. ²⁶ After such a priest has been purified, he must wait a further seven days. ²⁷ On the day that he enters the inner court of the sanctuary to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer a sin offering for himself, says the Lord God.

²⁸ Priests will have no inheritance. I, myself, will be their inheritance. You will not give them any possession in Israel. I, myself, am their possession. ²⁹ They will eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering. Everything in Israel that is dedicated by vow to God will be theirs.

³⁰ The best of all the firstfruits of every kind and the best of all your offerings of every kind shall belong to the priests. Likewise, you shall give to the priests the best of your dough so that a blessing may rest upon your house. ³¹ In addition, the priests must not eat the flesh of a bird or animal that has died a natural death or been killed by a wild animal.

Chapter 45

The Sacred Plot. ¹ When you draw lots to divide the country as an inheritance, you shall set aside a sacred portion of the land for the Lord, twenty-five thousand cubits long and twenty thousand cubits wide. Its entire area will be regarded as sacred. ² Of this land, a plot, five hundred cubits square, shall be set aside for the sanctuary, and that plot will be surrounded by an open space of fifty cubits.

³ Out of this area you must also set aside a section twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand cubits wide, within which will be the sanctuary, the Holy of Holies. ⁴ This will be the sacred portion of the land belonging to the priests who minister in the sanctuary and approach the Lord to serve him. It will be both a place for their houses as well as a holy place for the sanctuary.

⁵ Another section, twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand cubits wide, will be set apart for the Levites who minister at the temple, so that they will have towns in which to live. ⁶ Near the land belonging to the sanctuary, you are to grant the city possession of an area five thousand cubits wide and twenty-five thousand cubits long. This shall belong to the whole house of Israel.

⁷ To the prince will belong the land that borders on both sides of the sacred district and the property of the city, extending westward from the west and eastward from the east, corresponding in length to one of the tribal portions and extending from the western to the eastern borders ⁸ of the land. This will be his property in Israel. Therefore, the princes of Israel will no longer oppress my people, but they will grant the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

Weights and Measures. ⁹ Thus says the Lord God: Enough, you princes of Israel! Cease your violence and oppression and do what is right and just. Stop evicting my people from their land, says the Lord God.

^10 [o]You must use scales that are accurate, and have an honest ephah and an accurate liquid measure. ¹¹ The ephah and the liquid measure must be of equal size. The liquid measure must contain one-tenth of a homer, and the ephah must contain one-tenth of a homer. The homer will be the standard measure for both. ¹² The shekel must consist of twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels will constitute one mina.

¹³ Grain Offerings. This is the special offering 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 The prescribed portion of oil: one-tenth of a measure for every measure of oil, consisting of ten liquid measures to a kor (or a homer, since ten liquid measures equal one homer).

¹⁵ In addition, you must take from the pastures of Israel one sheep from every flock of two hundred. These will be used for sacrifice—burnt offerings and peace offerings and fellowship offerings—to make atonement for the people, says the Lord God.

¹⁶ All the people of the land will be required to contribute to this offering for the prince of Israel. ¹⁷ The prince himself has the obligation to provide the holocausts, the cereal offerings, and the libations for all of the feasts, new moons, Sabbaths, and appointed festivals of the house of Israel. He, himself, must provide the sin offerings, the grain offerings, the burnt offerings, and the fellowship offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel.

¹⁸ The Feast of Passover. Thus says the Lord God: On the first day of the first month you shall sacrifice an unblemished young bull to purify the sanctuary. ¹⁹ The priest must take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the doorposts of the gates of the inner court. ²⁰ You are to do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who has sinned inadvertently or because of ignorance. In this way, you will make atonement for the temple.

²¹ On the fourteenth day of the first month, you must celebrate the Feast of the Passover, and for seven days, everyone must eat unleavened bread. ²² On that day the prince must provide a bull as a sin offering for himself and for all the people of the land.

²³ On each of the seven days of the feast, the prince must offer as a holocaust to the Lord seven bulls and seven rams without blemish, and as a sin offering, he must offer one male goat each day. ²⁴ He also is to provide as a grain offering one ephah for each bull and one ephah for each ram, as well as a hin^[p] of oil for each ephah.

²⁵ The Feast of Booths. On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and for the entire seven days of the festival, he shall provide the same sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, and oil.

Chapter 46

Sabbath Offerings. ¹ Thus says the Lord God: The east gate of the inner court must remain closed during the six working days. However, it shall be opened on the Sabbath and on the day of the new moon. ² The prince is to enter from the outside through the vestibule of the gate and stand by the doorposts of the gate. Then the priest must offer his burnt offerings and his peace offerings, and he shall bow down at the threshold of the gate. After this, he will go out, but the gate is not to be closed until evening. ³ The people of the land shall worship before the Lord at the entrance of the gate on the Sabbaths and the days of the new moon.

⁴ The burnt offering that the prince offers to the Lord on the Sabbath shall consist of six lambs without blemish and one unblemished ram. ⁵ The grain offering presented with the ram shall be an ephah, and the grain offering with the lambs shall be whatever he chooses to present; also, a hin of oil must be included for every ephah.

⁶ On the day of the new moon, the prince must offer an unblemished young bull, six unblemished lambs, and one unblemished ram. ⁷ As a grain offering, he shall provide an ephah with the bull and an ephah with the ram. With the lambs, he shall provide as much as he wishes to give, adding a hin of oil for every ephah.

Ritual Regulations. ⁸ Whenever the prince comes in, he must enter by the porch of the gate, and he must depart by the same way. ⁹ When the people of the land come to worship before the Lord on designated festival days, anyone who enters by the north gate to worship must depart by the south gate, and anyone who enters by the south gate must leave by the north gate. No one may return through the gate by which he entered but must depart by the opposite gate. ¹⁰ The prince will be in their midst, coming in when they enter and also departing with them as they leave.

¹¹ On feast days and solemn festivities, the grain offering shall be one ephah for every bull, one ephah for every ram, and as much as he wishes to give for the lambs, together with a hin of oil for every ephah. ¹² When the prince makes a free-will offering to the Lord, whether a burnt offering or a peace offering, the east gate will be opened for him. After presenting his burnt offering or peace offering as he does on the Sabbath, then he will leave, and the gate will be closed after his departure.

¹³ The prince will offer as a daily sacrifice to the Lord, a yearling without blemish for a burnt offering. He must offer this every morning. ¹⁴ With it in addition, he must regularly provide as a grain offering, morning after morning, one-sixth of an ephah and one-third of a hin of oil to moisten the fine flour. The presentation of this grain offering to the Lord is a mandatory decree, prescribed for all time. ¹⁵ The lamb, the grain offering, and the oil must be offered every morning as an established holocaust.

¹⁶ The Prince’s Inheritance. Thus says the Lord God: If the prince makes a gift of a portion of his inheritance to any of his sons, it will belong to his sons. That gift becomes their property by inheritance. ¹⁷ However, if he makes a gift of a portion of his inheritance to one of his servants, it will belong to that servant until the year of liberation; then it must revert to the prince. Only the sons of the prince may rightfully keep their inheritance.^[q]

¹⁸ On the other hand, the prince may not seize any of the inheritance of the people by evicting them from their property. He must provide an inheritance for his sons out of his own property, so that none of my people will be deprived of holdings that are rightfully theirs.

¹⁹ The Temple Kitchens. Then he led me through the entrance on the side of the gate to the rooms facing north that were reserved for the priests. There before us, at the western end, he pointed to a space, ²⁰ and he said to me, “This is the place where the priests must boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they bake the cereal offering, so that they may avoid bringing them into the outer court and thereby run the risk of transmitting holiness to the people.”

²¹ Then he brought me to the outer court and led me around to its four corners. In each of the corners, I saw that there was another court. ²² In each of the four corners of the court, there were four small courts, forty cubits long and thirty cubits wide, all four being the same size.

²³ On the inside, around each of the four courts, there was a ledge of stone, with a hearth all around at the bottom of the wall. ²⁴ Then he said to me, “These are the kitchens where the temple servants boil the sacrifices offered by the people.”

Chapter 47^[r]

The Temple Stream. ¹ Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I beheld water flowing out eastward from under the threshold of the temple, for the temple faced east. The water was flowing down from the southern end of the temple, south of the altar. ² He took me out through the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces the east, where I saw that the water was trickling forth from the south side.

³ The man walked off to the east with a measuring line in his hand, and he measured off a thousand cubits. Then he led me through the water, which was ankle-deep. ⁴ Again, he measured off a thousand cubits and made me wade across the stream again. This time the water reached my knees. Again, he measured off a thousand cubits and made me wade across the stream again. This time the water reached my waist.

⁵ Once again, he measured off a thousand cubits, but now I beheld a river that I could not cross, for the water had risen, and it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be crossed except by swimming. ⁶ He asked me, “Have you seen this, son of man?” Then he brought me back to the bank of the river.

⁷ When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. ⁸ He said to me, “This water flows east and goes down into the Arabah and empties into the sea, whose salt waters it makes fresh.

⁹ “Wherever the river flows, swarms of living creatures will live there and multiply. There will be an abundance of fish, for this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh. ¹⁰ Also, fishermen will gather along its banks from En-gedi to Englaim, spreading their nets. All kinds of fish will be found there, like the fish of the Great Sea.

¹¹ “However, its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. ¹² Along the river, on both banks, fruit trees of every kind will grow, with leaves that never wither and with fruit that never fails. They will bear fresh fruit every month, because they will be watered by the flow from the sanctuary. Their fruit will serve as food, and their leaves will serve for healing.”