The Daily Audio Bible

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.

The Living Hope

1 This letter is from Peter, a missionary of Jesus Christ. I am writing to those who were taken away from their homeland and are living in the countries of Pontus and Galatia and Cappadocia and Asia and Bithynia. ² You were chosen by God the Father long ago. He knew you were to become His children. You were set apart for holy living by the Holy Spirit. May you obey Jesus Christ and be made clean by His blood. May you be full of His loving-favor and peace.

³ Let us thank the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was through His loving-kindness that we were born again to a new life and have a hope that never dies. This hope is ours because Jesus was raised from the dead. ⁴ We will receive the great things that we have been promised. They are being kept safe in heaven for us. They are pure and will not pass away. They will never be lost. ⁵ You are being kept by the power of God because you put your trust in Him and you will be saved from the punishment of sin at the end of the world.

⁶ With this hope you can be happy even if you need to have sorrow and all kinds of tests for awhile. ⁷ These tests have come to prove your faith and to show that it is good. Gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire. Your faith is worth much more than gold and it must be tested also. Then your faith will bring thanks and shining-greatness and honor to Jesus Christ when He comes again. ⁸ You have never seen Him but you love Him. You cannot see Him now but you are putting your trust in Him. And you have joy so great that words cannot tell about it. ⁹ You will get what your faith is looking for, which is to be saved from the punishment of sin.

¹⁰ The early preachers tried to find out how to be saved. They told of the loving-favor that would come to you. ¹¹ The early preachers wondered at what time or to what person this would happen. The Spirit of Christ in them was talking to them and told them to write about how Christ would suffer and about His shining-greatness later on. ¹² They knew these things would not happen during the time they lived but while you are living many years later. These are the very things that were told to you by those who preached the Good News. The Holy Spirit Who was sent from heaven gave them power and they told of things that even the angels would like to know about.

¹⁷ Do good to Your servant so I may live and obey Your Word. ¹⁸ Open my eyes so that I may see great things from Your Law. ¹⁹ I am a stranger on the earth. Do not hide Your Word from me. ²⁰ My soul is crushed with a desire for Your Law at all times. ²¹ You speak sharp words to the proud, the hated ones, because they turn from Your Word. ²² Take away shame and bad feelings from me, for I have kept Your Law. ²³ Even if rulers sit together and speak against me, Your servant thinks about Your Law. ²⁴ Your Law is my joy and it tells me what to do.

²⁵ My soul is laid in the dust. Give me new life because of Your Word. ²⁶ I have told about my ways, and You have answered me. Teach me Your Law. ²⁷ Make me understand the way of Your Law so I will talk about Your great works. ²⁸ My soul cries because of sorrow. Give me strength because of Your Word. ²⁹ Take the false way from me. Show Your loving-favor by giving me Your Law. ³⁰ I have chosen the faithful way. I have set Your Law in front of me. ³¹ I hold on to Your Law, O Lord. Do not put me to shame. ³² I will run the way of Your Law, for You will give me a willing heart.

⁸ He who gets money by being paid much for the use of it, gathers it for him who will be kind to the poor.

⁹ He who turns his ear away from listening to the law, even his prayer is a hated thing.

¹⁰ He who leads good people into a sinful way will fall into his own deep hole, but good will come to those without blame.