Old/New Testament
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 [a]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.[b] 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.[c]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 1
Prologue[a]
An Authentic Communion of Life
1 This is what we proclaim to you:
what existed from the beginning,
what we have heard,
what we have seen with our own eyes,
what we have looked at
and touched with our hands—
we are speaking of the Word of life.[b]
2 That life was made visible;
we have seen it and bear witness,
proclaiming to you the eternal life[c]
that was with the Father
and was revealed to us.
3 What we have seen and heard
we declare to you
so that you may have fellowship[d] with us.
For our fellowship is with the Father
and with his Son Jesus Christ.
4 We are writing this
so that our joy may be complete.
Walk in the Light
God Is Light[e]
5 This is the message
that we have heard from him
and that we declare to you:
God is light,
and there is no darkness[f] at all in him.
6 If we claim that we have fellowship with him
while we continue to live in darkness,
we are lying and do not live in the truth.
7 However, if we live in the light
as he himself is in the light,
then we have fellowship with one another,
and the blood of Jesus his Son
purifies us from all sin.
Deliverance from Sin[g]
8 If we claim that we are sinless,
we are only deceiving ourselves,
and the truth is not in us.
9 However, if we confess our sins,
he who is faithful and just
will forgive our sins
and cleanse us from all wrongdoing.
10 If we say that we have never sinned,
we make him out to be a liar,
and his word is not in us.
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