Ezekiel 46

1Thus saith the Lord GOD; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened.

2And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate without, and shall stand by the post of the gate, and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate: then he shall go forth; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening.

3Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the LORD in the sabbaths and in the new moons.

4And the burnt offering that the prince shall offer unto the LORD in the sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish.

5And the meat offering shall be an ephah for a ram, and the meat offering for the lambs as he shall be able to give, and an hin of oil to an ephah.footnote a

6And in the day of the new moon it shall be a young bullock without blemish, and six lambs, and a ram: they shall be without blemish.

7And he shall prepare a meat offering, an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs according as his hand shall attain unto, and an hin of oil to an ephah.

8And when the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the way of the porch of that gate, and he shall go forth by the way thereof.

9But when the people of the land shall come before the LORD in the solemn feasts, he that entereth in by the way of the north gate to worship shall go out by the way of the south gate; and he that entereth by the way of the south gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate: he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but shall go forth over against it.

10And the prince in the midst of them, when they go in, shall go in; and when they go forth, shall go forth.

11And in the feasts and in the solemnities the meat offering shall be an ephah to a bullock, and an ephah to a ram, and to the lambs as he is able to give, and an hin of oil to an ephah.

12Now when the prince shall prepare a voluntary burnt offering or peace offerings voluntarily unto the LORD, one shall then open him the gate that looketh toward the east, and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, as he did on the sabbath day: then he shall go forth; and after his going forth one shall shut the gate.

13Thou shalt daily prepare a burnt offering unto the LORD of a lamb of the first year without blemish: thou shalt prepare it every morning.footnote bfootnote c

14And thou shalt prepare a meat offering for it every morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of an hin of oil, to temper with the fine flour; a meat offering continually by a perpetual ordinance unto the LORD.

15Thus shall they prepare the lamb, and the meat offering, and the oil, every morning for a continual burnt offering.

16Thus saith the Lord GOD; If the prince give a gift unto any of his sons, the inheritance thereof shall be his sons’; it shall be their possession by inheritance.

17But if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, then it shall be his to the year of liberty; after it shall return to the prince: but his inheritance shall be his sons’ for them.

18Moreover the prince shall not take of the people’s inheritance by oppression, to thrust them out of their possession; but he shall give his sons inheritance out of his own possession: that my people be not scattered every man from his possession.

19After he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers of the priests, which looked toward the north: and, behold, there was a place on the two sides westward.

20Then said he unto me, This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, where they shall bake the meat offering; that they bear them not out into the utter court, to sanctify the people.

21Then he brought me forth into the utter court, and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; and, behold, in every corner of the court there was a court.footnote d

22In the four corners of the court there were courts joined of forty cubits long and thirty broad: these four corners were of one measure.footnote efootnote f

23And there was a row of building round about in them, round about them four, and it was made with boiling places under the rows round about.

24Then said he unto me, These are the places of them that boil, where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of the people.

The Prince’s Offerings

1“This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘The gate of the inner court that faces east must be kept shut during the six days of work, but on the Sabbath day and on the day of the New Moon it shall be opened. 2The prince is to enter from the outside through the portico of the gateway and stand by the gatepost, while the priests sacrifice his burnt offerings and peace offerings. He is to bow in worship at the threshold of the gate and then depart, but the gate must not be shut until evening. 3On the Sabbaths and New Moons the people of the land are also to bow in worship before the LORD at the entrance to that gateway.

4The burnt offering that the prince presents to the LORD on the Sabbath day shall be six unblemished male lambs and an unblemished ram. 5The grain offering with the ram shall be one ephah,footnote a and the grain offering with the lambs shall be as much as he is able, along with a hin of oil per ephah. 6On the day of the New Moon he shall offer a young, unblemished bull, six lambs, and a ram without blemish. 7He is to provide a grain offering of an ephah with the bull, an ephah with the ram, and as much as he is able with the lambs, along with a hin of oil per ephah. 8When the prince enters, he shall go in through the portico of the gateway, and he shall go out the same way.

9When the people of the land come before the LORD at the appointed feasts, whoever enters by the north gate to worship must go out by the south gate, and whoever enters by the south gate must go out by the north gate. No one is to return through the gate by which he entered, but each must go out by the opposite gate.

10When the people enter, the prince shall go in with them, and when they leave, he shall leave. 11At the festivals and appointed feasts, the grain offering shall be an ephah with a bull, an ephah with a ram, and as much as one is able to give with the lambs, along with a hin of oil per ephah.

12When the prince makes a freewill offering to the LORD, whether a burnt offering or a peace offering, the gate facing east must be opened for him. He is to offer his burnt offering or peace offering just as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and the gate must be closed after he goes out.

13And you shall provide an unblemished year-old lamb as a daily burnt offering to the LORD; you are to offer it every morning. 14You are also to provide with it every morning a grain offering of a sixth of an ephahfootnote b with a third of a hin of oilfootnote c to moisten the fine flour—a grain offering to the LORD. This is a permanent statute. 15Thus they shall provide the lamb, the grain offering, and the oil every morning as a regular burnt offering.’

16This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘If the prince gives a gift to any of his sons as an inheritance, it will belong to his descendants. It will become their property by inheritance. 17But if he gives a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, it will belong to that servant until the year of freedom; then it will revert to the prince. His inheritance belongs only to his sons; it shall be theirs.

18The prince must not take any of the inheritance of the people by evicting them from their property. He is to provide an inheritance for his sons from his own property, so that none of My people will be displaced from his property.’”

The Courts for Boiling and Baking

19Then the man brought me through the entrance at the side of the gate into the holy chambers facing north, which belonged to the priests, and he showed me a place there at the far western end 20and said to me, “This is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the grain offering, so that they do not bring them into the outer court and transmit holiness to the people.”

21Then he brought me into the outer court and led me around to its four corners, and I saw a separate court in each of its corners. 22In the four corners of the outer court there were enclosed courts, each forty cubits long and thirty cubits wide.footnote d Each of the four corner areas had the same dimensions. 23Around the inside of each of the four courts was a row of masonry with ovens built at the base of the walls on all sides.

24And he said to me, “These are the kitchens where those who minister at the temple will cook the sacrifices offered by the people.”