Chambers for the Priests

¹Then the man led me out northward into the outer court, and he brought me to the group of chambers opposite the temple courtyard and the outer wall on the north side.

²The building with the door facing north was a hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide.

³Gallery faced gallery in three levels opposite the twenty cubitsthat belonged to the inner court and opposite the pavement that belonged to the outer court.

⁴In front of the chambers was an inner walkway ten cubits wide and a hundred cubits long.Their doors were on the north.

⁵Now the upper chambers were smaller because the galleries took more space from the chambers on the lower and middle floors of the building.

⁶For they were arranged in three stories, and unlike the courts, they had no pillars. So the upper chambers were set back further than the lower and middle floors.

⁷An outer wall in front of the chambers was fifty cubits long and ran parallel to the chambers and the outer court.

⁸For the chambers on the outer court were fifty cubits long, while those facing the temple were a hundred cubits long.

⁹And below these chambers was the entrance on the east side as one enters them from the outer court.

¹⁰On the south sidealong the length of the wall of the outer court were chambers adjoining the courtyard and opposite the building,

¹¹with a passageway in front of them, just like the chambers that were on the north. They had the same length and width, with similar exits and dimensions.

¹²And corresponding to the doors of the chambers that were facing south, there was a door in front of the walkway that was parallel to the wall extending eastward.

¹³Then the man said to me, “The north and south chambers facing the temple courtyard are the holy chambers where the priests who approach the LORD will eat the most holy offerings. There they will place the most holy offerings—the grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings—for the place is holy.

¹⁴Once the priests have entered the holy area, they must not go out into the outer court until they have left behind the garments in which they minister, for these are holy. They are to put on other clothes before they approach the places that are for the people.”

The Outer Measurements

¹⁵Now when the man had finished measuring the interior of the temple area, he led me out by the gate that faced east, and he measured the area all around:

¹⁶With a measuring rod he measured the east side to be five hundred cubits long.

¹⁷He measured the north side to be five hundred cubits long.

¹⁸He measured the south side to be five hundred cubits long.

¹⁹And he came around and measured the west side to be five hundred cubits long.

²⁰So he measured the area on all four sides. It had a wall all around, five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide, to separate the holy from the common.

The Glory of the LORD Returns to the Temple

¹Then the man brought me back to the gate that faces east,

²and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of many waters, and the earth shone with His glory.

³The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when He cameto destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the River Kebar. I fell facedown,

⁴and the glory of the LORD entered the temple through the gate facing east.

⁵Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.

⁶While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the temple,

⁷and He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place for the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the Israelites forever. The house of Israel will never again defile My holy name—neither they nor their kings—by their prostitution and by the funeral offeringsfor their kings at their deaths.

⁸When they placed their threshold next to My threshold and their doorposts beside My doorposts, with only a wall between Me and them, they defiled My holy name by the abominations they committed. Therefore I have consumed them in My anger.

⁹Now let them remove far from Me their prostitution and the funeral offerings for their kings, and I will dwell among them forever.

¹⁰As for you, son of man, describe the temple to the people of Israel, so that they may be ashamed of their iniquities. Let them measure the plan,

¹¹and if they are ashamedof all they have done, then make known to them the design of the temple—its arrangement and its exits and entrances—its whole design along with all its statutes, forms, and laws. Write it down in their sight, so that they may keep its complete design and all its statutes and may carry them out.

¹²This is the law of the temple: All its surrounding territory on top of the mountain will be most holy. Yes, this is the law of the temple.

The Altar of Sacrifice

¹³These are the measurements of the altar in long cubits(a cubit and a handbreadth): Its gutter shall be a cubit deep and a cubit wide, with a rim of one spanaround its edge.And this is the height of the altar:

¹⁴The space from the gutter on the ground to the lower ledge shall be two cubits, and the ledge one cubit wide.The space from the smaller ledge to the larger ledge shall be four cubits, and the ledge one cubit wide.

¹⁵The altar hearth shall be four cubits high, and four horns shall project upward from the hearth.

¹⁶The altar hearth shall be square at its four corners, twelve cubits long and twelve cubits wide.

¹⁷The ledge shall also be square, fourteen cubits long and fourteen cubits wide,with a rim of half a cubitand a gutter of a cubit all around it. The steps of the altar shall face east.”

¹⁸Then He said to me: “Son of man, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘These are the statutes for the altar on the day it is constructed, so that burnt offerings may be sacrificed on it and blood may be splattered on it:

¹⁹You are to give a young bull from the herd as a sin offering to the Levitical priests who are of the family of Zadok, who approach Me to minister before Me, declares the Lord GOD.

²⁰You are to take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar, on the four corners of the ledge, and all around the rim; thus you will cleanse the altar and make atonement for it.

²¹Then you are to take away the bull for the sin offering and burn it in the appointed part of the temple area outside the sanctuary.

²²On the second day you are to present an unblemished male goat as a sin offering, and the altar is to be cleansed as it was with the bull.

²³When you have finished the purification, you are to present a young, unblemished bull and an unblemished ram from the flock.

²⁴You must present them before the LORD; the priests are to sprinkle salt on them and sacrifice them as a burnt offering to the LORD.

²⁵For seven days you are to provide a male goat daily for a sin offering; you are also to provide a young bull and a ram from the flock, both unblemished.

²⁶For seven days the priests are to make atonement for the altar and cleanse it; so they shall consecrate it.

²⁷At the end of these days, from the eighth day on, the priests are to present your burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar. Then I will accept you, declares the Lord GOD.’”

Remember the LORD Your God

¹You must carefully follow every commandment I am giving you today, so that you may live and multiply, and enter and possess the land that the LORD swore to give your fathers.

²Remember that these forty years the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commandments.

³He humbled you, and in your hunger He gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had known, so that you might understand that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

⁴Your clothing did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.

⁵So know in your heart that just as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

⁶Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, walking in His ways and fearing Him.

⁷For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks and fountains and springs that flow through the valleys and hills;

⁸a land of wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey;

⁹a land where you will eat food without scarcity, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and whose hills are ready to be mined for copper.

¹⁰When you eat and are satisfied, you are to bless the LORD your God for the good land that He has given you.

¹¹Be careful not to forget the LORD your God by failing to keep His commandments and ordinances and statutes, which I am giving you this day.

¹²Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses in which to dwell,

¹³and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all that you have is multiplied,

¹⁴then your heart will become proud, and you will forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

¹⁵He led you through the vast and terrifying wilderness with its venomous snakes and scorpions, a thirsty and waterless land. He brought you water from the rock of flint.

¹⁶He fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers had not known, in order to humble you and test you, so that in the end He might cause you to prosper.

¹⁷You might say in your heart, “The power and strength of my hands have made this wealth for me.”

¹⁸But remember that it is the LORD your God who gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm His covenant that He swore to your fathers even to this day.

¹⁹If you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods to worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish.

²⁰Like the nations that the LORD has destroyed before you, so you will perish if you do not obey the LORD your God.

In the Day of Trouble I Sought the Lord

¹I cried out to God;I cried aloud to God to hear me.

²In the day of trouble I sought the Lord;through the night my outstretched hands did not grow weary;my soul refused to be comforted.

³I remembered You, O God, and I groaned;I mused and my spirit grew faint.Selah

⁴You have kept my eyes from closing;I am too troubled to speak.

⁵I considered the days of old,the years long in the past.

⁶At night I remembered my song;in my heart I mused, and my spirit pondered:

⁷“Will the Lord spurn us foreverand never show His favor again?

⁸Is His loving devotion gone forever?Has His promise failed for all time?

⁹Has God forgotten to be gracious?Has His anger shut off His compassion?”Selah

¹⁰So I said, “I am grievedthat the right hand of the Most High has changed.”

¹¹I will remember the works of the LORD;yes, I will remember Your wonders of old.

¹²I will reflect on all You have doneand ponder Your mighty deeds.

¹³Your way, O God, is holy.What god is so great as our God?

¹⁴You are the God who works wonders;You display Your strength among the peoples.

¹⁵With power You redeemed Your people,the sons of Jacob and Joseph.Selah

¹⁶The waters saw You, O God;the waters saw You and swirled;even the depths were shaken.

¹⁷The clouds poured down water;the skies resounded with thunder;Your arrows flashed back and forth.

¹⁸Your thunder resounded in the whirlwind;the lightning lit up the world;the earth trembled and quaked.

¹⁹Your path led through the sea,Your way through the mighty waters,but Your footprints were not to be found.

²⁰You led Your people like a flockby the hand of Moses and Aaron.