Bible in 90 Days

Israel to Come Home

36 “Human, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say: ‘Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. ² This is what the Lord God says: The enemy has said about you, “Now the old places to worship gods have become ours.”’ ³ So prophesy and say: ‘This is what the Lord God says: They have made you an empty ruin and have crushed you from all around. So you became a possession of the other nations. People have talked and whispered against you. ⁴ So, mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. The Lord God speaks to the mountains, hills, ravines, and valleys, to the empty ruins and abandoned cities that have been robbed and laughed at by the other nations. ⁵ This is what the Lord God says: I speak in hot anger against the other nations. I speak against the people of Edom, who took my land for themselves with joy and with hate in their hearts. They forced out the people and took their pastureland.’ ⁶ So prophesy about the land of Israel and say to the mountains, hills, ravines, and valleys: ‘This is what the Lord God says: I speak in my jealous anger, because you have suffered the insults of the nations. ⁷ So this is what the Lord God says: I promise that the nations around you will also have to suffer insults.

⁸ “‘But you, mountains of Israel, will grow branches and fruit for my people, who will soon come home. ⁹ I am concerned about you; I am on your side. You will be plowed, and seed will be planted in you. ¹⁰ I will increase the number of people who live on you, all the people of Israel. The cities will have people living in them, and the ruins will be rebuilt. ¹¹ I will increase the number of people and animals living on you. They will grow and have many young. You will have people living on you as you did before, and I will make you better off than at the beginning. Then you will know that I am the Lord. ¹² I will cause my people Israel to walk on you and own you, and you will belong to them. You will never again take their children away from them.

¹³ “‘This is what the Lord God says: People say about you, “You eat people and take children from your nation.” ¹⁴ But you will not eat people anymore or take away the children, says the Lord God. ¹⁵ I will not make you listen to insults from the nations anymore; you will not suffer shame from them anymore. You will not cause your nation to fall anymore, says the Lord God.’”

The Lord Acts for Himself

¹⁶ The Lord spoke his word to me again, saying: ¹⁷ “Human, when the nation of Israel was living in their own land, they made it unclean by their ways and the things they did. Their ways were like a woman’s uncleanness in her time of monthly bleeding. ¹⁸ So I poured out my anger against them, because they murdered in the land and because they made the land unclean with their idols. ¹⁹ I scattered them among the nations, and they were spread through the countries. I punished them for how they lived and what they did. ²⁰ They dishonored my holy name in the nations where they went. The nations said about them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, but they had to leave the land which he gave them.’ ²¹ But I had concern for my holy name, which the nation of Israel had dishonored among the nations where they went.

²² “So say to the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord God says: Israel, I am going to act, but not for your sake. I will do something to help my holy name, which you have dishonored among the nations where you went. ²³ I will prove the holiness of my great name, which has been dishonored among the nations. You have dishonored it among these nations, but the nations will know that I am the Lord when I prove myself holy before their eyes, says the Lord God.

²⁴ “‘I will take you from the nations and gather you out of all the lands and bring you back into your own land. ²⁵ Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your uncleanness and your idols. ²⁶ Also, I will teach you to respect me completely, and I will put a new way of thinking inside you. I will take out the stubborn hearts of stone from your bodies, and I will give you obedient hearts of flesh. ²⁷ I will put my Spirit inside you and help you live by my rules and carefully obey my laws. ²⁸ You will live in the land I gave to your ancestors, and you will be my people, and I will be your God. ²⁹ So I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will command the grain to come and grow; I will not allow a time of hunger to hurt you. ³⁰ I will increase the harvest of the field so you will never again suffer shame among the nations because of hunger. ³¹ Then you will remember your evil ways and actions that were not good, and you will hate yourselves because of your sins and your terrible acts that I hate. ³² I want you to know that I am not going to do this for your sake, says the Lord God. Be ashamed and embarrassed about your ways, Israel.

³³ “‘This is what the Lord God says: This is what will happen on the day I cleanse you from all your sins: I will cause the cities to have people living in them again, and the destroyed places will be rebuilt. ³⁴ The empty land will be plowed so it will no longer be a ruin for everyone who passes by to see. ³⁵ They will say, “This land was ruined, but now it has become like the garden of Eden. The cities were destroyed, empty, and ruined, but now they are protected and have people living in them.” ³⁶ Then those nations still around you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt what was destroyed and have planted what was empty. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it.’

³⁷ “This is what the Lord God says: I will let myself be asked by the people of Israel to do this for them again: I will make their people grow in number like a flock. ³⁸ They will be as many as the flocks brought to Jerusalem during her holy feasts. Her ruined cities will be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

The Vision of Dry Bones

37 I felt the power of the Lord on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and put me down in the middle of a valley. It was full of bones. ² He led me around among the bones, and I saw that there were many bones in the valley and that they were very dry. ³ Then he asked me, “Human, can these bones live?”

I answered, “Lord God, only you know.”

⁴ He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵ This is what the Lord God says to the bones: I will cause breath to enter you so you will come to life. ⁶ I will put muscles on you and flesh on you and cover you with skin. Then I will put breath in you so you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded. While I prophesied, there was a noise and a rattling. The bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸ I looked and saw muscles come on the bones, and flesh grew, and skin covered the bones. But there was no breath in them.

⁹ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the wind.^[a] Prophesy, human, and say to the wind, ‘This is what the Lord God says: Wind, come from the four winds, and breathe on these people who were killed so they can come back to life.’” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as the Lord commanded me. And the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, a very large army.

¹¹ Then he said to me, “Human, these bones are like all the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has gone. We are destroyed.’ ¹² So, prophesy and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves. Then I will bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³ My people, you will know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and cause you to come up from them. ¹⁴ And I will put my Spirit inside you, and you will come to life. Then I will put you in your own land. And you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it, says the Lord.’”

Judah and Israel Back Together

¹⁵ The Lord spoke his word to me, saying, ¹⁶ “Human, take a stick and write on it, ‘For Judah and all the Israelites with him.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘The stick of Ephraim, for Joseph and all the Israelites with him.’ ¹⁷ Then join them together into one stick so they will be one in your hand.

¹⁸ “When your people say to you, ‘Explain to us what you mean by this,’ ¹⁹ say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: I will take the stick for Joseph and the tribes of Israel with him, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and I will put it with the stick of Judah. I will make them into one stick, and they will be one in my hand.’ ²⁰ Hold the sticks on which you wrote these names in your hand so the people can see them. ²¹ Say to the people, ‘This is what the Lord God says: I am going to take the people of Israel from among the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them into their own land. ²² I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. One king will rule all of them. They will never again be two nations; they will not be divided into two kingdoms anymore. ²³ They will not continue to make themselves unclean by their idols, their statues of gods which I hate, or by their sins. I will save them from all the ways they sin and turn against me, and I will make them clean. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God.

²⁴ “‘My servant David will be their king, and they will all have one shepherd. They will live by my rules and obey my laws. ²⁵ They will live on the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land in which your ancestors lived. They will all live on the land forever: they, their children, and their grandchildren. David my servant will be their king forever. ²⁶ I will make an agreement of peace with them, an agreement that continues forever. I will put them in their land and make them grow in number. Then I will put my Temple among them forever. ²⁷ The place where I live will be with them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ²⁸ When my Temple is among them forever, the nations will know that I, the Lord, make Israel holy.’”

Prophecy Against Gog

38 The Lord spoke his word to me, saying, ² “Human, look toward Gog of the land of Magog, the chief ruler of the nations of Meshech and Tubal. Prophesy against him ³ and say, ‘The Lord God says this: I am against you, Gog, chief ruler of Meshech and Tubal. ⁴ I will turn you around and put hooks in your jaws. And I will bring you out with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all of whom will be dressed in beautiful uniforms. They will be a large army with large and small shields and all having swords. ⁵ Persia, Cush, and Put will be with them, all of them having shields and helmets. ⁶ There will also be Gomer with all its troops and the nation of Togarmah from the far north with all its troops—many nations with you.

⁷ “‘Be prepared. Be prepared, you and all the armies that have come together to make you their commander. ⁸ After a long time you will be called for service. After those years you will come into a land that has been rebuilt from war. The people in the land will have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which were empty for a long time. These people were brought out from the nations, and they will all be living in safety. ⁹ You will come like a storm. You, all your troops, and the many nations with you will be like a cloud covering the land.

¹⁰ “‘This is what the Lord God says: At that time ideas will come into your mind, and you will think up an evil plan. ¹¹ You will say, “I will march against a land of towns without walls. I will attack those who are at rest and live in safety. All of them live without city walls or gate bars or gates. ¹² I will capture treasures and take loot. I will turn my power against the rebuilt ruins that now have people living in them. I will attack these people who have been gathered from the nations, who have become rich with farm animals and property, who live at the center of the world.” ¹³ Sheba, Dedan, and the traders of Tarshish, with all its villages, will say to you, “Did you come to capture treasure? Did you bring your troops together to take loot? Did you bring them to carry away silver and gold and to take away farm animals and property?”’

¹⁴ “So prophesy, human, and say to Gog, ‘This is what the Lord God says: Now that my people Israel are living in safety, you will know about it. ¹⁵ You will come with many people from your place in the far north. You will have a large group with you, a mighty army, all riding on horses. ¹⁶ You will attack my people Israel like a cloud that covers the land. This will happen in the days to come when I bring you against my land. Gog, then the nations will know me when they see me prove how holy I am in what I do through you.

¹⁷ “‘This is what the Lord God says: You are the one about whom I spoke in past days. I spoke through my servants, the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for many years that I would bring you against them. ¹⁸ This is what will happen: On the day Gog attacks the land of Israel, I will become very angry, says the Lord God. ¹⁹ With jealousy and great anger I tell you that at that time there will surely be a great earthquake in Israel. ²⁰ The fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the wild animals, everything that crawls on the ground, and all the people on the earth will shake with fear before me. Also the mountains will be thrown down, the cliffs will fall, and every wall will fall to the ground. ²¹ Then I will call for a war against Gog on all my mountains, says the Lord God. Everyone’s sword will attack the soldier next to him. ²² I will punish Gog with disease and death. I will send a heavy rain with hailstones and burning sulfur on Gog, his army, and the many nations with him. ²³ Then I will show how great I am. I will show my holiness, and I will make myself known to the many nations that watch. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’

The Death of Gog and His Army

39 “Human, prophesy against Gog and say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: I am against you, Gog, chief ruler of Meshech and Tubal. ² I will turn you around and lead you. I will bring you from the far north and send you to attack the mountains of Israel. ³ I will knock your bow out of your left hand and throw down your arrows from your right hand. ⁴ You, all your troops, and the nations with you will fall dead on the mountains of Israel. I will let you be food for every bird that eats meat and for every wild animal. ⁵ You will lie fallen on the ground, because I have spoken, says the Lord God. ⁶ I will send fire on Magog and those who live in safety on the coastlands. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

⁷ “‘I will make myself known among my people Israel, and I will not let myself be dishonored anymore. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. ⁸ It is coming! It will happen, says the Lord God. The time I talked about is coming.

⁹ “‘Then those who live in the cities of Israel will come out and make fires with the enemy’s weapons. They will burn them, both large and small shields, bows and arrows, war clubs, and spears. They will use the weapons to burn in their fires for seven years. ¹⁰ They will not need to take wood from the field or chop firewood from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons. In this way they will take the treasures of those who took their treasures; they will take the loot of those who took their loot, says the Lord God.

¹¹ “‘At that time I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, in the Valley of the Travelers, east of the Dead Sea. It will block the road for travelers. Gog and all his army will be buried there, so people will call it The Valley of Gog’s Army.

¹² “‘The people of Israel will be burying them for seven months to make the land clean again. ¹³ All the people in the land will bury them, and they will be honored on the day of my victory, says the Lord God.

¹⁴ “‘The people of Israel will choose men to work through the land to make it clean. Along with others, they will bury Gog’s soldiers still lying dead on the ground. After the seven months are finished, they will still search. ¹⁵ As they go through the land, anyone who sees a human bone is to put a marker by it. The sign will stay there until the gravediggers bury the bone in The Valley of Gog’s Army. ¹⁶ A city will be there named Hamonah. So they will make the land clean again.’

¹⁷ “Human, this is what the Lord God says: Speak to every kind of bird and wild animal: ‘Come together, come! Come together from all around to my sacrifice, a great sacrifice which I will prepare for you on the mountains of Israel. Eat flesh and drink blood! ¹⁸ You are to eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the rulers of the earth as if they were fat animals from Bashan: male sheep, lambs, goats, and bulls. ¹⁹ You are to eat and drink from my sacrifice which I have prepared for you, eating fat until you are full and drinking blood until you are drunk. ²⁰ At my table you are to eat until you are full of horses and riders, mighty men and all kinds of soldiers,’ says the Lord God.

²¹ “I will show my glory among the nations. All the nations will see my power when I punish them. ²² From that time onward the people of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God. ²³ The nations will know Israel was taken away captive because they turned against me. So I turned away from them and handed them over to their enemies until all of them died in war. ²⁴ Because of their uncleanness and their sins, I punished them and turned away from them.

²⁵ “So this is what the Lord God says: Now I will bring the people of Jacob back from captivity, and I will have mercy on the whole nation of Israel. I will not let them dishonor me. ²⁶ The people will forget their shame and how they rejected me when they live again in safety on their own land with no one to make them afraid. ²⁷ I will bring the people back from other lands and gather them from the lands of their enemies. So I will use my people to show many nations that I am holy. ²⁸ Then my people will know that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them into captivity among the nations, but then I brought them back to their own land, leaving no one behind. ²⁹ I will not turn away from them anymore, because I will put my Spirit into the people of Israel, says the Lord God.”

The New Temple

40 It was the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month. It was in the fourteenth year after Jerusalem was captured. On that same day I felt the power of the Lord, and he brought me to Jerusalem. ² In the visions of God he brought me to the land of Israel and put me down on a very high mountain. On the south of the mountain there were some buildings that looked like a city. ³ He took me closer to the buildings, and I saw a man who looked as if he were made of bronze, standing in the gateway. He had a cord made of linen and a stick in his hand, both for measuring. ⁴ The man said to me, “Human, look with your eyes and hear with your ears. Pay attention to all that I will show you, because that’s why you have been brought here. Tell the people of Israel all that you see.”

The East Gateway

⁵ I saw a wall that surrounded the Temple area. The measuring stick in the man’s hand was ten and one-half feet long. So the man measured the wall, which was ten and one-half feet thick and ten and one-half feet high.

⁶ Then the man went to the east gateway. He went up its steps and measured the opening of the gateway. It was ten and one-half feet deep. ⁷ The rooms for the guards were ten and one-half feet long and ten and one-half feet wide. The walls that came out between the guards’ rooms were about nine feet thick. The opening of the gateway next to the porch that faced the Temple was ten and one-half feet deep.

⁸ Then the man measured the porch of the gateway. ⁹ It was about fourteen feet deep, and its side walls were three and one-half feet thick. The porch of the gateway faced the Temple.

¹⁰ On each side of the east gateway were three rooms, which measured the same on each side. The walls between each room were the same thickness. ¹¹ The man measured the width of the entrance to the gateway, which was seventeen and one-half feet wide. The width of the gate was about twenty-three feet. ¹² And there was a low wall about twenty-one inches high in front of each room. The rooms were ten and one-half feet on each side. ¹³ The man measured the gateway from the roof of one room to the roof of the opposite room. It was about forty-four feet from one door to the opposite door. ¹⁴ The man also measured the porch, which was about thirty-five feet wide. The courtyard was around the porch. ¹⁵ From the front of the outer side of the gateway to the front of the porch of the inner side of the gateway was eighty-seven and one-half feet. ¹⁶ The rooms and porch had small windows on both sides. The windows were narrower on the side facing the gateway. Carvings of palm trees were on each side wall of the rooms.

The Outer Courtyard

¹⁷ Then the man brought me into the outer courtyard where I saw rooms and a pavement of stones all around the court. Thirty rooms were along the edge of the paved walkway. ¹⁸ The pavement ran alongside the gates and was as deep as the gates were wide. This was the lower pavement. ¹⁹ Then the man measured from the outer wall to the inner wall. The outer court between these two walls was one hundred seventy-five feet on the east and on the north.

The North Gateway

²⁰ The man measured the length and width of the north gateway leading to the outer courtyard. ²¹ Its three rooms on each side, its inner walls, and its porch measured the same as the first gateway. It was eighty-seven and one-half feet long and forty-four feet wide. ²² Its windows, porch, and carvings of palm trees measured the same as the east gateway. Seven steps went up to the gateway, and the gateway’s porch was at the inner end. ²³ The inner courtyard had a gateway across from the northern gateway like the one on the east. The man measured it and found it was one hundred seventy-five feet from inner gateway to outer gateway.

The South Gateway

²⁴ Then the man led me south where I saw a gateway facing south. He measured its inner walls and its porch, and they measured the same as the other gateways. ²⁵ The gateway and its porch had windows all around like the other gateways. It was eighty-seven and one-half feet long and forty-four feet wide. ²⁶ Seven steps went up to this gateway. Its porch was at the inner end, and it had carvings of palm trees on its inner walls. ²⁷ The inner courtyard had a gateway on its south side. The man measured from gate to gate on the south side, which was one hundred seventy-five feet.

The Inner Courtyard

²⁸ Then the man brought me through the south gateway into the inner courtyard. The inner south gateway measured the same as the gateways in the outer wall. ²⁹ The inner south gateway’s rooms, inner walls, and porch measured the same as the gateways in the outer wall. There were windows all around the gateway and its porch. The gateway was eighty-seven and one-half feet long and forty-four feet wide. ³⁰ Each porch of each inner gateway was about forty-four feet long and about nine feet wide. ³¹ The inner south gateway’s porch faced the outer courtyard. Carvings of palm trees were on its side walls, and its stairway had eight steps.

³² The man brought me into the inner courtyard on the east side. He measured the inner east gateway, and it was the same as the other gateways. ³³ The inner east gateway’s rooms, inside walls, and porch measured the same as the other gateways. Windows were all around the gateway and its porch. The inner east gateway was eighty-seven and one-half feet long and forty-four feet wide. ³⁴ Its porch faced the outer courtyard. Carvings of palm trees were on its inner walls on each side, and its stairway had eight steps.

³⁵ Then the man brought me to the inner north gateway. He measured it, and it was the same as the other gateways. ³⁶ Its rooms, inner walls, and porch measured the same as the other gateways. There were windows all around the gateway, which was eighty-seven and one-half feet long and forty-four feet wide. ³⁷ Its porch faced the outer courtyard. Carvings of palm trees were on its inner walls on each side, and its stairway had eight steps.

Rooms for Preparing Sacrifices

³⁸ There was a room with a door that opened onto the porch of the inner north gateway. In this room the priests washed animals for the burnt offerings. ³⁹ There were two tables on each side of the porch, on which animals for burnt offerings, sin offerings, and penalty offerings were killed. ⁴⁰ Outside, by each side wall of the porch, at the entrance to the north gateway, were two more tables. ⁴¹ So there were four tables inside the gateway, and four tables outside. In all there were eight tables on which the priests killed animals for sacrifices. ⁴² There were four tables made of cut stone for the burnt offering. These tables were about three feet long, three feet wide, and about two feet high. On these tables the priests put their tools which they used to kill animals for burnt offerings and the other sacrifices. ⁴³ Double shelves three inches wide were put up on all the walls. The flesh for the offering was put on the tables.

The Priests’ Rooms

⁴⁴ There were two rooms in the inner courtyard. One was beside the north gateway and faced south. The other room was beside the south gateway and faced north. ⁴⁵ The man said to me, “The room which faces south is for the priests who serve in the Temple area, ⁴⁶ while the room that faces north is for the priests who serve at the altar. This second group of priests are descendants of Zadok, the only descendants of Levi who can come near the Lord to serve him.”

⁴⁷ The man measured the inner courtyard. It was a square—one hundred seventy-five feet long and one hundred seventy-five feet wide. The altar was in front of the Temple.

The Temple Porch

⁴⁸ The man brought me to the porch of the Temple and measured each side wall of the porch. Each was about nine feet thick. The doorway was twenty-four and one-half feet wide. The side walls of the doorway were each about five feet wide. ⁴⁹ The porch was thirty-five feet long and twenty-one feet wide, with ten steps leading up to it. Pillars were by the side walls, one on each side of the entrance.

The Holy Place of the Temple

41 The man brought me to the Holy Place and measured its side walls, which were each ten and one-half feet thick. ² The entrance was seventeen and one-half feet wide. The walls alongside the entrance were each about nine feet wide. The man measured the Holy Place, which was seventy feet long and thirty-five feet wide.

³ Then the man went inside and measured the side walls of the next doorway. Each was three and one-half feet thick. The doorway was ten and one-half feet wide, and the walls next to it were each more than twelve feet thick. ⁴ Then the man measured the room at the end of the Holy Place. It was thirty-five feet long and thirty-five feet wide. The man said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”

⁵ Then the man measured the wall of the Temple, which was ten and one-half feet thick. There were side rooms seven feet wide all around the Temple. ⁶ The side rooms were on three different stories, each above the other, with thirty rooms on each story. All around the Temple walls there were ledges for the side rooms. The upper rooms rested on the ledges but were not attached to the Temple walls. ⁷ The side rooms around the Temple were wider on each higher story, so rooms were wider on the top story. A stairway went up from the lowest story to the highest through the middle story.

⁸ I also saw that the Temple had a raised base all around. Its edge was the foundation for the side rooms, and it was ten and one-half feet thick. ⁹ The outer wall of the side rooms was about nine feet thick. There was an open area between the side rooms of the Temple ¹⁰ and some other rooms. It was thirty-five feet wide and went all around the Temple. ¹¹ The side rooms had doors which led to the open area around the outside of the Temple. One door faced north, and the other faced south. The open area was about nine feet wide all around.

¹² The building facing the private area at the west side was one hundred twenty-two and one-half feet wide. The wall around the building was about nine feet thick and one hundred fifty-seven and one-half feet long.

¹³ Then the man measured the Temple. It was one hundred seventy-five feet long. The private area, including the building and its walls, was in all one hundred seventy-five feet long. ¹⁴ Also the front of the Temple and the private area on its east side were one hundred seventy-five feet wide.

¹⁵ The man measured the length of the building facing the private area on the west side, and it was one hundred seventy-five feet from one wall to the other.

The Holy Place, the Most Holy Place, and the outer porch ¹⁶ had wood panels on the walls. By the doorway, the Temple had wood panels on the walls. The wood covered all the walls from the floor up to the windows, ¹⁷ up to the part of the wall above the entrance.

All the walls inside the Most Holy Place and the Holy Place, and on the outside, in the porch, ¹⁸ had carvings of creatures with wings and palm trees. A palm tree was between each carved creature, and every creature had two faces. ¹⁹ One was a human face looking toward the palm tree on one side. The other was a lion’s face looking toward the palm tree on the other side. They were carved all around the Temple walls. ²⁰ From the floor to above the entrance, palm trees and creatures with wings were carved. The walls of the Holy Place ²¹ had square doorposts. In front of the Most Holy Place was something that looked like ²² an altar of wood. It was more than five feet high and three feet wide. Its corners, base, and sides were wood. The man said to me, “This is the table that is in the presence of the Lord.” ²³ Both the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place had double doors. ²⁴ Each of the doors had two pieces that would swing open. ²⁵ Carved on the doors of the Holy Place were palm trees and creatures with wings, like those carved on the walls. And there was a wood roof over the front Temple porch. ²⁶ There were windows and palm trees on both side walls of the porch. The side rooms of the Temple were also covered by a roof over the stairway.

The Priests’ Rooms

42 Then the man led me north out into the outer courtyard and to the rooms across from the private area and the building. ² These rooms on the north side were one hundred seventy-five feet long and eighty-seven and one-half feet wide. ³ There was thirty-five feet of the inner courtyard between them and the Temple. On the other side, they faced the stone pavement of the outer courtyard. The rooms were built in three stories like steps and had balconies. ⁴ There was a path on the north side of the rooms, which was seventeen and one-half feet wide and one hundred seventy-five feet long. Doors led into the rooms from this path. ⁵ The top rooms were narrower, because the balconies took more space from them. The rooms on the first and second stories of the building were wider. ⁶ The rooms were on three stories. They did not have pillars like the pillars of the courtyards. So the top rooms were farther back than those on the first and second stories. ⁷ There was a wall outside parallel to the rooms and to the outer courtyard. It ran in front of the rooms for eighty-seven and one-half feet. ⁸ The row of rooms along the outer courtyard was eighty-seven and one-half feet long, and the rooms that faced the Temple were about one hundred seventy-five feet long. ⁹ The lower rooms had an entrance on the east side so a person could enter them from the outer courtyard, ¹⁰ at the start of the wall beside the courtyard.

There were rooms on the south side, which were across from the private area and the building. ¹¹ These rooms had a path in front of them. They were like the rooms on the north with the same length and width and the same doors. ¹² The doors of the south rooms were like the doors of the north rooms. There was an entrance at the open end of a path beside the wall, so a person could enter at the east end.

¹³ The man said to me, “The north and south rooms across from the private area are holy rooms. There the priests who go near the Lord will eat the most holy offerings. There they will put the most holy offerings: the grain offerings, sin offerings, and the penalty offerings, because the place is holy. ¹⁴ The priests who enter the Holy Place must leave their serving clothes there before they go into the outer courtyard, because these clothes are holy. After they put on other clothes, they may go to the part of the Temple area which is for the people.”

Outside the Temple Area

¹⁵ When the man finished measuring inside the Temple area, he brought me out through the east gateway. He measured the area all around. ¹⁶ The man measured the east side with the measuring stick; it was eight hundred seventy-five feet by the measuring stick. ¹⁷ He measured the north side; it was eight hundred seventy-five feet by the measuring stick. ¹⁸ He measured the south side; it was eight hundred seventy-five feet by the measuring stick. ¹⁹ He went around to the west side; it measured eight hundred seventy-five feet by the measuring stick. ²⁰ So he measured the Temple area on all four sides. The Temple area had a wall all around it that was eight hundred seventy-five feet long and eight hundred seventy-five feet wide. It separated what was holy from that which was not holy.

The Lord Among His People

43 Then the man led me to the outer east gateway, ² and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. It sounded like the roar of rushing water, and its brightness made the earth shine. ³ The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when the Lord came to destroy the city and also like the vision I had seen by the Kebar River. I bowed facedown on the ground. ⁴ The glory of the Lord came into the Temple area through the east gateway.

⁵ Then the Spirit picked me up and brought me into the inner courtyard. There I saw the Lord’s glory filling the Temple. ⁶ As the man stood at my side, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the Temple. ⁷ The voice from the Temple said to me, “Human, this is my throne and the place where my feet rest. I will live here among the Israelites forever. The people of Israel will not make my holy name unclean again. Neither the people nor their kings will make it unclean with their sexual sins or with the dead bodies of their kings. ⁸ The kings made my name unclean by putting their doorway next to my doorway, and their doorpost next to my doorpost so only a wall separated me from them. When they did their acts that I hate, they made my holy name unclean, and so I destroyed them in my anger. ⁹ Now let them stop their sexual sins and take the dead bodies of their kings far away from me. Then I will live among them forever.

¹⁰ “Human, tell the people of Israel about the Temple so they will be ashamed of their sins. Let them think about the plan of the Temple. ¹¹ If they are ashamed of all they have done, let them know the design of the Temple and how it is built. Show them its exits and entrances, all its designs, and also all its rules and teachings. Write the rules as they watch so they will obey all the teachings and rules about the Temple. ¹² This is the teaching about the Temple: All the area around the top of the mountain is most holy. This is the teaching about the Temple.

The Altar

¹³ “These are the measurements of the altar, using the measuring stick. The altar’s gutter is twenty-one inches high and twenty-one inches wide, and its rim is about nine inches around its edge. And the altar is this tall: ¹⁴ From the ground up to the lower ledge, it measures three and one-half feet. It is twenty-one inches wide. It measures seven feet from the smaller ledge to the larger ledge and is twenty-one inches wide. ¹⁵ The place where the sacrifice is burned on the altar is seven feet high, with its four corners shaped like horns and reaching up above it. ¹⁶ It is square, twenty-one feet long and twenty-one feet wide. ¹⁷ The upper ledge is also square, twenty-four and one-half feet long and twenty-four and one-half feet wide. The rim around the altar is ten and one-half inches wide, and its gutter is twenty-one inches wide all around. Its steps are on the east side.”

¹⁸ Then the man said to me, “Human, this is what the Lord God says: These are the rules for the altar. When it is built, use these rules to offer burnt offerings and to sprinkle blood on it. ¹⁹ You must give a young bull as a sin offering to the priests, the Levites who are from the family of Zadok and who come near me to serve me, says the Lord God. ²⁰ Take some of the bull’s blood and put it on the four corners of the altar, on the four corners of the ledge, and all around the rim. This is how you will make the altar pure and ready for God’s service. ²¹ Then take the bull for the sin offering and burn it in the proper place in the Temple area, outside the Temple building.

²² “On the second day offer a male goat that has nothing wrong with it for a sin offering. The priests will make the altar pure and ready for God’s service as they did with the young bull. ²³ When you finish making the altar pure and ready, offer a young bull and a male sheep from the flock, which have nothing wrong with them. ²⁴ You must offer them in the presence of the Lord, and the priests are to throw salt on them and offer them as a burnt offering to the Lord.

²⁵ “You must prepare a goat every day for seven days as a sin offering. Also, the priests must prepare a young bull and male sheep from the flock, which have nothing wrong with them. ²⁶ For seven days the priests are to make the altar pure and ready for God’s service. Then they will give the altar to God. ²⁷ After these seven days, on the eighth day, the priests must offer your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings on the altar. Then I will accept you, says the Lord God.”

The Outer East Gate

44 Then the man brought me back to the outer east gateway of the Temple area, but the gate was shut. ² The Lord said to me, “This gate will stay shut; it will not be opened. No one may enter through it, because the Lord God of Israel has entered through it. So it must stay shut. ³ Only the ruler himself may sit in the gateway to eat a meal in the presence of the Lord. He must enter through the porch of the gateway and go out the same way.”

⁴ Then the man brought me through the outer north gate to the front of the Temple. As I looked, I saw the glory of the Lord filling the Temple of the Lord, and I bowed facedown on the ground.

⁵ The Lord said to me, “Human, pay attention. Use your eyes to see, and your ears to hear. See and hear everything I tell you about all the rules and teachings of the Temple of the Lord. Pay attention to the entrance to the Temple and to all the exits from the Temple area. ⁶ Then speak to those who refuse to obey. Say to the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord God says: Stop doing all your acts that I hate, Israel! ⁷ You brought foreigners into my Holy Place who were not circumcised in the flesh and had not given themselves to serving me. You dishonored my Temple when you offered me food, fat, and blood. You broke my agreement by all the things you did that I hate. ⁸ You did not take care of my holy things yourselves but put foreigners in charge of my Temple. ⁹ This is what the Lord God says: Foreigners who are not circumcised in flesh and who do not give themselves to serving me may not enter my Temple. Not even a foreigner living among the people of Israel may enter.

¹⁰ “‘But the Levites who stopped obeying me when Israel left me and who followed their idols must be punished for their sin. ¹¹ These Levites are to be servants in my Holy Place. They may guard the gates of the Temple and serve in the Temple area. They may kill the animals for the burnt offering and the sacrifices for the people. They may stand before the people to serve them. ¹² But these Levites helped the people worship their idols and caused the people of Israel to fall, so I make this promise: They will be punished for their sin, says the Lord God. ¹³ They will not come near me to serve as priests, nor will they come near any of my holy things or the most holy offerings. But they will be made ashamed of the things they did that I hate. ¹⁴ I will put them in charge of taking care of the Temple area, all the work that must be done in it.

¹⁵ “‘But the priests who are Levites and descendants of Zadok took care of my Holy Place when Israel left me, so they may come near to serve me. They may stand in my presence to offer me the fat and blood of the animals they sacrifice, says the Lord God. ¹⁶ They are the only ones who may enter my Holy Place. Only they may come near my table to serve me and take care of the things I gave them to do.

¹⁷ “‘When they enter the gates of the inner courtyard, they must wear linen robes. They must not wear wool to serve at the gates of the inner courtyard or in the Temple. ¹⁸ They will wear linen turbans on their heads and linen underclothes. They will not wear anything that makes them perspire. ¹⁹ When they go out into the outer courtyard to the people, they must take off their serving clothes before they go. They must leave these clothes in the holy rooms and put on other clothes. Then they will not let their holy clothes hurt the people.

²⁰ “‘They must not shave their heads or let their hair grow long but must keep the hair of their heads trimmed. ²¹ None of the priests may drink wine when they enter the inner courtyard. ²² The priests must not marry widows or divorced women. They may marry only virgins from the people of Israel or widows of priests. ²³ They must teach my people the difference between what is holy and what is not holy. They must help my people know what is unclean and what is clean.

²⁴ “‘In court they will act as judges. When they judge, they will follow my teachings. They must obey my laws and my rules at all my special feasts and keep my Sabbaths holy.

²⁵ “‘They must not go near a dead person, making themselves unclean. But they are allowed to make themselves unclean if the dead person is their father, mother, son, daughter, brother, or a sister who has not married. ²⁶ After a priest has been made clean again, he must wait seven days. ²⁷ Then he may go into the inner courtyard to serve in the Temple, but he must offer a sin offering for himself, says the Lord God.

²⁸ “‘These are the rules about the priests and their property: They will have me instead of property. You will not give them any land to own in Israel; I am what they will own. ²⁹ They will eat the grain offerings, sin offerings, and penalty offerings. Everything Israel gives to me will be theirs. ³⁰ The best fruits of all the first harvests and all the special gifts offered to me will belong to the priests. You will also give to the priests the first part of your grain that you grind and so bring a blessing on your family. ³¹ The priests must not eat any bird or animal that died a natural death or one that has been torn by wild animals.

The Land Is Divided

45 “‘When you divide the land for the Israelite tribes by throwing lots, you must give a part of the land to belong to the Lord. It will be about seven miles long and about six miles wide; all of this land will be holy. ² From this land, an area eight hundred seventy-five feet square will be for the Temple. There will be an open space around the Temple that is eighty-seven and one-half feet wide. ³ In the holy area you will measure a part about seven miles long and three miles wide, and in it will be the Most Holy Place. ⁴ This holy part of the land will be for the priests who serve in the Temple, who come near to the Lord to serve him. It will be a place for the priests’ houses and for the Temple. ⁵ Another area about seven miles long and more than three miles wide will be for the Levites, who serve in the Temple area. It will belong to them so they will have cities in which to live.

⁶ “‘You must give the city an area that is about one and one-half miles wide and about seven miles long, along the side of the holy area. It will belong to all the people of Israel.

⁷ “‘The ruler will have land on both sides of the holy area and the city. On the west of the holy area, his land will reach to the Mediterranean Sea. On the east of the holy area, his land will reach to the eastern border. It will be as long as the land given to each tribe. ⁸ Only this land will be the ruler’s property in Israel. So my rulers will not be cruel to my people anymore, but they will let each tribe in the nation of Israel have its share of the land.

⁹ “‘This is what the Lord God says: You have gone far enough, you rulers of Israel! Stop being cruel and hurting people, and do what is right and fair. Stop forcing my people out of their homes, says the Lord God. ¹⁰ You must have honest scales, an honest dry measurement and an honest liquid measurement. ¹¹ The dry measure and the liquid measure will be the same: The liquid measure will always be a tenth of a homer,^[b] and the ephah will always be a tenth of a homer. The measurement they follow will be the homer. ¹² The shekel^[c] will be worth twenty gerahs, and a mina will be worth sixty shekels.

Offerings and Holy Days

¹³ “‘This is the gift you should offer: a sixth of an ephah from every homer of wheat, and a sixth of an ephah from every homer of barley. ¹⁴ The amount of oil you are to offer is a tenth of a bath from each cor. (Ten baths make a homer and also make a cor.) ¹⁵ You should give one sheep from each flock of two hundred from the watering places of Israel. All these are to be offered for the grain offerings, burnt offerings, and fellowship offerings to remove sins so you will belong to God, says the Lord God. ¹⁶ All people in the land will give this special offering to the ruler of Israel. ¹⁷ It will be the ruler’s responsibility to supply the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings. These offerings will be given at the feasts, at the New Moons, on the Sabbaths, and at all the other feasts of Israel. The ruler will supply the sin offerings, grain offerings, and fellowship offerings to pay for the sins of Israel.

¹⁸ “‘This is what the Lord God says: On the first day of the first month take a young bull that has nothing wrong with it. Use it to make the Temple pure and ready for God’s service. ¹⁹ The priest will take some of the blood from this sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the Temple, on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the posts of the gate to the inner courtyard. ²⁰ You will do the same thing on the seventh day of the month for anyone who has sinned by accident or without knowing it. This is how you make the Temple pure and ready for God’s service.

Passover Feast Offerings

²¹ “‘On the fourteenth day of the first month you will celebrate the Feast of Passover. It will be a feast of seven days when you eat bread made without yeast. ²² On that day the ruler must offer a bull for himself and for all the people of the land as a sin offering. ²³ During the seven days of the feast he must offer seven bulls and seven male sheep that have nothing wrong with them. They will be burnt offerings to the Lord, which the ruler will offer every day of the seven days of the feast. He must also offer a male goat every day as a sin offering. ²⁴ The ruler must give as a grain offering one-half bushel for each bull and one-half bushel for each sheep. He must give a gallon of olive oil for each half bushel.

²⁵ “‘Beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you celebrate the Feast of Shelters, the ruler will supply the same things for seven days: the sin offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the olive oil.

Rules for Worship

46 “‘This is what the Lord God says: The east gate of the inner courtyard will stay shut on the six working days, but it will be opened on the Sabbath day and on the day of the New Moon. ² The ruler will enter from outside through the porch of the gateway and stand by the gatepost, while the priests offer the ruler’s burnt offering and fellowship offering. The ruler will worship at the entrance of the gateway, and then he will go out. But the gate will not be shut until evening. ³ The people of the land will worship at the entrance of that gateway in the presence of the Lord on the Sabbaths and New Moons. ⁴ This is the burnt offering the ruler will offer to the Lord on the Sabbath day: six male lambs that have nothing wrong with them and a male sheep that has nothing wrong with it. ⁵ He must give a half-bushel grain offering with the male sheep, but he may give as much grain offering with the lambs as he pleases. He must also give a gallon of olive oil for each half bushel of grain. ⁶ On the day of the New Moon he must offer a young bull that has nothing wrong with it. He must also offer six lambs and a male sheep that have nothing wrong with them. ⁷ The ruler must give a half-bushel grain offering with the bull and one-half bushel with the male sheep. With the lambs, he may give as much grain as he pleases. But he must give a gallon of olive oil for each half bushel of grain. ⁸ When the ruler enters, he must go in through the porch of the gateway, and he must go out the same way.

⁹ “‘When the people of the land come into the Lord’s presence at the special feasts, those who enter through the north gate to worship must go out through the south gate. Those who enter through the south gate must go out through the north gate. They must not return the same way they entered; everyone must go out the opposite way. ¹⁰ The ruler will go in with the people when they go in and go out with them when they go out.

¹¹ “‘At the feasts and regular times of worship one-half bushel of grain must be offered with a young bull, and one-half bushel of grain must be offered with a male sheep. But with an offering of lambs, the ruler may give as much grain as he pleases. He should give a gallon of olive oil for each half bushel of grain. ¹² The ruler may give an offering as a special gift to the Lord; it may be a burnt offering or fellowship offering. When he gives it to the Lord, the inner east gate is to be opened for him. He must offer his burnt offering or his fellowship offering as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he will go out, and the gate will be shut after he has left.

¹³ “‘Every day you will give a year-old lamb that has nothing wrong with it for a burnt offering to the Lord. Do it every morning. ¹⁴ Also, you must offer a grain offering with the lamb every morning. For this you will give three and one-third quarts of grain and one and one-third quarts of olive oil, to make the fine flour moist, as a grain offering to the Lord. This is a rule that must be kept from now on. ¹⁵ So you must always give the lamb, together with the grain offering and the olive oil, every morning as a burnt offering.

Rules for the Ruler

¹⁶ “‘This is what the Lord God says: If the ruler gives a gift from his land to any of his sons, that land will belong to the son and then to the son’s children. It is their property passed down from their family. ¹⁷ But if the ruler gives a gift from his land to any of his servants, that land will belong to the servant only until the year of freedom. Then the land will go back to the ruler. Only the ruler’s sons may keep a gift of land from the ruler. ¹⁸ The ruler must not take any of the people’s land, forcing them out of their land. He must give his sons some of his own land so my people will not be scattered out of their own land.’”

The Special Kitchens

¹⁹ The man led me through the entrance at the side of the gateway to the priests’ holy rooms that face north. There I saw a place at the west end. ²⁰ The man said to me, “This is where the priests will boil the meat of the penalty offering and sin offering and bake the grain offering. Then they will not need to bring these holy offerings into the outer courtyard, because that would hurt the people.”

²¹ Then the man brought me out into the outer courtyard and led me to its four corners. In each corner of the courtyard was a smaller courtyard. ²² Small courtyards were in the four corners of the courtyard. Each small courtyard was the same size, seventy feet long and fifty-two and one-half feet wide. ²³ A stone wall was around each of the four small courtyards, and places for cooking were built in each of the stone walls. ²⁴ The man said to me, “These are the kitchens where those who work in the Temple will boil the sacrifices offered by the people.”

The River from the Temple

47 The man led me back to the door of the Temple, and I saw water coming out from under the doorway and flowing east. (The Temple faced east.) The water flowed down from the south side wall of the Temple and then south of the altar. ² The man brought me out through the outer north gate and led me around outside to the outer east gate. I found the water coming out on the south side of the gate.

³ The man went toward the east with a line in his hand and measured about one-third of a mile. Then he led me through water that came up to my ankles. ⁴ The man measured about one-third of a mile again and led me through water that came up to my knees. Then he measured about one-third of a mile again and led me through water up to my waist. ⁵ The man measured about one-third of a mile again, but it was now a river that I could not cross. The water had risen too high; it was deep enough for swimming; it was a river that no one could cross. ⁶ The man asked me, “Human, do you see this?”

Then the man led me back to the bank of the river. ⁷ As I went back, I saw many trees on both sides of the river. ⁸ The man said to me, “This water will flow toward the eastern areas and go down into the Jordan Valley. When it enters the Dead Sea, it will become fresh. ⁹ Everywhere the river goes, there will be many fish. Wherever this water goes the Dead Sea will become fresh, and so where the river goes there will be many living things. ¹⁰ Fishermen will stand by the Dead Sea. From En Gedi all the way to En Eglaim there will be places to spread fishing nets. There will be many kinds of fish in the Dead Sea, as many as in the Mediterranean Sea. ¹¹ But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. ¹² All kinds of fruit trees will grow on both banks of the river, and their leaves will not dry and die. The trees will have fruit every month, because the water for them comes from the Temple. The fruit from the trees will be used for food, and their leaves for medicine.”