The Daily Audio Bible

Prince at the Eastern Gate

44 Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the Sanctuary looking east. It was shut. ² Adonai said to me: “This gate is to be shut. It must not be opened. No one may enter through it, for Adonai God of Israel has entered through it. So it is to be kept shut. ³ Only the prince, since he is a prince, will sit there to eat bread before Adonai. He will enter by way of the porch of the gate and go out the same way.”

Levitical Priesthood

⁴ Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the House. I looked, and behold, the glory of Adonai filled the House of Adonai. So I fell upon my face. ⁵ Adonai said to me, “Son of man, set your heart, behold with your eyes and hear with your ears all that I say to you concerning all the ordinances of Adonai’s House and all its laws. Set your heart to the entrance of the House, with all exits of the Sanctuary. ⁶ Say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel, thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘Enough of your abominations, house of Israel! ⁷ You brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My Sanctuary, to profane it—My House—when you offer My bread, the fat and the blood. They have broken My covenant, to add to all your abominations. ⁸ You have not kept charge of My holy things, but you have set keepers of My service in My Sanctuary to please yourselves.’”

⁹ Thus says Adonai Elohim: “No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, may enter My Sanctuary, not any foreigner who is among Bnei-Yisrael. ¹⁰ For the Levites who went far from Me, when Israel went astray after their idols, will bear their iniquity. ¹¹ Yet they will be ministers in My Sanctuary, overseers of the gates of the House and ministering in the House. They will slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people. They will stand before them to minister to them. ¹² Because they ministered to them before their idols, and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have lifted up My hand against them”—it is a declaration of Adonai. “They will bear their iniquity. ¹³ They will not come near to Me, to minister to Me as kohanim, nor come near to any of My holy things, to the things that are most holy. They will bear their shame and their abominations, which they have committed.

¹⁴ “Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the House, for all its service and for all that will be done in it. ¹⁵ So the Levitical kohanim, the sons of Zadok who kept charge of My Sanctuary when Bnei-Yisrael wandered from Me, will draw near to Me to minister to Me. They will stand before Me to offer Me the fat and the blood”—it is declaration of Adonai. ¹⁶ “They are ones who will enter My Sanctuary and draw near to My table to minister to Me. They will keep My charge. ¹⁷ It will be that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they will be clothed with linen garments. No wool will come on them, while they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within. ¹⁸ They will have linen turbans upon their heads and linen underclothes upon their loins; they will not wear anything that causes sweat. ¹⁹ Before they go out to the outer court—to the outer courtyard to the people—they must take off their garments in which they minister and leave them in the holy chambers. They will put on other garments, so they do not consecrate the people while in their garments. ²⁰ They must not shave their heads or let their locks grow long, but must carefully trim the hair of their heads. ²¹ No kohen may drink wine before entering the inner court. ²² None may take a widow or a divorced woman as his wife, for they must take virgins of the offspring of the house of Israel or a widow who is the widow of a kohen.

²³ “They will teach My people the difference between the holy and the common and explain to them the difference between the unclean and the clean. ²⁴ In a lawsuit, they will stand to judge, and judge in accordance with My ordinances. They will keep My laws and My statutes in all My moadim and keep My Shabbatot holy. ²⁵ They must not come near a dead person to defile themselves—only for a father, mother, son, daughter, brother or sister who had no husband may they defile themselves. ²⁶ After he is cleansed, they will count seven days for him. ²⁷ On the day he goes into the Sanctuary, into the inner court to minister in the Sanctuary, he is to offer his sin offering.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

²⁸ “It will be an inheritance for them. I am their inheritance. Do not give them any possession in Israel for I am their possession. ²⁹ They will eat the grain offering, the sin offering and the guilt offering. Every devoted thing in Israel will be theirs. ³⁰ The first of all the firstfruits of everything and every offering of every kind from all your offerings will belong to the kohanim. You will also give the kohen the first of your dough, to make a blessing to rest on your house. ³¹ The kohanim may not eat any carcass, whether bird or beast, that dies of itself or is torn.”

Levitical Land

45 “When you allot the land for inheritance, set apart an offering to Adonai, a holy portion of the land. The length will be 25,000 and the width will be 10,000.^[a] It will be holy within all its surrounding borders. ² Out of this, there will be the Holy Place, 500 long by 500 wide, square all around, and 50 cubits for the open land surrounding it. ³ From this area you are to measure a length of 25,000 and a width of 10,000, in which will be the Sanctuary, which is most holy. ⁴ It is to be the holy portion of the land, for the kohanim ministering in the Sanctuary, who draw near to serve Adonai. It will be a place for their houses as well as a place consecrated for the Sanctuary. ⁵ An area 25,000 long by 10,000 wide will be for the Levites, the ministers of the House. It will be a possession for themselves—20 chambers.

⁶ “You will give the city possession of an area 5,000 wide by 25,000 long, alongside the offering of the holy allotment. It will be for the whole house of Israel.

The Prince’s Allotment

⁷ “The prince will have a portion on either side of the holy allotment and the city’s property, adjacent to the holy offering and the city’s property, on the west side westward and on the east side eastward. Its length will correspond to one of the tribal portions, from the western boundary to the eastern boundary. ⁸ It will be land for him as a possession in Israel. My princes will no longer oppress My people. They will give land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.”

⁹ Thus says Adonai Elohim: “Let it be enough for you, princes of Israel. Get rid of violence and destruction, execute justice and righteousness, take away your oppression from My people”—it is a declaration of Adonai. ¹⁰ “You are to have just balances, an honest dry measure and an honest liquid measure. ^{[b] 11} The dry and liquid measure will be of a uniform measure: the bath will contain a tenth part of a homer, and the ephah a tenth part of a homer; the standard measure will be the homer. ¹² The shekel will be 20 gerahs; 20 plus 25 plus 15 shekels will be your mina.

Greetings

1 Peter, an emissary of Messiah Yeshua,

To the sojourners of the Diaspora in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia—chosen ² according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, set apart by the Ruach for obedience and for sprinkling with the blood^[a] of Yeshua the Messiah:

May grace and shalom be multiplied to you.

A Message of Living Hope

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah! In His great mercy He caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Messiah Yeshua from the dead. ⁴ An incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading inheritance has been reserved in heaven for you. ⁵ By trusting, you are being protected by God’s power for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ You rejoice in this greatly, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials. ⁷ These trials are so that the true metal^[b] of your faith (far more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire) may come to light in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Messiah Yeshua. ⁸ Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. And even though you don’t see Him now, you trust Him and are filled with a joy that is glorious beyond words, ⁹ receiving the outcome of your faith—the salvation of your souls. ¹⁰ The prophets, who spoke about the grace that was to be yours, searched for this salvation and investigated carefully. ¹¹ They were trying to find out the time and circumstances the Ruach of Messiah within them was indicating, when predicting the sufferings in store for Messiah^[c] and the glories to follow. ¹² It was revealed to them that they were providing these messages not to themselves but to you. These messages have now been announced to you through those who proclaimed the Good News to you by the Ruach ha-Kodesh, sent from heaven. Even angels long to catch a glimpse of these things.

GIMEL ג

DALET ד