Ezekiel 46:1-24, NLT

Ezekiel 46

1“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The east gateway of the inner courtyard will be closed during the six workdays each week, but it will be open on Sabbath days and the days of new moon celebrations.

2The prince will enter the entry room of the gateway from the outside. Then he will stand by the gatepost while the priest offers his burnt offering and peace offering. He will bow down in worship inside the gateway passage and then go back out the way he came. The gateway will not be closed until evening. 3The common people will bow down and worship the Lord in front of this gateway on Sabbath days and the days of new moon celebrations.

4“Each Sabbath day the prince will present to the Lord a burnt offering of six lambs and one ram, all with no defects.

5He will present a grain offering of a basket of choice flour to go with the ram and whatever amount of flour he chooses to go with each lamb, and he is to offer one gallon of olive oil*46:5 Hebrew an ephah [20 quarts or 22 liters] of choice flour . . . a hin [3.8 liters] of olive oil; similarly in 46:7, 11. for each basket of flour. 6At the new moon celebrations, he will bring one young bull, six lambs, and one ram, all with no defects. 7With the young bull he must bring a basket of choice flour for a grain offering. With the ram he must bring another basket of flour. And with each lamb he is to bring whatever amount of flour he chooses to give. With each basket of flour he must offer one gallon of olive oil.

8“The prince must enter the gateway through the entry room, and he must leave the same way.

9But when the people come in through the north gateway to worship the Lord during the religious festivals, they must leave by the south gateway. And those who entered through the south gateway must leave by the north gateway. They must never leave by the same gateway they came in, but must always use the opposite gateway. 10The prince will enter and leave with the people on these occasions.

11“So at the special feasts and sacred festivals, the grain offering will be a basket of choice flour with each young bull, another basket of flour with each ram, and as much flour as the worshiper chooses to give with each lamb. Give one gallon of olive oil with each basket of flour.

12When the prince offers a voluntary burnt offering or peace offering to the Lord, the east gateway to the inner courtyard will be opened for him, and he will offer his sacrifices as he does on Sabbath days. Then he will leave, and the gateway will be shut behind him.

13“Each morning you must sacrifice a one-year-old lamb with no defects as a burnt offering to the Lord.

14With the lamb, a grain offering must also be given to the Lord—about three quarts of flour with a third of a gallon of olive oil*46:14 Hebrew ¹/6 of an ephah [3.7 liters] of flour with ¹/3 of a hin [1.3 liters] of olive oil. to moisten the choice flour. This will be a permanent law for you. 15The lamb, the grain offering, and the olive oil must be given as a daily sacrifice every morning without fail.

16“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: If the prince gives a gift of land to one of his sons as his inheritance, it will belong to him and his descendants forever.

17But if the prince gives a gift of land from his inheritance to one of his servants, the servant may keep it only until the Year of Jubilee, which comes every fiftieth year.*46:17 Hebrew until the Year of Release; see Lev 25:8-17. At that time the land will return to the prince. But when the prince gives gifts to his sons, those gifts will be permanent. 18And the prince may never take anyone’s property by force. If he gives property to his sons, it must be from his own land, for I do not want any of my people unjustly evicted from their property.”

The Temple Kitchens

19In my vision, the man brought me through the entrance beside the gateway and led me to the sacred rooms assigned to the priests, which faced toward the north. He showed me a place at the extreme west end of these rooms.

20He explained, “This is where the priests will cook the meat from the guilt offerings and sin offerings and bake the flour from the grain offerings into bread. They will do it here to avoid carrying the sacrifices through the outer courtyard and endangering the people by transmitting holiness to them.”

21Then he brought me back to the outer courtyard and led me to each of its four corners. In each corner I saw an enclosure.

22Each of these enclosures was 70 feet long and 52¹/2 feet wide,*46:22 Hebrew 40 [cubits] [21.2 meters] long and 30 [cubits] [15.9 meters] wide. surrounded by walls. 23Along the inside of these walls was a ledge of stone with fireplaces under the ledge all the way around. 24The man said to me, “These are the kitchens to be used by the Temple assistants to boil the sacrifices offered by the people.”