The Babylonian Exile

On the day of the New Moon he shall offer a young, unblemished bull, six lambs, and a ram without blemish.

He 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.

When the prince enters, he shall go in through the portico of the gateway, and he shall go out the same way.

When 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.

When the people enter, the prince shall go in with them, and when they leave, he shall leave.

At 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.

When 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.

And you shall provide an unblemished year-old lamb as a daily burnt offering to the LORD; you are to offer it every morning.

You are also to provide with it every morning a grain offering of a sixth of an ephah with a third of a hin of oil to moisten the fine flour—a grain offering to the LORD. This is a permanent statute.

Thus they shall provide the lamb, the grain offering, and the oil every morning as a regular burnt offering.’

This 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.

But 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.

The 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.’”

Then 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

and 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.”

Then 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.

In the four corners of the outer court there were enclosed courts, each forty cubits long and thirty cubits wide. Each of the four corner areas had the same dimensions.

Around 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.

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

Then the man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar.

Next he brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and there I saw the water trickling out from the south side.

As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and led me through ankle-deep water.

Then he measured off a thousand cubits and led me through knee-deep water. Again he measured a thousand cubits and led me through waist-deep water.

Once again he measured off a thousand cubits, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough for swimming—a river that could not be crossed on foot.

“Son of man, do you see this?” he asked. Then he led me back to the bank of the river.