The Babylonian Exile

On Rosh-Hodesh it is to be a young bull, six lambs and a ram, all without defect.

He is to prepare a grain offering consisting of a bushel for the bull, a bushel for the ram, and for the lambs as his means allow; with a gallon of olive oil per bushel.

"'When the prince enters, he is to go in by way of the vestibule of the gate, and he is to leave the same way.

But when the people of the land come before ADONAI at the designated times, whoever comes in to worship by way of the north gate is to leave by way of the south gate, and whoever comes in by way of the south gate is to leave by way of the north gate; he is not to go back out through the gate by which he entered but is to exit straight ahead of him.

[On these occasions,] the prince is to be among them when they enter; and when they leave, they are to leave together.

"'At the festivals and at designated times, the grain offering is to be a bushel for a young bull and a bushel for a ram, while for the lambs it can be as much as he wants to give, with a gallon of olive oil per bushel.

"'When the prince provides a voluntary offering, whether it is a burnt offering or peace offerings that he offers voluntarily to ADONAI, someone is to open the east gate for him; and he is to provide his burnt offering and peace offerings as he does on Shabbat. Then he will leave; and after he leaves, the gate is to be shut.

"'You are to provide a lamb in its first year that has no defect for a daily burnt offering to ADONAI; do this each morning.

Also each morning, provide with it a grain offering, one-sixth of a bushel, and one-third of a gallon of olive oil to moisten the fine flour; this is the ongoing grain offering for ADONAI, by a permanent regulation.

Thus they will offer a lamb, a grain offering and oil each morning as the ongoing burnt offering.'

"Adonai ELOHIM says this: 'If the prince turns over part of his hereditary property to one of his sons, it is his inheritance; it will belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance.

But if he gives part of his hereditary property to one of his slaves, it will be his until the year of freedom, at which time it will revert to the prince, so that the prince's heritage will go to his sons.

The prince is not to take over any of the people's inheritance, thereby evicting them wrongfully from their property; he is to give his sons an inheritance out of his own property, so that none of my people will be driven off their property.'"

Next, he brought me through the entry at the side of the gate into the holy rooms facing north that were for the cohanim. At their far west end I saw a place

about which he said to me, "This is the place where the cohanim will boil the guilt offerings and sin offerings and bake the grain offerings. In this way they won't have to bring them into the outer courtyard and risk transmitting holiness to the people."

He took me into the outer courtyard and had me pass by the four corners of the courtyard, and there in each corner of the courtyard was another courtyard -

in the four corners of the courtyard were enclosed courtyards seventy feet long and fifty-two-and-a-half feet; the four courtyards in the corners were the same size.

There was a wall around each of the four, with open stoves all around the bases of the walls.

He said to me, "These are the stoves where those serving in the house will boil the people's sacrifices."

Then he brought me back to the entrance of the house, and I saw water flowing eastward from under the threshold of the house, for the house faced east. The water flowed down from under the right side of the house, south of the altar.

Next he led me out through the north gate and took me around outside to the outer gate, by way of the east gate, where I saw water trickling from the south side.

With a line in his hand the man went out toward the east and measured a thousand cubits [one-third of a mile] and had me wade across the stream; the water came up to my ankles.

He measured another thousand and had me wade through the water, which reached my knees. He measured another thousand and had me wade through water up to my waist.

Finally he measured a thousand, and it was a river I couldn't cross on foot, because the water was so deep one would have to swim across; it was a river that could not be waded through.

He asked me, "Human being, have you seen this?" Then, guiding me, he got me back to the riverbank.