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Ezekiel 46

The Prince and the Feasts

1 “Thus says the Lord God: ^aThe gate of ^bthe inner court that faces east shall be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day it shall be opened, and ^con the day of the new moon it shall be opened. 2 ^dThe prince shall enter by the vestibule of the gate from outside, and shall take his stand by ^ethe post of the gate. ^fThe priests shall offer his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at ^gthe threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be shut until evening. 3 ^hThe people of the land shall bow down at the entrance of that gate before the Lord on the Sabbaths and on the new moons. 4 ⁱThe burnt offering that the prince offers to the Lord ^jon the Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish. 5 And ^kthe grain offering with the ram shall be an ephah, ^{▼

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An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters} and the grain offering with the lambs shall be ^mas much as he is able, together with a hin ^{▼

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A hin was about 4 quarts or 3.5 liters} of oil to each ephah. 6 On the day of the new moon he shall offer a bull from the herd without blemish, and six lambs and a ram, which shall be without blemish. 7 As a grain offering he shall provide an ephah with the bull and an ephah with the ram, and with the lambs ^oas much as he is able, together with a hin of oil to each ephah. 8 ^pWhen the prince enters, he shall enter by the vestibule of the gate, and he shall go out by the same way.

9 ^q“When the people of the land ^rcome before the Lord at the appointed feasts, he who enters by the north gate to worship shall go out by the south gate, and he who enters by the south gate shall go out by the north gate: no one shall return by way of the gate by which he entered, but each shall go out straight ahead. 10 When they enter, ^sthe prince shall enter with them, and when they go out, he shall go out.

11 “At the feasts and the appointed festivals ^tthe grain offering with a young bull shall be an ephah, and with a ram an ephah, and with the lambs ^uas much as one is able to give, together with a hin of oil to an ephah. 12 When the prince provides ^va freewill offering, either a burnt offering or peace offerings as a freewill offering to the Lord, ^wthe gate facing east shall be opened for him. And he shall offer his burnt offering or his peace offerings ^xas he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he has gone out the gate shall be shut.

13 ^y“You shall provide a lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering to the Lord daily; morning by morning you shall provide it. 14 And ^zyou shall provide a grain offering with it morning by morning, one sixth of an ephah, and one third of a hin of oil to moisten the flour, as a grain offering to the Lord. This is a perpetual statute. 15 Thus the lamb and the meal offering and the oil shall be provided, morning by morning, for ^aaa regular burnt offering.

16 “Thus says the Lord God: If the prince makes a gift to any of his sons as his inheritance, it shall belong to his sons. It is their property by inheritance. 17 But if he makes a gift ^about of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his to ^acthe year of liberty. Then it shall revert to the prince; surely it is his inheritance—it shall belong to his sons. 18 ^adThe prince shall not take any of the inheritance of the people ^aethrusting them out of their property. He shall give his sons their inheritance out of his own property, so that none of my people shall be ^afscattered from his property.”

Boiling Places for Offerings

19 Then he brought me through the entrance, which was ^agat the side of the gate, to the north row of ^ahthe holy chambers for the priests, and behold, a place was there at the extreme western end of them. 20 And he said to me, “This is the place where the priests ^aishall boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where ^ajthey shall bake the grain offering, in order not to bring them out into the outer court and so ^aktransmit holiness to the people.”

21 Then he brought me out to the outer court and led me around to the four corners of the court. And behold, in each corner of the court there was another court— 22 in the four corners of the court were small ^{▼

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Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; the meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain} courts, forty cubits ^{▼

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A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters} long and thirty broad; the four were of the same size. 23 On the inside, around each of the four courts was a row of masonry, with hearths made at the bottom of the rows all around. 24 Then he said to me, “These are the kitchens where those who ^anminister at the temple ^aoshall boil the sacrifices of the people.”