The Glory of the Lord Fills the Temple

¹Then he led me to bthe gate, the gate facing east. ²And behold, cthe glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. And dthe sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters, and ethe earth shone with his glory. ³And fthe vision I saw was just like the vision that I had seen gwhen he1 came to destroy the city, and just like hthe vision that I had seen iby the Chebar canal. And jI fell on my face. ⁴As cthe glory of the Lord kentered the temple by the gate facing east, ⁵lthe Spirit lifted me up and brought me into mthe inner court; and behold, nthe glory of the Lord filled the temple.

⁶oWhile the man was standing beside me, pI heard one speaking to me out of the temple, ⁷and he said to me, q“Son of man, this is rthe place of my throne and sthe place of the soles of my feet, twhere I will dwell in the midst of the people of Israel forever. And the house of Israel shall no more udefile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoring and by the dead bodies2 of their kings at their high places,3 ⁸by setting their threshold by my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with vonly a wall between me and them. They have wdefiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed, so I have consumed them in my anger. ⁹Now let them put away their whoring and the dead bodies of their kings far from me, tand I will dwell in their midst forever.

¹⁰“As for you, qson of man, xdescribe to the house of Israel the temple, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and they shall measure the plan. ¹¹And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, xmake known to them the design of the temple, its arrangement, yits exits and its entrances, that is, its whole design; and make known to them as well all its statutes and its whole design and all its laws, and write it down zin their sight, so that they may observe all its laws and all its statutes and carry them out. ¹²This is the law of the temple: the whole territory on the top of athe mountain ball around shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple.

The Altar

¹³“These are the measurements of cthe altar by cubits (the cubit being da cubit and a handbreadth):4 its base shall be one cubit high5 and one cubit broad, with a rim of one span6 around its edge. And this shall be the height of the altar: ¹⁴from the base on the ground to the lower ledge, two cubits, with a breadth of one cubit; and from the smaller ledge to the larger ledge, four cubits, with a breadth of one cubit; ¹⁵and the altar hearth, four cubits; and from the altar hearth projecting upward, efour horns. ¹⁶The altar hearth shall be fsquare, twelve cubits long by twelve broad. ¹⁷The ledge also shall be square, fourteen cubits long by fourteen broad, with a rim around it half a cubit broad, and its base one cubit all around. gThe steps of the altar shall face east.”

¹⁸And he said to me, h“Son of man, thus says the Lord God: These are the ordinances for the altar: On the day when it is erected for offering burnt offerings upon it and ifor throwing blood against it, ¹⁹you shall give to jthe Levitical priests kof the family of Zadok, who draw near to me to minister to me, declares the Lord God, la bull from the herd for a sin offering. ²⁰And myou shall take some of its blood and put it on ethe four horns of the altar and on the four corners of the ledge and upon nthe rim all around. oThus you shall purify the altar and make atonement for it. ²¹You shall also take the bull of the sin offering, and pit shall be burned in the appointed place belonging to the temple, outside the sacred area. ²²And on the second day you shall offer a male goat without blemish for a sin offering; and the altar shall be purified, as it was purified with the bull. ²³When you have finished opurifying it, you shall offer a bull from the herd without blemish and qa ram from the flock without blemish. ²⁴You shall present them before the Lord, and the priests rshall sprinkle salt on them and offer them up as a burnt offering to the Lord. ²⁵sFor seven days you shall provide daily a male goat for a sin offering; also, a bull from the herd and a ram from the flock, without blemish, shall be provided. ²⁶Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and cleanse it, and so consecrate it.7 ²⁷And when they have completed these days, then tfrom the eighth day onward the priests shall offer on the altar your burnt offerings and your upeace offerings, and vI will accept you, declares the Lord God.”