The Rooms for the Priests

42 Then the man led me northward into the outer court and brought me to the rooms opposite the temple courtyard and opposite the outer wall on the north side.²The building whose door faced north was a hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide.³Both in the section twenty cubits from the inner court and in the section opposite the pavement of the outer court, gallery faced gallery at the three levels.⁴In front of the rooms was an inner passageway ten cubits wide and a hundred cubits long. Their doors were on the north.⁵Now the upper rooms were narrower, for the galleries took more space from them than from the rooms on the lower and middle floors of the building.⁶The rooms on the top floor had no pillars, as the courts had; so they were smaller in floor space than those on the lower and middle floors.⁷There was an outer wall parallel to the rooms and the outer court; it extended in front of the rooms for fifty cubits.⁸While the row of rooms on the side next to the outer court was fifty cubits long, the row on the side nearest the sanctuary was a hundred cubits long.⁹The lower rooms had an entrance on the east side as one enters them from the outer court.

¹⁰On the south side along the length of the wall of the outer court, adjoining the temple courtyard and opposite the outer wall, were rooms¹¹with a passageway in front of them. These were like the rooms on the north; they had the same length and width, with similar exits and dimensions. Similar to the doorways on the north¹²were the doorways of the rooms on the south. There was a doorway at the beginning of the passageway that was parallel to the corresponding wall extending eastward, by which one enters the rooms.

¹³Then he said to me, “The north and south rooms facing the temple courtyard are the priests’ rooms, where the priests who approach the LORD will eat the most holy offerings. There they will put the most holy offerings—the grain offerings, the sin offerings and the guilt offerings—for the place is holy.¹⁴Once the priests enter the holy precincts, they are not to go into the outer court until they leave behind the garments in which they minister, for these are holy. They are to put on other clothes before they go near the places that are for the people.”

¹⁵When he had finished measuring what was inside the temple area, he led me out by the east gate and measured the area all around:¹⁶He measured the east side with the measuring rod; it was five hundred cubits.¹⁷He measured the north side; it was five hundred cubits by the measuring rod.¹⁸He measured the south side; it was five hundred cubits by the measuring rod.¹⁹Then he turned to the west side and measured; it was five hundred cubits by the measuring rod.²⁰So he measured the area on all four sides. It had a wall around it, five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide, to separate the holy from the common.

God’s Glory Returns to the Temple

43 Then the man brought me to the gate facing east,²and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory.³The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when he came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown.⁴The glory of the LORD entered the temple through the gate facing east.⁵Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.

⁶While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the temple.⁷He said: “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet. This is where I will live among the Israelites forever. The people of Israel will never again defile my holy name—neither they nor their kings—by their prostitution and the funeral offerings for their kings at their death.⁸When they placed their threshold next to my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them, they defiled my holy name by their detestable practices. So I destroyed them in my anger.⁹Now let them put away from me their prostitution and the funeral offerings for their kings, and I will live among them forever.

¹⁰“Son of man, describe the temple to the people of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their sins. Let them consider its perfection,¹¹and if they are ashamed of all they have done, make known to them the design of the temple—its arrangement, its exits and entrances—its whole design and all its regulations and laws. Write these down before them so that they may be faithful to its design and follow all its regulations.

¹²“This is the law of the temple: All the surrounding area on top of the mountain will be most holy. Such is the law of the temple.

The Great Altar Restored

¹³“These are the measurements of the altar in long cubits, that cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth: Its gutter is a cubit deep and a cubit wide, with a rim of one span around the edge. And this is the height of the altar:¹⁴From the gutter on the ground up to the lower ledge that goes around the altar it is two cubits high, and the ledge is a cubit wide. From this lower ledge to the upper ledge that goes around the altar it is four cubits high, and that ledge is also a cubit wide.¹⁵Above that, the altar hearth is four cubits high, and four horns project upward from the hearth.¹⁶The altar hearth is square, twelve cubits long and twelve cubits wide.¹⁷The upper ledge also is square, fourteen cubits long and fourteen cubits wide. All around the altar is a gutter of one cubit with a rim of half a cubit. The steps of the altar face east.”

¹⁸Then he said to me, “Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: These will be the regulations for sacrificing burnt offerings and splashing blood against the altar when it is built:¹⁹You are to give a young bull as a sin offering to the Levitical priests of the family of Zadok, who come near to minister before me, declares the Sovereign LORD.²⁰You are to take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar and on the four corners of the upper ledge and all around the rim, and so purify the altar and make atonement for it.²¹You are to take the bull for the sin offering and burn it in the designated part of the temple area outside the sanctuary.

²²“On the second day you are to offer a male goat without defect for a sin offering, and the altar is to be purified as it was purified with the bull.²³When you have finished purifying it, you are to offer a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without defect.²⁴You are to offer them before the LORD, and the priests are to sprinkle salt on them and sacrifice them as a burnt offering to the LORD.

²⁵“For seven days you are to provide a male goat daily for a sin offering; you are also to provide a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without defect.²⁶For seven days they are to make atonement for the altar and cleanse it; thus they will dedicate it.²⁷At the end of these days, from the eighth day on, the priests are to present your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar. Then I will accept you, declares the Sovereign LORD.”

Warning to Rich Oppressors

5 Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you.²Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.³Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.⁴Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.⁵You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.⁶You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

Patience in Suffering

⁷Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.⁸You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.⁹Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!

¹⁰Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.¹¹As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

¹²Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.

The Prayer of Faith

¹³Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.¹⁴Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.¹⁵And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.¹⁶Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

¹⁷Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.¹⁸Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

¹⁹My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back,²⁰remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Psalm 119

119 Blessed are those whose ways are blameless,
    who walk according to the law of the LORD.
²Blessed are those who keep his statutes
    and seek him with all their heart—
³they do no wrong
    but follow his ways.
⁴You have laid down precepts
    that are to be fully obeyed.
⁵Oh, that my ways were steadfast
    in obeying your decrees!
⁶Then I would not be put to shame
    when I consider all your commands.
⁷I will praise you with an upright heart
    as I learn your righteous laws.
⁸I will obey your decrees;
    do not utterly forsake me.

⁹How can a young person stay on the path of purity?
    By living according to your word.
¹⁰I seek you with all my heart;
    do not let me stray from your commands.
¹¹I have hidden your word in my heart
    that I might not sin against you.
¹²Praise be to you, LORD;
    teach me your decrees.
¹³With my lips I recount
    all the laws that come from your mouth.
¹⁴I rejoice in following your statutes
    as one rejoices in great riches.
¹⁵I meditate on your precepts
    and consider your ways.
¹⁶I delight in your decrees;
    I will not neglect your word.

⁶Better the poor whose walk is blameless
    than the rich whose ways are perverse.

⁷A discerning son heeds instruction,
    but a companion of gluttons disgraces his father.