Shared Word Translation
Ezekiel 43
Then he led me to the gate, the gate that faces east.
And there—the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone from his glory.
The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when he came to destroy the city, and the visions were like the vision I had seen by the Kebar River. I fell facedown.
The glory of the LORD entered the house by way of the gate that faces east.
Then the Spirit lifted me and brought me into the inner court, and there—the glory of the LORD filled the house.
I heard someone speaking to me from the house, while a man was standing beside me.
He said to me, “Human one, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will dwell among the children of Israel forever. The house of Israel and their kings will no longer defile my holy name by their prostitution or by the corpses of their kings at their high places.
When they placed their threshold beside my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them, they defiled my holy name by the detestable things they did. So I consumed them in my anger.
Now let them put their prostitution and the corpses of their kings far from me, and I will dwell among them forever.
“You, human one, tell the house of Israel about the house, so that they may be ashamed of their iniquities. Let them measure the design.
If they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the form of the house and its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, all its forms, all its statutes, all its forms, and all its laws. Write them down before their eyes, so that they may keep its entire form and all its statutes and do them.
This is the law of the house: On the top of the mountain, all its territory around it is most holy. Look—this is the law of the house.
“These are the measurements of the altar in cubits—the cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth: the gutter shall be one cubit deep and one cubit wide, with a border around its edge one span. This shall be the base of the altar.
From the gutter at ground level to the lower ledge shall be two cubits, with a width of one cubit; and from the smaller ledge to the larger ledge shall be four cubits, with a width of one cubit.
The altar hearth shall be four cubits high, and from the altar hearth upward there shall be four horns.
The altar hearth shall be twelve cubits long by twelve cubits wide, square on its four sides.
The ledge shall be fourteen cubits long by fourteen cubits wide on its four sides, with a border around it of half a cubit and a gutter around it of one cubit. Its steps shall face east.”
Then he said to me, “Human one, this is what the LORD GOD says: These are the statutes for the altar on the day it is made, to offer burnt offerings on it and to splash blood on it.
You shall give to the Levitical priests who are from the offspring of Zadok, who draw near to me to minister to me, declares the LORD GOD, a bull from the herd as a sin offering.
You shall take some of its blood and put it on its four horns, on the four corners of the ledge, and on the border all around. Thus you shall cleanse it from sin and make atonement for it.
You shall take the bull of the sin offering, and it shall be burned in the appointed place of the house, outside the sanctuary.
On the second day you shall offer an unblemished male goat as a sin offering, and they shall cleanse the altar from sin as they cleansed it with the bull.
When you have finished cleansing it from sin, you shall offer an unblemished bull from the herd and an unblemished ram from the flock.
You shall bring them before the LORD. The priests shall throw salt on them and offer them up as a burnt offering to the LORD.
For seven days you shall prepare a male goat as a sin offering each day; and they shall prepare an unblemished bull from the herd and an unblemished ram from the flock.
For seven days they shall make atonement for the altar, cleanse it, and consecrate it.
When they have completed the days, from the eighth day onward the priests shall offer on the altar your burnt offerings and your well-being offerings. Then I will accept you, declares the LORD GOD.”