Study Desk

Then you will offer them before the Lord . The priests will sprinkle salt on them. Then they will offer the bull and ram up as a burnt offering to the Lord .

The Levites were chosen to serve in my holy place. They guarded the gates of the Temple. They served in the Temple. They killed the animals for the sacrifices and burnt offerings for the people. They were chosen to help the people and to serve them.

But I will let them take care of the Temple. They will work in the Temple and do the things that must be done in it.

"The priests are all from the tribe of Levi. But only priests from Zadok's family took care of my holy place when the people of Israel turned away from me. So only Zadok's descendants will bring offerings to me. They will stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood from the animals they sacrifice." This is what the Lord God said!

"They will enter my holy place and come near my table to serve me. They will take care of the things I gave them.

When they enter the gates of the inner courtyard, they will wear linen clothes. They will not wear wool while they serve at the gates of the inner courtyard and in the Temple.

They will wear linen turbans on their heads, and they will wear linen underwear. They will not wear anything that makes them sweat.

"Also, the priests must teach my people the difference between things that are holy and things that are not holy. They must help my people know what is clean and what is unclean.

The priests will be the judges in court. They will follow my laws when they judge people. They will obey my laws and my rules at all my special feasts. They will respect my special days of rest and keep them holy.

They will have the right to eat the grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings. Also, anything in Israel that is a special gift to God will belong to them.

"This holy part of the land will be for the priests, the servants of the Temple. This is where they approach the Lord to serve him. It will be a place for the priests' houses and a place for the Temple.

During the seven days of the festival, the ruler will offer seven bulls and seven rams that have nothing wrong with them. They will be burnt offerings to the Lord . The ruler will offer one bull on every day of the seven days of the festival, and he will offer a male goat every day for a sin offering.

"When the common people come to meet with the Lord at the special festivals, whoever enters through the north gate to worship will go out through the south gate, and whoever enters through the south gate will go out through the north gate. People must not return the same way they entered. Each person must go out straight ahead.

The ruler should be there among the people. When the people go in, the ruler will go in with them, and when they go out, the ruler will too.

So they will give the lamb, the grain offering, and the oil every morning for a burnt offering forever."

The man said to me, "This is where the priests will boil the guilt offering and the sin offering and will bake the grain offering. Why? So they will not need to bring these offerings out into the outer courtyard. So they will not bring those holy things out where the common people are."

But the swamps and small marshes will not become fresh. They will be left for salt.

You will divide it as a property for yourselves and for the foreigners who live among you and who have had children among you. These foreigners will be residents—they will be like natural born Israelites. You will divide some land for them among the tribes of Israel.

"Next to the land for the priests, the Levites will have a share of the land. It will be 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide. They will get the full length and width of this land—25,000 cubits long and 20,000 cubits wide.

The city will have grasslands. These grasslands will be 250 cubits on the north and 250 cubits on the south. They will be 250 cubits on the east and 250 cubits on the west.