Study Desk

For they were in three stories, and they had no pillars like the pillars of the outer court; for this reason the upper chambers were set back from the ground more than the lower and the middle ones.

For the chambers on the outer court were fifty cubits long, while those opposite the temple were one hundred cubits long.

Then he said to me, "The north chambers and the south chambers opposite the vacant area are the holy chambers, where the priests who approach the Lord shall eat the most holy offerings; there they shall deposit the most holy offerings—the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering—for the place is holy.

When the priests enter the holy place, they shall not go out of it into the outer court without laying there the vestments in which they minister, for these are holy; they shall put on other garments before they go near to the area open to the people."

He said to me: Mortal, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will reside among the people of Israel forever. The house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their whoring, and by the corpses of their kings at their death.

As for you, mortal, describe the temple to the house of Israel, and let them measure the pattern; and let them be ashamed of their iniquities.

Then he said to me: Mortal, 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 for dashing blood against it,

you shall give to the levitical priests of the family of Zadok, who draw near to me to minister to me, says the Lord God , a bull for a sin offering.

And you shall take some of its blood, and put it on the four horns of the altar, and on the four corners of the ledge, and upon the rim all around; thus you shall purify it and make atonement for it.

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.

For seven days you shall provide daily a goat for a sin offering; also a bull and a ram from the flock, without blemish, shall be provided.

Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and cleanse it, and so consecrate it.

The Lord said to me: This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it; for the Lord , the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it shall remain shut.

And you have not kept charge of my sacred offerings; but you have appointed foreigners to act for you in keeping my charge in my sanctuary.

They shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple, and serving in the temple; they shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall attend on them and serve them.

They shall not defile themselves by going near to a dead person; for father or mother, however, and for son or daughter, and for brother or unmarried sister they may defile themselves.

After he has become clean, they shall count seven days for him.

When you allot the land as an inheritance, you shall set aside for the Lord a portion of the land as a holy district, twenty-five thousand cubits long and twenty thousand cubits wide; it shall be holy throughout its entire extent.

Of this, a square plot of five hundred by five hundred cubits shall be for the sanctuary, with fifty cubits for an open space around it.

It shall be a holy portion of the land; it shall be for the priests, who minister in the sanctuary and approach the Lord to minister to him; and it shall be both a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary.