The Prince and the Feasts
46 Thus says the Lord God: The gate of the inner court that faces east shall be shut the six working days. But on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the New Moon it shall be opened. 2 The prince shall enter by the way of the vestibule of that gate from outside, and shall stand by the post of the gate, and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out. But the gate shall not be shut until the evening. 3 Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the Lord in the Sabbaths and in the New Moons. 4 The burnt offering that the prince shall offer to the Lord in the Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish. 5 The grain offering shall be an ephah for a ram and the grain offering for the lambs as he shall be able to give and a hin of oil to an ephah. 6 In the day of the New Moon it shall be a young bull without blemish and six lambs and a ram. They shall be without blemish. 7 He shall prepare a grain offering, an ephah for a bull and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs according as his hand shall attain to, and a hin of oil to an ephah. 8 When the prince enters, he shall go in by the way of the vestibule of that gate, and he shall go out the same way.
9 But when the people of the land shall come before the Lord in the solemn feasts, he who enters by the way of the north gate to worship shall go out by way of the south gate. And he who enters by the way of the south gate shall go out by way of the north gate. He shall not return by way of the gate by which he entered, but shall go out the opposite gate. 10 The prince shall be in their midst. When they enter, he shall enter; and when they go out, he shall go out. 11 At the feasts and the appointed festivals the grain offering shall be an ephah for a bull, and an ephah for a ram, and with the lambs as much as he is able to give, together with a hin of oil for an ephah.
12 Now when the prince prepares a voluntary burnt offering or voluntary peace offering to the Lord, the gate facing east shall be opened for him; and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings as he did on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out. And after he goes out, the gate shall be shut.
13 You shall daily prepare a burnt offering to the Lord of a lamb of the first year without blemish. You shall prepare it every morning. 14 You shall prepare a grain offering for it every morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of a hin of oil to temper with the fine flour, a grain offering continually by a perpetual ordinance to the Lord. 15 Thus they shall prepare the lamb and the grain offering and the oil every morning as a continual burnt offering.
Inheritance Laws for the Prince
16 Thus says the Lord God: If the prince gives a gift out of his inheritance to any of his sons, it will belong to his sons. It is their possession by inheritance. 17 But if he gives a gift out of his inheritance to one of his servants, it will be his until the year of liberty. Then it will revert to the prince. His inheritance will be only his sons. It will belong to them. 18 Moreover the prince shall not take of the people’s inheritance by oppression to thrust them out of their possession. But he shall give his sons inheritance out of his own possession so that My people not be scattered, every man from his possession.
Preparations for the Offerings
19 Then he brought me through the entrance, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers of the priests which face toward the north. And there was a place at the extreme westward end of them. 20 Then he said to me, “This is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the grain offering so that they not bear them out into the outer court, to sanctify the people.”
21 Then he brought me out into the outer court and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court. And in every corner of the court there was a court. 22 In the four corners of the court there were courts joined of forty cubits long and thirty wide. These four corners were of one measurement. 23 There was a row of masonry all around in them, all around the four of them; and it was made with hearths at the bottom of the rows all around. 24 Then he said to me, “These are the boiling places where the ministers of the temple shall boil the sacrifices of the people.”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 46:5
- Ezekiel 46:5
- Ezekiel 46:7
- Ezekiel 46:11
- Ezekiel 46:14
- Ezekiel 46:14
- Ezekiel 46:22
