Ezekiel 43 - 44 - Legacy Standard Bible

Ezekiel 43 - 44

Yahweh’s Glory Returns to the Temple

Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing toward the east; 2 and behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the way of the east. And His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory. 3 And it was like the appearance of the vision which I saw, like the vision which I saw when He came to bring the city to ruin. And the visions were like the vision which I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face. 4 And the glory of Yahweh came into the house by the way of the gate facing toward the east. 5 And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of Yahweh filled the house. 6 Then I heard one speaking to me from the house, while a man was standing beside me. 7 He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever. And the house of Israel will not again defile My holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their harlotry and by the corpses of their kings when they die, 8 by putting their threshold by My threshold and their door post beside My door post, with only the wall between Me and them. And they have defiled My holy name by their abominations which they have done. So I have consumed them in My anger. 9 Now let them put away their harlotry and the corpses of their kings far from Me; and I will dwell among them forever. 10 “As for you, son of man, describe the house of Yahweh to the house of Israel, that they may feel dishonor for their iniquities; and let them measure the plan. 11 If they feel dishonor for all that they have done, make known to them the design of the house, its structure, its exits, its entrances, all its designs, all its statutes, and all its laws. And write it in their sight so that they may keep its whole design and all its statutes and do them. 12 This is the law of the house: within its entire boundary, on the top of the mountain all around, shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.

The Altar and Offerings

13 “And these are the measurements of the altar by cubits (the cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth): the base shall be a cubit and the width a cubit, and its border on its edge round about one span; and this shall be the height of the base of the altar. 14 And from the base on the ground to the lower ledge shall be two cubits and the width one cubit; and from the smaller ledge to the larger ledge shall be four cubits and the width one cubit. 15 And the altar hearth shall be four cubits; and from the altar hearth shall extend upwards four horns. 16 Now the altar hearth shall be twelve cubits long by twelve wide, square in its four sides. 17 The ledge shall be fourteen cubits long by fourteen wide in its four sides; the border around it shall be half a cubit, and its base shall be a cubit round about; and its steps shall face the east.” 18 And He said to me, “Son of man, thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘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. 19 And you shall give to the Levitical priests who are from the seed of Zadok, who draw near to Me to minister to Me,’ declares Lord Yahweh, ‘a bull from the herd for a sin offering. 20 You shall also take some of its blood and put it on its four horns and on the four corners of the ledge and on the border round about; thus you shall purify it and make atonement for it. 21 And you shall take the bull for the sin offering, and it shall be burned in the appointed place of the house, outside the sanctuary. 22 ‘Now on the second day you shall bring near a male goat without blemish for a sin offering, and they shall purify the altar as they purified it with the bull. 23 When you have finished purifying it, you shall present a bull from the herd without blemish and a ram without blemish from the flock. 24 And you shall bring them near before Yahweh, and the priests shall throw salt on them, and they shall offer them up as a burnt offering to Yahweh. 25 For seven days you shall offer daily a goat for a sin offering; also a bull from the herd and a ram from the flock, without blemish, shall be offered. 26 For seven days they shall make atonement for the altar and purify it; so shall they ordain it. 27 So they will complete the days. And it shall be that on the eighth day and onward, the priests shall offer on the altar your burnt offerings and your peace offerings; and I will accept you,’ declares Lord Yahweh.”

The Gate of the Prince

Then He brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces the east; and it was shut. 2 Yahweh said to me, “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut. 3 As for the prince, he shall sit in it as prince to eat bread before Yahweh; he shall enter by way of the porch of the gate and shall go out by the same way.” 4 Then He brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the house; and I looked, and behold, the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh, and I fell on my face. 5 Then Yahweh said to me, “Son of man, set your heart on and see with your eyes and hear with your ears all that I say to you concerning all the statutes of the house of Yahweh and concerning all its laws; and set your heart on the entrance of the house, with all exits of the sanctuary. 6 And you shall say to the rebellious ones, to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Enough of all your abominations, O house of Israel, 7 when you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to profane it, even My house, when you brought near My food, the fat and the blood. So they made My covenant void—this in addition to all your abominations. 8 And you have not kept the responsibility of My holy things yourselves, but you have set foreigners as keepers of the responsibility given by Me for My sanctuary.” 9 ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the sons of Israel, shall enter My sanctuary. 10 But the Levites who went far from Me when Israel went astray, who went astray from Me after their idols, shall bear the punishment for their iniquity. 11 Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house and ministering in the house; they shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them. 12 Because they ministered to them before their idols and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have sworn against them,” declares Lord Yahweh, “that they shall bear the punishment for their iniquity. 13 And they shall not approach Me to minister as a priest to Me, nor approach any of My holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they will bear their dishonor and their abominations which they have done. 14 Yet I will appoint them as keepers of the responsibility for the house, of all its service and of all that shall be done in it.

The Levitical Responsibilities

15 “But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept the responsibility of My sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from Me, shall come near to Me to minister to Me; and they shall stand before Me to bring near to Me the fat and the blood,” declares Lord Yahweh. 16 “They shall enter My sanctuary; they shall come near to My table to minister to Me and keep the responsibility given by Me. 17 And it will be that when they enter at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and wool shall not be on them while they are ministering in the gates of the inner court and in the house. 18 Linen headdresses shall be on their heads, and linen undergarments shall be on their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything which makes them sweat. 19 And when they go out into the outer court, into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers; then they shall put on other garments so that they will not transmit holiness to the people with their garments. 20 Also they shall not shave their heads, yet they shall not let their locks grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads. 21 Nor shall any of the priests drink wine when they enter the inner court. 22 And they shall not take a widow or a divorced woman as a wife but shall take virgins from the seed of the house of Israel or a widow who is the widow of a priest. 23 Moreover, they shall instruct My people about the difference between the holy and the profane, and make them know the difference between the unclean and the clean. 24 And in a dispute, they shall take their stand to judge; they shall judge it according to My judgments. They shall also keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed times and keep My sabbaths holy. 25 But they shall not go to a dead person to make themselves unclean; however, for father, for mother, for son, for daughter, for brother, or for a sister who has not had a husband, they may make themselves unclean. 26 And after he is cleansed, seven days shall be counted for him. 27 And on the day that he goes into the sanctuary, into the inner court to minister in the sanctuary, he shall bring near his sin offering,” declares Lord Yahweh. 28 “And it shall be with regard to an inheritance for them, that I am their inheritance; and you shall give them no possession in Israel—I am their possession. 29 They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering; and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. 30 And the first of all the first fruits of every kind and every contribution of every kind, from all your contributions, shall be for the priests; you shall also give to the priest the first of your dough to cause a blessing to rest on your house. 31 The priests shall not eat any bird or beast that has died of itself or has been torn to pieces.

Hebrews 8

Jesus, High Priest of a New Covenant

Now the main point in what is being said is this: we have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a minister in the holy places and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; so it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. 4 Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law; 5 who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, “See,” He says, “that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.” 6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. 8 For finding fault with them, He says,

“Behold, days are coming, says the Lord,

When I will complete a new covenant

With the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;

Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers

In the day when I took them by the hand

To lead them out of the land of Egypt;

For they did not continue in My covenant,

And I did not care for them, says the Lord.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel

After those days, says the Lord:

I will put My laws into their minds,

And upon their hearts I will write them.

And I will be their God,

And they shall be My people.

And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen,

And everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’

For all will know Me,

From the least to the greatest of them.

For I will be merciful to their iniquities,

And I will remember their sins no more.”

13 When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.

Proverbs 13

A wise son accepts his father’s discipline,

But a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

From the fruit of a man’s mouth he eats what is good,

But the soul of the treacherous desires violence.

The one who guards his mouth keeps his soul;

The one who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing,

But the soul of the diligent is enriched.

A righteous man hates a lying word,

But a wicked man acts odiously and is humiliated.

Righteousness guards the one whose way is blameless,

But wickedness subverts the sinner.

There is one who pretends to be rich, but has nothing;

Another pretends to be poor, but has great wealth.

The ransom of a man’s life is his wealth,

But the poor hears no rebuke.

The light of the righteous is glad,

But the lamp of the wicked goes out.

With arrogance comes only quarreling,

But with those who receive counsel is wisdom.

Wealth obtained from empty effort dwindles,

But the one who gathers with his hand abounds.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

The one who despises the word will be in debt to it,

But the one who fears the commandment will be rewarded.

The instruction of the wise is a fountain of life,

To turn aside from the snares of death.

Good insight gives grace,

But the way of the treacherous is unrelenting.

Every prudent man acts with knowledge,

But a fool spreads out folly.

A wicked messenger falls into evil,

But a faithful envoy brings healing.

Poverty and disgrace come to him who neglects discipline,

But he who keeps reproof will be honored.

Desire realized is pleasant to the soul,

But it is an abomination to fools to turn away from evil.

He who walks with the wise will be wise,

But the friend of fools will suffer harm.

Evil pursues sinners,

But the righteous are repaid with good.

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children,

And the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.

Abundant food is in the fallow ground of the poor,

But it is swept away by injustice.

He who holds back his rod hates his son,

But he who loves him disciplines him diligently.

The righteous eats to the satisfaction of his soul,

But the stomach of the wicked lacks.