Ezekiel 43:1-27

Afterward, the shining man led me to the gate facing east. And behold, I saw the glory of the God of Israel storming from the east with a roar! A thunderous sound came with him like the sound of a great waterfall. All the ground was glowing brightly, illuminated by his glorious presence. This vision was like the one I had seen when he came to destroy the city and like those visions I had experienced by the River Chebar. Then I fell facedown to the ground. The awesome glory of YAHWEH entered the temple through the eastern gate. Then YAHWEH’s Spirit lifted me into the air and set me down in the inner courtyard; and behold, I watched the glory of YAHWEH like a cloud fill the temple. While the shining man stood beside me, I heard the voice of one speaking to me from inside the temple. And he said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne, the place on which I will rest my feet, where I will live among the Israelites forever. And the people of Israel and their kings will never again drag my holy name through the mud. They will never disgrace me again by their spiritual prostitution or memorials to their dead kings or by putting their threshold beside my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between us. They have defiled my holy name by their despicable practices, so in my anger I put an end to them. Now they must put away their unfaithfulness of worshiping other gods and put away the corpses of their kings from my presence, and I will make my home with them forever. “Son of man, describe this temple in detail to the people of Israel so that they will be ashamed of their despicable deeds. Let them carefully study the perfect structure of the temple. Then, if they truly express sorrow over their sins, explain to them the design and plan of the temple—its exits and entrances, its shape, its arrangement, the entire design, and all its rules for operation. Sketch it out for them so that they can observe and understand the entire plan and follow all its rules.” “This is the law of the temple: the mountaintop radiates his glory, therefore, all around the Temple Mount will be a most holy area. Behold, this is the most important law of the temple.” “This is the measurement of the altar using the same unit of measurement as the rest of the temple: The base is one cubit high and one cubit wide, with a rim of one span around its edge. The altar itself is to be this high: from the base on the ground to the lower ledge, two cubits, with a width of one cubit. And from the smaller ledge to the larger ledge, four cubits high and one cubit wide. The altar hearth is to be four cubits high, with four horns projecting upward from the hearth, and the hearth a perfect square: twelve cubits long by twelve cubits wide. The ledge is also to be a square: fourteen cubits long and fourteen cubits wide on four sides with a rim around it of half a cubit, and its surrounding base one cubit. Its steps are on the east side of the altar.” Lord YAHWEH said to me, “Son of man, here are the rules you must follow when the altar is built to offer burnt offerings and to splash on it the blood of the animals they sacrifice. You must give a young bull to the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok. They are the ones who may come before me to serve me and offer the bull as a sacrifice for sin, declares Lord YAHWEH. You must take some of its blood and smear it on the four horns, on the four corners of the ledge, and on its surrounding rim. In this way you will purify it and make atonement for it. Then take the bull offered as the sacrifice for sin and burn its carcass in the appointed place outside the sacred area. On the second day, you must offer an unblemished male goat as the sin offering, and the priests must purify the altar again as they did on the first day with the bull. When you have finished purifying the altar, you must offer a young, unblemished bull and a young, unblemished ram. You must present them before me, and the Zadokite priests will sprinkle salt on them and offer them as burnt offerings to me. Each day for seven days you must sacrifice to me a young male goat, a young bull, and a young ram as a sin offering. All of them must be unblemished animals. In this way the altar will be purified, cleansed, and consecrated for seven days. When the seven days of consecration are over, on the eighth day and each day afterward, the priest will offer burnt offerings and communion sacrifices on the altar on behalf of the people. And I will accept you and be pleased with you. I, Lord YAHWEH, have spoken.”