Ezekiel 46

Thus saith the Lord GOD; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the 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.

1The Lord GOD says this. The east gate of the inner yard stays shut on the six work days. But on the Sabbath, the rest day, it is opened. It is opened on the new moon day too.

2And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate without, 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 forth; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening.

2The prince, the ruler of the land, comes in from outside through the porch of that gate. He stands by the gatepost. The priests get his burnt offering and his peace offerings ready. He bows down to worship at the doorway of the gate. Then he goes out. But the gate stays open until evening.

3Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the LORD in the sabbaths and in the new moons.

3On the Sabbath days and the new moon days, the people of the land come too. They bow and worship before the LORD at the door of that gate.

4And the burnt offering that the prince shall offer unto the LORD in the sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish.

4On the Sabbath the prince brings the LORD six lambs and one ram as a burnt offering. Each animal must be healthy, with nothing wrong with it.

5And the meat offering shall be an ephah for a ram, and the meat offering for the lambs as he shall be able to give, and an hin of oil to an ephah.

5With the ram he brings one ephah of flour as a grain gift. With the lambs he brings as much flour as he can. He adds one hin of oil for each ephah of flour.

NoteThe KJV calls this a "meat offering." In 1611 "meat" meant food of any kind, so this gift is flour, not meat. An ephah held about 20 quarts of flour. A hin held about 4 quarts of oil.

6And in the day of the new moon it shall be a young bullock without blemish, and six lambs, and a ram: they shall be without blemish.

6On the new moon day he brings a young bull, six lambs, and a ram. All of them must be healthy, with nothing wrong with them.

7And he shall prepare a meat offering, an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs according as his hand shall attain unto, and an hin of oil to an ephah.

7He brings one ephah of flour with the bull and one ephah with the ram. With the lambs he brings as much as he is able. He adds a hin of oil for each ephah of flour.

8And when the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the way of the porch of that gate, and he shall go forth by the way thereof.

8When the prince comes in, he goes in through the porch of that gate. He goes back out the same way.

9But when the people of the land shall come before the LORD in the solemn feasts, he that entereth in by the way of the north gate to worship shall go out by the way of the south gate; and he that entereth by the way of the south gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate: he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but shall go forth over against it.

9The people of the land come before the LORD at the special feasts. Whoever comes in the north gate must go out the south gate. Whoever comes in the south gate must go out the north gate. No one goes back out the gate he came in. Each one goes out the gate on the other side.

10And the prince in the midst of them, when they go in, shall go in; and when they go forth, shall go forth.

10When the people go in, the prince goes in with them. When they go out, he goes out with them.

11And in the feasts and in the solemnities the meat offering shall be an ephah to a bullock, and an ephah to a ram, and to the lambs as he is able to give, and an hin of oil to an ephah.

11At the feasts and the special days, bring one ephah of flour with a bull. Bring one ephah with a ram. With the lambs bring as much as you are able. Add a hin of oil for each ephah of flour.

12Now when the prince shall prepare a voluntary burnt offering or peace offerings voluntarily unto the LORD, one shall then open him the gate that looketh toward the east, and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, as he did on the sabbath day: then he shall go forth; and after his going forth one shall shut the gate.

12Sometimes the prince wants to give an offering just because he wants to. It may be a burnt offering or a peace offering to the LORD. Then someone opens the east gate for him. He gets his offerings ready, the same way he does on the Sabbath. Then he goes out, and someone shuts the gate behind him.

13Thou shalt daily prepare a burnt offering unto the LORD of a lamb of the first year without blemish: thou shalt prepare it every morning.

13Every day you must give the LORD a lamb that is one year old. It must be healthy, with nothing wrong with it. Bring it as a burnt offering every morning.

14And thou shalt prepare a meat offering for it every morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of an hin of oil, to temper with the fine flour; a meat offering continually by a perpetual ordinance unto the LORD.

14Every morning bring a grain gift with it as well. Bring a sixth of an ephah of fine flour. Add a third of a hin of oil to make the flour moist. This gift to the LORD is a rule that never ends.

15Thus shall they prepare the lamb, and the meat offering, and the oil, every morning for a continual burnt offering.

15So every morning they will bring the lamb, the flour, and the oil. This burnt offering goes on every day.

16Thus saith the Lord GOD; If the prince give a gift unto any of his sons, the inheritance thereof shall be his sons’; it shall be their possession by inheritance.

16The Lord GOD says this. If the prince gives land as a gift to one of his sons, that land is his son's. It stays in the family and is passed down to their children.

17But if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, then it shall be his to the year of liberty; after it shall return to the prince: but his inheritance shall be his sons’ for them.

17But if he gives some of his land to one of his servants, the servant keeps it only until the year of freedom. Then the land goes back to the prince. Land that is passed down belongs to his sons and stays theirs.

NoteThe "year of liberty" was a set year when land that had been given away went back to the family it first belonged to.

18Moreover 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: that my people be not scattered every man from his possession.

18The prince must not take the people's land by pushing them out of their homes. He must give his sons land from his own share. That way none of my people will lose the land that is theirs.

19After he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers of the priests, which looked toward the north: and, behold, there was a place on the two sides westward.

19Then the man brought me through the doorway beside the gate. It led into the holy rooms of the priests, which faced north. There I saw a place at the far west end.

20Then said he unto me, This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, where they shall bake the meat offering; that they bear them not out into the utter court, to sanctify the people.

20He said to me, "This is where the priests will boil the guilt offering and the sin offering. Here they will bake the grain gift too. They must not carry these things out into the outer yard, where the holiness would pass to the people."

21Then he brought me forth into the utter court, and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; and, behold, in every corner of the court there was a court.

21Then he brought me out into the outer yard. He led me past its four corners. In each corner of the yard there was a smaller yard.

22In the four corners of the court there were courts joined of forty cubits long and thirty broad: these four corners were of one measure.

22In the four corners were small yards with walls around them. Each one was forty cubits long and thirty cubits wide. All four were the same size.

NoteA cubit was about 18 inches, about the length of a grown man's forearm.

23And there was a row of building round about in them, round about them four, and it was made with boiling places under the rows round about.

23Inside each of the four yards was a row of stonework all the way around. Under the rows, all around, were places for cooking fires.

24Then said he unto me, These are the places of them that boil, where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of the people.

24Then he said to me, "These are the kitchens. Here the temple workers will boil the offerings the people bring."