Ezekiel 43

1Then he brought me to the gate, the gate that faces toward the east, and led me out.

2Behold, the glory of the God of Israel was approaching from the way of the gate which faces east. The sound of His camp was like the sound of many voices redoubled upon each other, and the earth shone forth His glory with a brightness all around.

3The vision I saw was like the vision I saw when I entered to anoint the city, and the vision of the chariot I saw was like the vision I saw by the River Chebar; so I fell on my face.

4Then the glory of the Lord entered into the house by way of the gate which faces toward the east.

5The Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and behold, the house was full of the Lord's glory.

6Then I stood, and behold, there was a voice from the house, and a Man was standing with me.

7He said to me, 'Son of man, you have seen the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the house of Israel forever. No more will the house of Israel defile My holy name, they nor their leaders, by their fornication or murders of the leaders in their midst.

8When they set My threshold by their thresholds, and My doorpost by their doorposts, with a wall between them and Me, they desecrated My holy name by their lawlessness, and I destroyed them in My anger and with slaughter.

9Now let them remove their fornication from My presence, and the murders of their leaders, and I will dwell in their midst forever.

10'As for you, son of man, explain this house to the house of Israel, and they will cease from the shame of their sins; and describe to them its vision and its plan.

11They shall take the chastisements for all the things they did, and you shall describe the house, its design, its exits, and its substance, and all its ordinances. You shall make known its laws to them and write them out in their sight. Then they will keep all My requirements and all My ordinances and perform them.

12You will also show them the diagram of the house to be on the mountaintop and all its boundaries roundabout. It shall all be most holy.

13'These are the measurements of the altar in cubits (where a cubit equals one cubit and a handbreadth): from the drain up one cubit high and one cubit wide, with a projection all around its edge of one span. This is the height of the altar:

14the depth of the hollow which is toward the great mercy seat, below this, two cubits; and its width, one cubit; and from the little mercy seat to the great mercy seat, four cubits; and the width, one cubit.

15The altar shall be four cubits, and from the altar and above the four horns, one cubit.

16The altar shall be twelve cubits long, up to fourteen wide, in its four directions,

17and its projection which goes all around it on all sides is a half of a cubit, so the outcropping all around is a cubit. Its stairs face to the east.'

18Then He said to me, 'Son of man, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: 'These are the ordinances for the altar on the day of its construction, for offering up whole burnt offerings and pouring out blood on it.

19You shall offer a young bull for a sin offering to the priests, the Levites, who are of the seed of Zadok, who approach Me to minister liturgically to Me,' says the Lord God.

20'They shall take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar, on the four corners of the mercy seat, and on the step around it; and they shall make atonement for it.

21Then they shall take the calf of the sin offering and consume it by fire in the appointed place, set apart from the house, outside the sanctuary.

22On the second day they shall take two kids of goats without blemish for a sin offering, and they shall make atonement for the altar, as they made atonement with the calf.

23After they finish the atonement, they shall offer a calf from the herd without blemish, and a ram from the flock without blemish.

24They shall offer them before the Lord; and the priests shall throw salt on them and offer them up as whole burnt offerings to the Lord.

25Every day for seven days, you shall prepare a goat for a sin offering; and you shall prepare a calf and a ram from the flock, and they shall offer them without blemish for seven days.

26So they shall make atonement for the altar, and purify it, and fill their hands.

27It will be when these days are over, on the eighth day, the priests shall offer your whole burnt offerings and your peace offerings on the altar, and I shall accept you,' says the Lord.'