Day 309 of 365

¹Then he brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which looks toward the east; and it was shut.

²The Lord said to me, "This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, neither shall any man enter in by it; for the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered in by it; therefore it shall be shut.

³As for the prince, he shall sit therein as prince to eat bread before the Lord; he shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate, and shall go out by the way of the same."

⁴Then he brought me by the way of the north gate before the house; and I looked, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord: and I fell on my face.

⁵The Lord said to me, "Son of man, mark well, and see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I tell you concerning all the ordinances of the house of the Lord, and all its laws; and mark well the entrance of the house, with every exit of the sanctuary.

⁶You shall tell the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord God: you house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations,

⁷in that you have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, to add to all your abominations.

⁸You have not performed the duty of my holy things; but you have set performers of my duty in my sanctuary for yourselves.'

⁹"Thus says the Lord God, 'No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigners who are among the children of Israel.

¹⁰But the Levites who went far from me, when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity.

¹¹Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house, and ministering in the house: they shall kill the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them.

¹²Because they ministered to them before their idols, and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel; therefore have I lifted up my hand against them, says the Lord God, and they shall bear their iniquity.

¹³They shall not come near to me, to execute the office of priest to me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed.

¹⁴Yet will I make them performers of the duty of the house, for all its service, and for all that shall be done therein.

¹⁵"'But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who performed the duty of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister to me; and they shall stand before me to offer to me the fat and the blood, says the Lord God:

¹⁶they shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my instruction.

¹⁷"'It shall be that, when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come on them, while they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within.

¹⁸They shall have linen turbans on their heads, and shall have linen breeches on their waists; they shall not clothe themselves with anything that causes sweat.

¹⁹When they go forth into the outer court, even into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments in which they minister, and lay them in the holy rooms; and they shall put on other garments, that they not sanctify the people with their garments.

²⁰"'Neither shall they shave their heads, nor allow their locks to grow long; they shall only cut off the hair of their heads.

²¹Neither shall any of the priests drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.

²²Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her who is put away; but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.

²³They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

²⁴"'In a controversy they shall stand to judge; according to my ordinances shall they judge it: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts; and they shall make my Sabbaths holy.

²⁵"'They shall go in to no dead person to defile themselves; but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister who has had no husband, they may defile themselves.

²⁶After he is cleansed, they shall reckon to him seven days.

²⁷In the day that he goes into the sanctuary, into the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, says the Lord God.

²⁸"'They shall have an inheritance: I am their inheritance; and you shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession.

²⁹They shall eat the meal offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs.

³⁰The first of all the first fruits of every thing, and every offering of everything, of all your offerings, shall be for the priest: you shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, to cause a blessing to rest on your house.

³¹The priests shall not eat of anything that dies of itself, or is torn, whether it be bird or animal.

¹"'Moreover, when you shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, you shall offer an offering to the Lord, a holy portion of the land; the length shall be the length of twenty-five thousand reeds, and the breadth shall be ten thousand: it shall be holy in all its border all around.

²Of this there shall be for the holy place five hundred in length by five hundred in breadth, square all around; and fifty cubits for its suburbs all around.

³Of this measure you shall measure a length of twenty-five thousand, and a breadth of ten thousand: and in it shall be the sanctuary, which is most holy.

⁴It is a holy portion of the land; it shall be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who come near to minister to the Lord; and it shall be a place for their houses, and a holy place for the sanctuary.

⁵Twenty-five thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth, shall be to the Levites, the ministers of the house, for a possession to themselves, for twenty rooms.

⁶"'You shall appoint the possession of the city five thousand broad, and twenty-five thousand long, side by side with the offering of the holy portion: it shall be for the whole house of Israel.

⁷"'Whatever is for the prince shall be on the one side and on the other side of the holy offering and of the possession of the city, in front of the holy offering and in front of the possession of the city, on the west side westward, and on the east side eastward; and in length answerable to one of the portions, from the west border to the east border.

⁸In the land it shall be to him for a possession in Israel: and my princes shall no more oppress my people; but they shall give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.'

⁹"Thus says the Lord God: 'Let it suffice you, princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute justice and righteousness; dispossessing my people, says the Lord God.

¹⁰You shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath.

¹¹The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath may contain the tenth part of a homer, and the ephah the tenth part of a homer: its measure shall be after the homer.

¹²The shekel shall be twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels shall be your mina.

¹³"'This is the offering that you shall offer: the sixth part of an ephah from a homer of wheat; and you shall give the sixth part of an ephah from a homer of barley;

¹⁴and the set portion of oil, of the bath of oil, the tenth part of a bath out of the cor, which is ten baths, even a homer; (for ten baths are a homer;)

¹⁵and one lamb of the flock, out of two hundred, from the well-watered pastures of Israel-for a meal offering, and for a burnt offering, and for peace offerings, to make atonement for them, says the Lord God.

¹⁶All the people of the land shall give to this offering for the prince in Israel.

¹⁷It shall be the prince's part to give the burnt offerings, and the meal offerings, and the drink offerings, in the feasts, and on the new moons, and on the Sabbaths, in all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel: he shall prepare the sin offering, and the meal offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to make atonement for the house of Israel.

¹⁸"'Thus says the Lord God: In the first month, in the first day of the month, you shall take a young bull without blemish; and you shall cleanse the sanctuary.

¹⁹The priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering, and put it on the door posts of the house, and on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the posts of the gate of the inner court.

²⁰So you shall do on the seventh day of the month for everyone who errs, and for him who is simple: so you shall make atonement for the house.

²¹"'In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, you shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.

²²On that day shall the prince prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bull for a sin offering.

²³The seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to the Lord, seven bulls and seven rams without blemish daily the seven days; and a male goat daily for a sin offering.

²⁴He shall prepare a meal offering, an ephah for a bull, and an ephah for a ram, and a hin of oil to an ephah.

²⁵In the seventh month, in the fifteenth day of the month, in the feast, shall he do the like the seven days; according to the sin offering, according to the burnt offering, and according to the meal offering, and according to the oil.'

¹"Thus says the Lord God: 'The gate of the inner court that looks toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath day it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened.

²The prince shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate 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 forth; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening.

³The people of the land shall worship at the door of that gate before the Lord on the Sabbaths and on the new moons.

⁴The burnt offering that the prince shall offer to the Lord shall be on the Sabbath day six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish;

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

⁶On 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:

⁷and he shall prepare a meal offering, an ephah for the bull, and an ephah for the ram, and for the lambs according as he is able, and a hin of oil to an ephah.

⁸When the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the way of the porch of the gate, and he shall go forth by its way.

⁹"'But when the people of the land shall come before the Lord in the appointed feasts, he who enters by the way of the north gate to worship shall go forth by the way of the south gate; and he who enters 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 by which he came in, but shall go forth straight before him.

¹⁰The prince, when they go in, shall go in with of them; and when they go out, he shall go out.

¹¹"'In the feasts and in the solemnities the meal offering shall be an ephah for a bull, and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs as he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah.

¹²When the prince shall prepare a freewill offering, a burnt offering or peace offerings as a freewill offering to the Lord, one shall open for him the gate that looks toward the east; and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, as he does on the Sabbath day: then he shall go forth; and after his going forth one shall shut the gate.

¹³"'You shall prepare a lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering to the Lord daily: morning by morning you shall prepare it.

¹⁴You shall prepare a meal offering with it morning by morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of a hin of oil, to moisten the fine flour; a meal offering to the Lord continually by a perpetual ordinance.

¹⁵Thus shall they prepare the lamb, and the meal offering, and the oil, morning by morning, for a continual burnt offering.'

¹⁶"Thus says the Lord God: 'If the prince give a gift to any of his sons, it is his inheritance, it shall belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance.

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

¹⁸Moreover the prince shall not take of the people's inheritance, to thrust them out of their possession; he shall give inheritance to his sons out of his own possession, that my people not be scattered every man from his possession.'"

¹⁹Then he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy rooms for the priests, which looked toward the north: and behold, there was a place on the hinder part westward.

²⁰He said to me, "This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the meal offering; that they not bring them forth into the outer court, to sanctify the people."

²¹Then he brought me forth into the outer 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.

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

²³There was a wall around in them, around the four, and boiling places were made under the walls all around.

²⁴Then he said to me, "These are the boiling houses, where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of the people."

¹ALEPH I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. I will tell of all your marvelous works.

²I will be glad and rejoice in you. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

³When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish in your presence.

⁴For you have maintained my just cause. You sit on the throne judging righteously.

⁵You have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked. You have blotted out their name forever and ever.

⁶The enemy is overtaken by endless ruin. The very memory of the cities which you have overthrown has perished.

⁷But the Lord reigns forever. He has prepared his throne for judgment.

⁸He will judge the world in righteousness. He will administer judgment to the peoples in uprightness.

⁹The Lord will also be a high tower for the oppressed; a high tower in times of trouble.

¹⁰Those who know your name will put their trust in you, for you, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

¹¹Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion, and declare among the people what he has done.

¹²For he who avenges blood remembers them. He doesn't forget the cry of the afflicted.

¹³Have mercy on me, Lord. See my affliction by those who hate me, and lift me up from the gates of death;

¹⁴that I may show forth all your praise. In the gates of the daughter of Zion, I will rejoice in your salvation.

¹⁵The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made. In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken.

¹⁶The Lord has made himself known. He has executed judgment. The wicked is snared by the work of his own hands. Meditation. Selah.

¹⁷The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol, even all the nations that forget God.

¹⁸For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever.

¹⁹Arise, Lord! Do not let man prevail. Let the nations be judged in your sight.

²⁰Put them in fear, Lord. Let the nations know that they are only men. Selah.

¹The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the oracle: the man says to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal:

²"Surely I am the most ignorant man, and do not have a man's understanding.

³I have not learned wisdom, neither do I have the knowledge of the Holy One.

⁴Who has ascended up into heaven, and descended? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has bound the waters in his garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name, if you know?

⁵"Every word of God is flawless. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

⁶Do not add to his words, lest he reprove you, and you be found a liar.

⁷"Two things I have asked of you; do not deny me before I die:

⁸Remove far from me falsehood and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me;

⁹lest I be full, deny you, and say, 'Who is the Lord?' or lest I be poor, and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.

¹⁰"Do not slander a servant to his master, lest he curse you, and you be held guilty.

¹¹There is a generation that curses their father, and doesn't bless their mother.

¹²There is a generation that is pure in their own eyes, yet are not washed from their filthiness.

¹³There is a generation, oh how lofty are their eyes! Their eyelids are lifted up.

¹⁴There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and their jaws like knives, to devour the poor from the earth, and the needy from among men.

¹⁵"The leach has two daughters: 'Give, give.' "There are three things that are never satisfied; four that do not say, 'Enough:'

¹⁶Sheol, the barren womb; the earth that is not satisfied with water; and the fire that doesn't say, 'Enough.'

¹⁷"The eye that mocks at his father, and scorns obedience to his mother: the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, the young eagles shall eat it.

¹⁸"There are three things which are too amazing for me, four which I do not understand:

¹⁹The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent on a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maiden.

²⁰"So is the way of an adulterous woman: she eats and wipes her mouth, and says, 'I have done nothing wrong.'

²¹"For three things the earth tremble, and under four, it can't bear up:

²²For a servant when he is king; a fool when he is filled with food;

²³for an unloved woman when she is married; and a handmaid who is heir to her mistress.

²⁴"There are four things which are little on the earth, but they are exceedingly wise:

²⁵the ants are not a strong people, yet they provide their food in the summer.

²⁶The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks.

²⁷The locusts have no king, yet they advance in ranks.

²⁸You can catch a lizard with your hands, yet it is in kings' palaces.

²⁹"There are three things which are stately in their march, four which are stately in going:

³⁰The lion, which is mightiest among animals, and doesn't turn away for any;

³¹the greyhound, the male goat also; and the king against whom there is no rising up.

³²"If you have done foolishly in lifting up yourself, or if you have thought evil, put your hand over your mouth.

³³For as the churning of milk brings forth butter, and the wringing of the nose brings forth blood; so the forcing of wrath brings forth strife."