Bible In A Year

¹Vindicate me, God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation. Oh, deliver me from deceitful and wicked men.

²For you are the God of my strength. Why have you rejected me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

³Oh, send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill, To your tents.

⁴Then I will go to the altar of God, To God, my exceeding joy. I will praise you on the harp, God, my God.

⁵Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him: My Savior, my helper, and my God.

¹In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth [day] of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was struck, in the same day, the hand of Yahweh was on me, and he brought me there. ²In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me down on a very high mountain, whereon was as it were the frame of a city on the south. ³He brought me there; and, behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate. ⁴The man said to me, Son of man, see with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart on all that I shall show you; for, to the intent that I may show them to you, are you brought here: declare all that you see to the house of Israel. ⁵Behold, a wall on the outside of the house round about, and in the man's hand a measuring reed six cubits long, of a cubit and a handbreadth each: so he measured the thickness of the building, one reed; and the height, one reed. ⁶Then came he to the gate which looks toward the east, and went up the steps of it: and he measured the threshold of the gate, one reed broad; and the other threshold, one reed broad. ⁷Every lodge was one reed long, and one reed broad; and [the space] between the lodges was five cubits; and the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate toward the house was one reed. ⁸He measured also the porch of the gate toward the house, one reed. ⁹Then measured he the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and the posts of it, two cubits; and the porch of the gate was toward the house. ¹⁰The lodges of the gate eastward were three on this side, and three on that side; they three were of one measure: and the posts had one measure on this side and on that side. ¹¹He measured the breadth of the opening of the gate, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits; ¹²and a border before the lodges, one cubit [on this side], and a border, one cubit on that side; and the lodges, six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that side. ¹³He measured the gate from the roof of the one lodge to the roof of the other, a breadth of twenty-five cubits; door against door. ¹⁴He made also posts, sixty cubits; and the court [reached] to the posts, round about the gate. ¹⁵[From] the forefront of the gate at the entrance to the forefront of the inner porch of the gate were fifty cubits. ¹⁶There were closed windows to the lodges, and to their posts within the gate round about, and likewise to the arches; and windows were round about inward; and on [each] post were palm trees. ¹⁷Then brought he me into the outer court; and, behold, there were chambers and a pavement, made for the court round about: thirty chambers were on the pavement. ¹⁸The pavement was by the side of the gates, answerable to the length of the gates, even the lower pavement. ¹⁹Then he measured the breadth from the forefront of the lower gate to the forefront of the inner court outside, one hundred cubits, [both] on the east and on the north. ²⁰The gate of the outer court whose prospect is toward the north, he measured the length of it and the breadth of it. ²¹The lodges of it were three on this side and three on that side; and the posts of it and the arches of it were after the measure of the first gate: the length of it was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits. ²²The windows of it, and the arches of it, and the palm trees of it, were after the measure of the gate whose prospect is toward the east; and they went up to it by seven steps; and the arches of it were before them. ²³There was a gate to the inner court over against the [other] gate, [both] on the north and on the east; and he measured from gate to gate one hundred cubits. ²⁴He led me toward the south; and, behold, a gate toward the south: and he measured the posts of it and the arches of it according to these measures. ²⁵There were windows in it and in the arches of it round about, like those windows: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits. ²⁶There were seven steps to go up to it, and the arches of it were before them; and it had palm trees, one on this side, and another on that side, on the posts of it. ²⁷There was a gate to the inner court toward the south: and he measured from gate to gate toward the south a hundred cubits. ²⁸Then he brought me to the inner court by the south gate: and he measured the south gate according to these measures; ²⁹and the lodges of it, and the posts of it, and the arches of it, according to these measures: and there were windows in it and in the arches of it round about; it was fifty cubits long, and twenty-five cubits broad. ³⁰There were arches round about, twenty-five cubits long, and five cubits broad. ³¹The arches of it were toward the outer court; and palm trees were on the posts of it: and the ascent to it had eight steps. ³²He brought me into the inner court toward the east: and he measured the gate according to these measures; ³³and the lodges of it, and the posts of it, and the arches of it, according to these measures: and there were windows therein and in the arches of it round about; it was fifty cubits long, and twenty-five cubits broad. ³⁴The arches of it were toward the outer court; and palm trees were on the posts of it, on this side, and on that side: and the ascent to it had eight steps. ³⁵He brought me to the north gate: and he measured [it] according to these measures; ³⁶the lodges of it, the posts of it, and the arches of it: and there were windows therein round about; the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits. ³⁷The posts of it were toward the outer court; and palm trees were on the posts of it, on this side, and on that side: and the ascent to it had eight steps. ³⁸A chamber with the door of it was by the posts at the gates; there they washed the burnt offering. ³⁹In the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, to kill thereon the burnt offering and the sin-offering and the trespass-offering. ⁴⁰On the [one] side outside, as one goes up to the entry of the gate toward the north, were two tables; and on the other side, which belonged to the porch of the gate, were two tables. ⁴¹Four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate; eight tables, whereupon they killed [the sacrifices]. ⁴²There were four tables for the burnt offering, of hewn stone, a cubit and a half long, and a cubit and a half broad, and one cubit high; whereupon they laid the instruments with which they killed the burnt offering and the sacrifice. ⁴³The hooks, a handbreadth long, were fastened within round about: and on the tables was the flesh of the offering. ⁴⁴Outside of the inner gate were chambers for the singers in the inner court, which was at the side of the north gate; and their prospect was toward the south; one at the side of the east gate having the prospect toward the north. ⁴⁵He said to me, This chamber, whose prospect is toward the south, is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the house; ⁴⁶and the chamber whose prospect is toward the north is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar: these are the sons of Zadok, who from among the sons of Levi come near to Yahweh to minister to him. ⁴⁷He measured the court, one hundred cubits long, and a hundred cubits broad, foursquare; and the altar was before the house. ⁴⁸Then he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side: and the breadth of the gate was three cubits on this side, and three cubits on that side. ⁴⁹The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits; even by the steps by which they went up to it: and there were pillars by the posts, one on this side, and another on that side.

¹He brought me to the temple, and measured the posts, six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side, which was the breadth of the tent. ²The breadth of the entrance was ten cubits; and the sides of the entrance were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side: and he measured the length of it, forty cubits, and the breadth, twenty cubits. ³Then went he inward, and measured each post of the entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the breadth of the entrance, seven cubits. ⁴He measured the length of it, twenty cubits, and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the temple: and he said to me, This is the most holy place. ⁵Then he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the breadth of every side-chamber, four cubits, round about the house on every side. ⁶The side-chambers were in three stories, one over another, and thirty in order; and they entered into the wall which belonged to the house for the side-chambers round about, that they might have hold [therein], and not have hold in the wall of the house. ⁷The side-chambers were broader as they encompassed [the house] higher and higher; for the encompassing of the house went higher and higher round about the house: therefore the breadth of the house [continued] upward; and so one went up [from] the lowest [chamber] to the highest by the middle [chamber]. ⁸I saw also that the house had a raised base round about: the foundations of the side-chambers were a full reed of six great cubits. ⁹The thickness of the wall, which was for the side-chambers, on the outside, was five cubits: and that which was left was the place of the side-chambers that belonged to the house. ¹⁰Between the chambers was a breadth of twenty cubits round about the house on every side. ¹¹The doors of the side-chambers were toward [the place] that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south: and the breadth of the place that was left was five cubits round about. ¹²The building that was before the separate place at the side toward the west was seventy cubits broad; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick round about, and the length of it ninety cubits. ¹³So he measured the house, one hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with the walls of it, one hundred cubits long; ¹⁴also the breadth of the face of the house, and of the separate place toward the east, one hundred cubits. ¹⁵He measured the length of the building before the separate place which was at the back of it, and the galleries of it on the one side and on the other side, one hundred cubits; and the inner temple, and the porches of the court; ¹⁶the thresholds, and the closed windows, and the galleries round about on their three stories, over against the threshold, with wood ceilings round about, and [from] the ground up to the windows, (now the windows were covered), ¹⁷to [the space] above the door, even to the inner house, and outside, and by all the wall round about inside and outside, by measure. ¹⁸It was made with cherubim and palm trees; and a palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces; ¹⁹so that there was the face of a man toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side. [thus was it] made through all the house round about: ²⁰from the ground to above the door were cherubim and palm trees made: thus was the wall of the temple. ²¹As for the temple, the door-posts were squared; and as for the face of the sanctuary, the appearance [of it] was as the appearance [of the temple]. ²²The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and the length of it two cubits; and the corners of it, and the length of it, and the walls of it, were of wood: and he said to me, This is the table that is before Yahweh. ²³The temple and the sanctuary had two doors. ²⁴The doors had two leaves [apiece], two turning leaves: two [leaves] for the one door, and two leaves for the other. ²⁵There were made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubim and palm trees, like as were made on the walls; and there was a threshold of wood on the face of the porch outside. ²⁶There were closed windows and palm trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch: thus were the side-chambers of the house, and the thresholds.

¹Then he brought me forth into the outer court, the way toward the north: and he brought me into the chamber that was over against the separate place, and which was over against the building toward the north. ²Before the length of one hundred cubits was the north door, and the breadth was fifty cubits. ³Over against the twenty [cubits] which belonged to the inner court, and over against the pavement which belonged to the outer court, was gallery against gallery in the third story. ⁴Before the chambers was a walk of ten cubits' breadth inward, a way of one cubit; and their doors were toward the north. ⁵Now the upper chambers were shorter; for the galleries took away from these, more than from the lower and the middle, in the building. ⁶For they were in three stories, and they didn't have pillars as the pillars of the courts: therefore [the uppermost] was straitened more than the lowest and the middle from the ground. ⁷The wall that was outside by the side of the chambers, toward the outer court before the chambers, the length of it was fifty cubits. ⁸For the length of the chambers that were in the outer court was fifty cubits: and, behold, before the temple were one hundred cubits. ⁹From under these chambers was the entry on the east side, as one goes into them from the outer court. ¹⁰In the thickness of the wall of the court toward the east, before the separate place, and before the building, there were chambers. ¹¹The way before them was like the appearance of [the way of] the chambers which were toward the north; according to their length so was their breadth: and all their exits were both according to their fashions, and according to their doors. ¹²According to the doors of the chambers that were toward the south was a door at the head of the way, even the way directly before the wall toward the east, as one enters into them. ¹³Then said he to me, The north chambers and the south chambers, which are before the separate place, they are the holy chambers, where the priests who are near to Yahweh shall eat the most holy things: there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meal-offering, and the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering; for the place is holy. ¹⁴When the priests enter in, then shall they not go out of the holy place into the outer court, but there they shall lay their garments in which they minister; for they are holy: and they shall put on other garments, and shall approach to that which pertains to the people. ¹⁵Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me forth by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east, and measured it round about. ¹⁶He measured on the east side with the measuring reed five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about. ¹⁷He measured on the north side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about. ¹⁸He measured on the south side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed. ¹⁹He turned about to the west side, and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed. ²⁰He measured it on the four sides: it had a wall round about, the length five hundred, and the breadth five hundred, to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common.

¹Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looks toward the east. ²Behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shined with his glory. ³It was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city; and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face. ⁴The glory of Yahweh came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. ⁵The Spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of Yahweh filled the house. ⁶I heard one speaking to me out of the house; and a man stood by me. ⁷He 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 in the midst of the children of Israel forever. The house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their prostitution, and by the dead bodies of their kings [in] their high places; ⁸in their setting of their threshold by my threshold, and their door-post beside my door-post, and there was [but] the wall between me and them; and they have defiled my holy name by their abominations which they have committed: therefore I have consumed them in my anger. ⁹Now let them put away their prostitution, and the dead bodies of their kings, far from me; and I will dwell in the midst of them forever. ¹⁰You, son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern. ¹¹If they be ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the form of the house, and the fashion of it, and the exits of it, and the entrances of it, and all the forms of it, and all the ordinances of it, and all the forms of it, and all the laws of it; and write it in their sight; that they may keep the whole form of it, and all the ordinances of it, and do them. ¹²This is the law of the house: on the top of the mountain the whole limit of it round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house. ¹³These are the measures of the altar by cubits (the cubit is a cubit and a handbreadth): the bottom shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the border of it by the edge of it round about a span; and this shall be the base of the altar. ¹⁴From the bottom on the ground to the lower ledge shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser ledge to the greater ledge shall be four cubits, and the breadth a cubit. ¹⁵The upper altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar hearth and upward there shall be four horns. ¹⁶The altar hearth shall be twelve [cubits] long by twelve broad, square in the four sides of it. ¹⁷The ledge shall be fourteen [cubits] long by fourteen broad in the four sides of it; and the border about it shall be half a cubit; and the bottom of it shall be a cubit round about; and the steps of it shall look toward the east. ¹⁸He said to me, Son of man, thus says the Lord Yahweh: These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it, to offer burnt offerings thereon, and to sprinkle blood thereon. ¹⁹You shall give to the priests the Levites who are of the seed of Zadok, who are near to me, to minister to me, says the Lord Yahweh, a young bull for a sin-offering. ²⁰You shall take of the blood of it, and put it on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the ledge, and on the border round about: thus shall you cleanse it and make atonement for it. ²¹You shall also take the bull of the sin-offering, and it shall be burnt in the appointed place of the house, outside of the sanctuary. ²²On the second day you shall offer a male goat without blemish for a sin-offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they did cleanse it with the bull. ²³When you have made an end of cleansing it, you shall offer a young bull without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without blemish. ²⁴You shall bring them near before Yahweh, and the priests shall cast salt on them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering to Yahweh. ²⁵Seven days shall you prepare every day a goat for a sin-offering: they shall also prepare a young bull, and a ram out of the flock, without blemish. ²⁶Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and purify it; so shall they consecrate it. ²⁷When they have accomplished the days, it shall be that on the eighth day, and forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings on the altar, and your peace-offerings; and I will accept you, says the Lord Yahweh.

¹Then he brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which looks toward the east; and it was shut. ²Yahweh said to me, This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, neither shall any man enter in by it; for Yahweh, 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 Yahweh; 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 Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh: and I fell on my face. ⁵Yahweh 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 Yahweh, and all the laws of it; 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 Yahweh: 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 kept the charge of my holy things; but you have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves. ⁹Thus says the Lord Yahweh, 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 Yahweh, 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 keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service of it, and for all that shall be done therein. ¹⁵But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who kept the charge 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 Yahweh: ¹⁶they shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge. ¹⁷It 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 tires on their heads, and shall have linen breeches on their loins; they shall not gird 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 chambers; and they shall put on other garments, that they not sanctify the people with their garments. ²⁰Neither 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. ²⁴In 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. ²⁵They 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 Yahweh. ²⁸They 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.