Our Father's Glory Returns to the Temple
43 1 Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing east. 2 And there was the glory of the Father of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory. 3 And the vision I saw looked like the vision I had seen when he came to destroy the city, and like the vision I had seen by the Kebar River; and I fell on my face. 4 And the glory of our Father came into the temple through the east gate. 5 Then the Spirit of our Father lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and there was the glory of our Father filling the temple.
6 And I heard someone speaking to me from within the temple, while a man was standing beside me.
7 And he said to me, "Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will dwell among the people of Israel forever. The house of Israel will no longer defile my holy name — they and their kings — by their unfaithfulness and by the corpses of their kings at their high places, 1 1 v7 "Corpses of their kings at their high places" likely refers to royal burial monuments placed within or adjacent to the temple precinct. 8 by setting their threshold beside my threshold and their doorpost beside my doorpost, with only a wall between me and them. They defiled my holy name by the detestable things they did, so I consumed them in my anger. 9 Now let them put their unfaithfulness and the corpses of their kings far away from me, and I will dwell among them forever.
10 You, son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their sins; and let them measure its design. 11 And if they are ashamed of all they have done, tell them the plan of the temple — its arrangement, its exits and entrances, its whole design and all its statutes, all its forms and all its laws. Write it all down in front of them, so that they may keep its whole design and all its statutes and carry them out.
12 This is the law of the temple: the entire area on the top of the mountain all around shall be most holy. Yes, this is the law of the temple.
The Altar of Sacrifice
13 And these are the measurements of the altar: its base about twenty-one inches deep and twenty-one inches wide, with a rim of about nine inches around its edge. And this is the height of the altar: 14 from the base on the ground to the lower ledge, about three and a half feet, with a width of about twenty-one inches; and from the smaller ledge to the larger ledge, about seven feet, with a width of about twenty-one inches. 15 And the altar hearth was seven feet high, and from the altar hearth four horns projected upward. 16 The altar hearth was twenty-one feet long by twenty-one feet wide, square on its four sides. 17 And the ledge was twenty-four and a half feet long by twenty-four and a half feet wide on its four sides, with a border around it of about ten and a half inches and a base of about twenty-one inches all around; and its steps faced east.
18 Then he said to me, "Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Father says: These are the statutes for the altar on the day it is built, for offering burnt offerings on it and for sprinkling blood on it. 19 You shall give to the Levitical priests who are descendants of Zadok, who draw near to me to minister to me, declares the Sovereign Father, a young bull for a sin offering. 20 And you shall take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar, on the four corners of the ledge, and on the border all around; so you shall purify it and make atonement for it. 21 Then you shall take the bull of the sin offering, and it shall be burned in the appointed place of the temple, outside the sanctuary.
22 On the second day you shall offer a male goat without blemish for a sin offering, and they shall purify the altar as they purified it with the bull. 23 When you have finished purifying it, you shall offer a young bull without blemish and a ram from the flock without blemish. 24 You shall present them before our Father, and the priests shall sprinkle salt on them and offer them up as a burnt offering to our Father.
25 For seven days you shall provide a goat each day for a sin offering; they shall also provide a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without blemish. 26 For seven days they shall make atonement for the altar and cleanse it; so they shall consecrate it. 27 And when these days are completed, then from the eighth day onward the priests shall offer your burnt offerings and your peace offerings on the altar; and I will accept you, declares the Sovereign Father."