The Prince Draws Near to Worship
46 1 Thus says the Sovereign Father: The gate of the inner court that faces east shall be shut on 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. 2 The prince shall enter through the entry room of the gate from outside and shall stand by the gatepost, and the priests shall offer his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate and then go out; but the gate shall not be shut until evening. 3 The people of the land shall worship at the entrance of that gate before our Father on the sabbaths and on the new moons. 4 The burnt offering that the prince offers to our Father on the sabbath day shall be six lambs and a ram, all with no defects. 5 And the grain offering shall be about six gallons of flour with the ram, and with the lambs as much as he is able to give, together with about one gallon of oil to every six gallons of flour. 6 On the day of the new moon it shall be a young bull, six lambs, and a ram, all with no defects. 7 As a grain offering he shall provide about six gallons of flour with the bull and about six gallons with the ram, and with the lambs as much as he can afford, together with about one gallon of oil to every six gallons of flour. 8 When the prince enters, he shall enter through the entry room of the gate, and he shall go out the same way.
9 When the people of the land come before our Father at the appointed feasts, whoever enters by the north gate to worship shall go out by the south gate, and whoever enters by the south gate shall go out by the north gate. No one shall return by the gate through which he entered, but each shall go out straight ahead. 10 And the prince shall enter with them when they enter, and when they go out, he shall go out. 11 At the feasts and the appointed seasons the grain offering shall be about six gallons of flour with a bull and about six gallons with a ram, and with the lambs as much as he is able to give, together with about one gallon of oil to every six gallons of flour. 12 When the prince provides a freewill offering, whether a burnt offering or peace offerings as a freewill offering to our Father, the gate facing east shall be opened for him, and he shall offer his burnt offering and his peace offerings as he does on the sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he has gone out the gate shall be shut.
13 You shall provide a year-old lamb with no defects for a burnt offering to our Father daily; every morning you shall provide it. 14 And every morning you shall provide a grain offering with it, about one gallon of fine flour with about one quart of oil to moisten the fine flour, as a grain offering to our Father — a permanent law, never to cease. 15 Thus they shall provide the lamb, the grain offering, and the oil every morning, as a continual burnt offering.
16 Thus says the Sovereign Father: If the prince makes a gift to any of his sons, it is that son's inheritance; it shall belong to his sons. It is their property by inheritance. 17 But if he makes a gift out of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his until the year of liberty; then it shall return to the prince. His inheritance belongs only to his sons — it shall be theirs. 1 1 v17 The year of liberty is the Jubilee, held every fiftieth year, when land that had been given away reverted to the original family. 18 The prince shall not take any of the people's inheritance, forcing them out of their property. He shall provide an inheritance for his sons out of his own property, so that none of my children may be driven from their own property.
The Sacred Kitchens of the Temple
19 Then he brought me through the entrance at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers for the priests, which faced north; and there, at the extreme western end, was a place. 20 And he said to me, "This is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the grain offering, so as not to carry them out into the outer court and transmit holiness to the people." 2 2 v20 In Israel's worship, sacred items were considered spiritually potent; contact with them could endanger ordinary people not ritually prepared, so the cooking stayed inside the sacred zone.
21 Then he brought me out to the outer court and led me past the four corners of the court, and in each corner of the court there was a court. 22 In the four corners of the court were enclosed courts, about seventy feet long and fifty feet wide; all four corner courts were the same size. 23 There was a row of masonry around all four of them, and cooking hearths were made beneath the rows all around. 24 Then he said to me, "These are the kitchens where those who minister at the temple shall boil the people's sacrifices."