The Prince at the East Gate
The east gate opens only on sabbaths and new moons, the prince stands at its post while his offerings to our Father are made, and worshipers must leave by the gate opposite the one they entered. The prince may not seize family land. Ezekiel is shown the kitchens.
46 1The Sovereign Father says this: The inner court's east gate stays shut six workdays, but opened on the sabbath and opened on the new moon. 2"The prince enters through the gate's entrance hall from outside and stands by the doorpost while the priests present his burnt offering and peace offerings. He worships at the gate's threshold, then leaves; but the gate stays open until evening. 3The people of the land will worship at that gate's entrance before our Father on sabbaths and new moons. 4The prince's burnt offering to our Father on the sabbath: six lambs without defect and a ram without defect. 5Grain offering: about six gallons of flour with the ram; with the lambs, whatever he can give; and about one gallon of oil per six gallons. 6On the new moon day: a young bull, six lambs, and a ram, all without defect. 7As a grain offering he provides about six gallons with the bull, six gallons with the ram, with the lambs as much as he can afford, plus about a gallon of oil per six gallons. 8When the prince enters, he comes in through the gate's entrance hall and leaves the same way.
9When the people of the land come before our Father at the appointed feasts, whoever enters the north gate to worship leaves by the south, and whoever enters the south leaves by the north. No one returns through his entry gate; each goes straight out. 10The prince will be among them—entering when they enter, leaving when they leave. 11At feasts and appointed times the grain offering is six gallons of flour with a bull, six with a ram, with the lambs as much as he can give, and one gallon of oil per six gallons. 12When the prince gives our Father a voluntary offering—a burnt offering or peace offerings—the east-facing gate opens for him. He offers his burnt offering and peace offerings as on the sabbath, then goes out, and the gate is shut after he leaves.
13Provide a year-old lamb without defect as a daily burnt offering to our Father, prepared each morning. 14Every morning provide a grain offering with it: about a gallon of fine flour and a quart of oil to moisten it, a grain offering to our Father—a permanent law, forever. 15They are to provide the lamb, grain offering, and oil each morning, a continual burnt offering."
16The Sovereign Father says: "If the prince gives a gift to one of his sons, it becomes that son's inheritance, belonging to his sons as their property. 17But if he gives part of his inheritance to a servant, it is the servant's until the year of release, then returns to the prince. His inheritance belongs to his sons only—it is theirs. 18The prince must not seize the people's inheritance, forcing them off their property. He will give his sons an inheritance from his own holdings, so none of my people is driven from their property."
The Sacred Kitchens of the Temple
19Then he brought me through the entrance beside the gate into the priests' holy chambers facing north; there, at the far west end, was a place.
20He told me, "Here the priests boil the guilt and sin offerings and bake the grain offering, so they don't carry them to the outer court and pass holiness to the people." a a 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.
21He brought me out to the outer court and past its four corners; in each was a court. 22The court's four corners had enclosed courts, about seventy feet long and fifty feet wide; all four the same size. 23A stone row ran around inside all four, with cooking hearths built under the rows all around.
24Then he said to me, "These are the kitchens where temple servants boil the people's sacrifices."
