The Glory Returns to the Temple
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Then te man brought me to the gate facing east,
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and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east.
His voice was like the roar of rushing waters,
and the land was radiant with his glory.
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The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen
when he came to destroy the city and like the visions
I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown.
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The glory of the LORD entered the temple through the gate facing east.
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Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court,
and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.
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While the man was standing beside me,
I heard someone speaking to me from inside the temple.
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He said: "Son of man, this is the place of my throne
and the place for the soles of my feet.
This is where I will live among the Israelites forever.
The house of Israel will never again defile my holy name -
neither they nor their kings - by their prostitution
and the lifeless idols of their kings at their high places.
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When they placed their threshold next to my threshold
and their doorposts beside my doorposts,
with only a wall between me and them,
they defiled my holy name by their detestable practices.
So I destroyed them in my anger.
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Now let them put away from me their prostitution
and the lifeless idols of their kings,
and I will live among them forever.
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"Son of man, describe the temple to the people of Israel,
that they may be ashamed people of Israel,
that they may be ashamed of their sins.
Let them conside the plan.
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and if they are ashamed of all they have done,
make known to them the design of the temple -
its arrangement, its exits and entrances -
its whole design and all its regulations and laws.
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"This is the law of the temple: All the surrounding area
on top of the mountain will be most holy.
Such is the law of the temple.
The Altar
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"These are the measurements of the altar in long cubits,
that cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth:
Its gutter is a cubit deep and a cubit wide,
with a rim of one span around the edge.
And this is the height of the altar:
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From the gutter on the ground up to the lower ledge
it is two cubits high and a cubit wide, and from the smaller ledge
up to the larger ledge it is four cubits high and a cubit wide.
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The altar hearth is four cubits high,
and four horns project upward from the hearth.
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The altar hearth is square, twelve cubits long and twelve cubits wide.
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The upper ledge also is square, fourteen cubits long and fourteen cubis wide,
with a rim of half a cubit and a gutter of a cubit all around.
The steps of the altar face east."
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Then he said to me, "Son of man, this is what the Svereign LORD says:
There will be the regulations for sacrificing burnt offerings
and sprinkling blood upon the altar when it is built:
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You are to give a young bull as a sin offering to the priests,
who are Levites, of the family of Zadok, who come near
to minister before me, declares the Sovereign LORD.
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You are to take some of its blood and put it
on the four horns of the altar and
on the four corners of the upper ledge and all arond the rim,
and so purify the altar and make atonement for it.
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You are to take the bull of the sin offering
and burn it in the designated part of the temple area outside the sanctuary.
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"On the second day you are to offer a male goat without defect
for a sin offering, and the altar is to be purified
as it was purified with the bull.
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When you have finished purifying it, you are to offer a young bull
and a ram from the flock, both without defect.
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You are to offer them before the LORD,
and the priests are to sprinkle salt on them
and sacrifice them as a burnt offering to the LORD.
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"For seven days you are to provide a male goat daily for a sin offering;
you are also to provide a young bull and a ram
from the flock, both without defect.
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For seven days they are to make atonement for the altar and cleanse it;
thus they will dedicate it.
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At the end of these days, from the eighth day on,
the priests are to present your burnt offerings
and fellowship offerings on the altar.
Then I will accept you, declares the Soverign LORD."
