Today's Reading

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 the Lord 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 the Lord 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 doorpost beside my doorpost, 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 their midst forever.

¹⁰"You, 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 its fashion, and its exits, and its entrances, and all its forms, and all its ordinances, and all its forms, and all its laws; and write it in their sight; that they may keep the whole form of it, and all its ordinances, and do them.

¹²"This is the law of the house: on the top of the mountain the whole limit around it shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.

¹³"These 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 its border around its edge 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 its bottom shall be a cubit around; and its steps shall look toward the east."

¹⁸He said to me, "Son of man, thus says the Lord God: 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 God, a young bull for a sin offering.

²⁰You shall take of its blood, and put it on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the ledge, and on the border all around: thus you shall 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.

²²"On the second day you shall offer a male goat without blemish for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they cleansed it with the bull.

²³When you have finished cleansing it, you shall offer a young bull without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without blemish.

²⁴You shall bring them near to the Lord, and the priests shall cast salt on them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering to the Lord.

²⁵"Seven days you shall 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 God."

¹Then he brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which looks toward the east; and it was shut.

²The Lord said to me, "This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, neither shall any man enter in by it; for the Lord, 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 the Lord; 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 the Lord filled the house of the Lord: and I fell on my face.

⁵The Lord 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 the Lord, and all its laws; 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 God: 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 performed the duty of my holy things; but you have set performers of my duty in my sanctuary for yourselves.'

⁹"Thus says the Lord God, '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 God, 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 performers of the duty of the house, for all its service, and for all that shall be done therein.

¹⁵"'But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who performed the duty 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 God:

¹⁶they shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my instruction.

¹⁷"'It 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 turbans on their heads, and shall have linen breeches on their waists; they shall not clothe 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 rooms; and they shall put on other garments, that they not sanctify the people with their garments.

²⁰"'Neither 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.

²⁴"'In 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.

²⁵"'They 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 God.

²⁸"'They 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.

¹"'Moreover, when you shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, you shall offer an offering to the Lord, a holy portion of the land; the length shall be the length of twenty-five thousand reeds, and the breadth shall be ten thousand: it shall be holy in all its border all around.

²Of this there shall be for the holy place five hundred in length by five hundred in breadth, square all around; and fifty cubits for its suburbs all around.

³Of this measure you shall measure a length of twenty-five thousand, and a breadth of ten thousand: and in it shall be the sanctuary, which is most holy.

⁴It is a holy portion of the land; it shall be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who come near to minister to the Lord; and it shall be a place for their houses, and a holy place for the sanctuary.

⁵Twenty-five thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth, shall be to the Levites, the ministers of the house, for a possession to themselves, for twenty rooms.

⁶"'You shall appoint the possession of the city five thousand broad, and twenty-five thousand long, side by side with the offering of the holy portion: it shall be for the whole house of Israel.

⁷"'Whatever is for the prince shall be on the one side and on the other side of the holy offering and of the possession of the city, in front of the holy offering and in front of the possession of the city, on the west side westward, and on the east side eastward; and in length answerable to one of the portions, from the west border to the east border.

⁸In the land it shall be to him for a possession in Israel: and my princes shall no more oppress my people; but they shall give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.'

⁹"Thus says the Lord God: 'Let it suffice you, princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute justice and righteousness; dispossessing my people, says the Lord God.

¹⁰You shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath.

¹¹The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath may contain the tenth part of a homer, and the ephah the tenth part of a homer: its measure shall be after the homer.

¹²The shekel shall be twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels shall be your mina.

¹³"'This is the offering that you shall offer: the sixth part of an ephah from a homer of wheat; and you shall give the sixth part of an ephah from a homer of barley;

¹⁴and the set portion of oil, of the bath of oil, the tenth part of a bath out of the cor, which is ten baths, even a homer; (for ten baths are a homer;)

¹⁵and one lamb of the flock, out of two hundred, from the well-watered pastures of Israel-for a meal offering, and for a burnt offering, and for peace offerings, to make atonement for them, says the Lord God.

¹⁶All the people of the land shall give to this offering for the prince in Israel.

¹⁷It shall be the prince's part to give the burnt offerings, and the meal offerings, and the drink offerings, in the feasts, and on the new moons, and on the Sabbaths, in all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel: he shall prepare the sin offering, and the meal offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to make atonement for the house of Israel.

¹⁸"'Thus says the Lord God: In the first month, in the first day of the month, you shall take a young bull without blemish; and you shall cleanse the sanctuary.

¹⁹The priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering, and put it on the door posts of the house, and on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the posts of the gate of the inner court.

²⁰So you shall do on the seventh day of the month for everyone who errs, and for him who is simple: so you shall make atonement for the house.

²¹"'In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, you shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.

²²On that day shall the prince prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bull for a sin offering.

²³The seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to the Lord, seven bulls and seven rams without blemish daily the seven days; and a male goat daily for a sin offering.

²⁴He shall prepare a meal offering, an ephah for a bull, and an ephah for a ram, and a hin of oil to an ephah.

²⁵In the seventh month, in the fifteenth day of the month, in the feast, shall he do the like the seven days; according to the sin offering, according to the burnt offering, and according to the meal offering, and according to the oil.'

¹Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you.

²Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten.

³Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days.

⁴Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts.

⁵You have lived delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter.

⁶You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous one. He does not resist you.

⁷Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receives the early and late rain.

⁸You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.

⁹Do not grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won't be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door.

¹⁰Take, brothers, for an example of suffering and of patience, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

¹¹Behold, we call them blessed who endured. You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

¹²But above all things, my brothers, do not swear, neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath; but let your "yes" be "yes," and your "no," "no;" so that you do not fall under judgment.

¹³Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praises.

¹⁴Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,

¹⁵and the prayer of faith will heal him who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

¹⁶Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.

¹⁷Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.

¹⁸He prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit.

¹⁹My brothers, if any among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back,

²⁰let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sins.

¹My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding:

²that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve knowledge.

³For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil,

⁴But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword.

⁵Her feet go down to death. Her steps lead straight to Sheol.

⁶She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn't know it.

⁷Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. Do not depart from the words of my mouth.

⁸Remove your way far from her. Do not come near the door of her house,

⁹lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one;

¹⁰lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man's house.

¹¹You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,

¹²and say, "How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;

¹³neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me!

¹⁴I have come to the brink of utter ruin, in the midst of the gathered assembly."

¹⁵Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well.

¹⁶Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares?

¹⁷Let them be for yourself alone, not for strangers with you.

¹⁸Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.

¹⁹A loving doe and a graceful deer- let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated always with her love.

²⁰For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another?

²¹For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord. He examines all his paths.

²²The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.

²³He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.