The Plot to Kill Jesus
45 iMany of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, 46 but jsome of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, k“What are we to do? For this man performs many lsigns. 48 If we let him go on like this, meveryone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and ntake away both our place and our nation.” 49 But one of them, oCaiaphas, who was high priest pthat year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 50 Nor do you understand that qit is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” 51 He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and rnot for the nation only, but also sto gather into one tthe children of God who are scattered abroad. 53 So from that day on they umade plans to put him to death.
54 Jesus therefore vno longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.
55 wNow the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover xto purify themselves. 56 They were ylooking for1 Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?” 57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might zarrest him.
Test the Spirits
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but mtest the spirits to see whether they are from God, for nmany false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come oin the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the pantichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world qalready. 4 Little children, ryou are from God and shave overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 tThey are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. uWhoever vknows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the wSpirit of truth and the xspirit of error.
17 “I will show you; hear me,
and what I have seen I will declare
18 (what wise men have told,
without hiding it from their fathers,
19 to whom alone the land was given,
and no stranger passed among them).
20 The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,
through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.
21 Dreadful sounds are in his ears;
in prosperity the destroyer will come upon him.
22 He does not believe that he will return out of darkness,
and he is marked for the sword.
23 He hwanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand;
24 distress and anguish terrify him;
they prevail against him, like a king ready for battle.
25 Because he has stretched out his hand against God
and defies the Almighty,
26 running stubbornly against him
with a thickly bossed shield;
27 because he has covered his face with his ifat
and gathered fat upon his waist
28 and has lived in desolate cities,
in houses that none should inhabit,
which were ready to become heaps of ruins;
29 he will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure,
nor will his possessions spread over the earth;1
30 he will not depart from darkness;
the flame will dry up his shoots,
and by the breath of his mouth he will depart.
31 Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself,
for emptiness will be his payment.
32 It will be paid in full jbefore his time,
and his branch will not be green.
33 He will shake off his unripe grape like the vine,
and cast off his blossom like the olive tree.
34 For the company of the godless is barren,
and fire consumes the tents of bribery.
35 They kconceive trouble and give birth to evil,
and their womb prepares deceit.”
The Temple’s Chambers
1 Then he led me out into the outer court, toward the north, and he brought me to the chambers that were opposite the separate yard and opposite the building on the north. 2 The length of the building whose door faced north was a hundred cubits,1 and the breadth fifty cubits. 3 Facing the twenty cubits that belonged to the inner court, and facing the pavement that belonged to the outer court, was gallery2 against gallery in three stories. 4 And before the chambers was a passage inward, ten cubits wide and a hundred cubits long,3 and their doors were on the north. 5 Now the upper chambers were narrower, for the galleries took more away from them than from the lower and middle chambers of the building. 6 For they were in three stories, and they had no pillars like the pillars of the courts. Thus the upper chambers were set back from the ground more than the lower and the middle ones. 7 And there was a wall outside parallel to the chambers, toward the outer court, opposite the chambers, fifty cubits long. 8 For the chambers on the outer court were fifty cubits long, while those opposite the nave4 were a hundred cubits long. 9 Below these chambers was an jentrance on the east side, as one enters them from the outer court.
10 In the thickness of the wall of the court, on the south5 also, opposite the yard and opposite the building, there were chambers 11 with a passage in front of them. They were similar to the chambers on the north, of the same length and breadth, with the same exits6 and arrangements and doors, 12 as were the entrances of the chambers on the south. There was an entrance at the beginning of the passage, the passage before the corresponding wall on the east as one enters them.7
13 Then he said to me, “The north chambers and the south chambers opposite the yard are the holy chambers, where the priests who approach the Lord shall eat the most holy offerings. There they shall put the most holy offerings—the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering—for the place is holy. 14 When the priests enter the Holy Place, they shall not go out of it into the outer court without klaying there the garments in which they minister, for these are holy. They shall put on lother garments before they go near to that which is for the people.”
15 Now when he had finished measuring the interior of the temple area, he led me out by the gate that faced east, and measured the temple area all around. 16 He measured the east side with the measuring reed, 500 cubits by the measuring reed all around. 17 He measured the north side, 500 cubits by the measuring reed all around. 18 He measured the south side, 500 cubits by the measuring reed. 19 Then he turned to the west side and measured, 500 cubits by the measuring reed. 20 He measured it on the four sides. It had a mwall around it, 500 cubits long nand 500 cubits broad, oto make a separation between the holy and the common.
The Glory of the Lord Fills the Temple
1 Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing east. 2 And behold, the pglory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. And the sound of his coming was qlike the sound of many waters, rand the earth shone with his glory. 3 And the vision I saw was just like sthe vision that I had seen when he8 came to destroy the city, and just like tthe vision that I had seen by the Chebar canal. And uI fell on my face. 4 As the glory of the Lord ventered the temple by the gate facing east, 5 wthe Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, xthe glory of the Lord filled the temple.
6 While the yman was standing beside me, I heard one speaking to me out of the temple, 7 and he 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 people of Israel zforever. And the house of Israel shall no more adefile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoring and by the dead bodies9 of their kings at their high places,10 8 by setting their threshold by my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them. They have defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed, so I have consumed them in my anger. 9 Now let them put away their whoring and the dead bodies of their kings far from me, and I will dwell in their midst forever.
10 “As for you, son of man, bdescribe to the house of Israel the temple, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and they shall measure the plan. 11 And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple, its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, that is, its whole design; and make known to them as well all its statutes and its whole design and all its laws, and write it down cin their sight, so that they may observe all its laws and all its statutes and carry them out. 12 This is the law of the temple: the whole territory on the top of the dmountain all around shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple.
The Altar
13 “These are the emeasurements of the altar by cubits (the cubit being fa cubit and a handbreadth):11 its base shall be one cubit high12 and one cubit broad, with a rim of one span13 around its edge. And this shall be the height of the altar: 14 from the base on the ground to the lower ledge, two cubits, with a breadth of one cubit; and from the smaller ledge to the larger ledge, four cubits, with a breadth of one cubit; 15 and the altar hearth, four cubits; and from the altar hearth projecting upward, four horns. 16 The altar hearth shall be square, twelve cubits long by twelve broad. 17 The ledge also shall be square, fourteen cubits long by fourteen broad, with a rim around it half a cubit broad, and its base one cubit all around. The steps of the altar shall face east.”
18 And he said to me, “Son of man, thus says the Lord God: These are the ordinances for the altar: On the day when it is erected for offering gburnt offerings upon it and for hthrowing blood against it, 19 you shall give to the Levitical priests iof the family of Zadok, who draw near to me to minister to me, declares the Lord God, a bull from the herd for a jsin offering. 20 And you shall take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar and on the four corners of the ledge and upon the rim all around. Thus you shall purify the altar and kmake atonement for it. 21 You shall also take the bull of the sin offering, and it shall be lburned in the appointed place belonging to the temple, outside the sacred area. 22 And on the second day you shall offer a male goat without blemish for a sin offering; and the altar shall be purified, as it was purified with the bull. 23 When you have finished purifying it, you shall offer a bull from the herd without blemish and a ram from the flock without blemish. 24 You shall present them before the Lord, and the priests shall sprinkle msalt on them and offer them up as a burnt offering to the Lord. 25 nFor seven days you shall provide daily a male goat for a sin offering; also, a bull from the herd and a ram from the flock, without blemish, shall be provided. 26 oSeven days shall they make atonement for the altar and cleanse it, and so consecrate it.14 27 And when they have completed these days, then from the eighth day onward the priests shall offer on the altar your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, and I will paccept you, declares the Lord God.”
The Gate for the Prince
1 Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east. And it was shut. 2 And the Lord said to me, “This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the Lord, the God of Israel, qhas entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut. 3 Only the rprince may sit in it to eat bread before the Lord. He shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.”
4 Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple, and I looked, and behold, sthe glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord. And tI fell on my face. 5 And the Lord said to me, “Son of man, umark well, see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I shall tell you concerning all the statutes of the temple of the Lord and all its laws. And mark well the ventrance to the temple and all the exits from the sanctuary. 6 And say to the wrebellious house,15 to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: O house of Israel, xenough of all your abominations, 7 in yadmitting foreigners, uncircumcised in zheart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary, profaning my temple, when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. You16 have broken my covenant, in addition to all your abominations. 8 aAnd you have not kept charge of my holy things, but you have set others to keep my charge for you in my sanctuary.
9 “Thus says the Lord God: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, shall enter my sanctuary. 10 But the Levites who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols when Israel went astray, shall bear their punishment.17 11 They shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple and ministering in the temple. They shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall bstand before the people, to minister to them. 12 Because they ministered to them before their idols and became a cstumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have sworn concerning them, declares the Lord God, and they shall bear their punishment. 13 They shall not come near to me, to serve me as priest, nor come near any of my holy things and the things that are most holy, but they shall bear their shame and the abominations that they have committed. 14 Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the temple, to do all its service and all that is to be done in it.
Rules for Levitical Priests
15 “But the Levitical priests, the dsons of Zadok, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me. And they shall stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the Lord God. 16 They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall approach emy table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge. 17 When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen garments. They shall have nothing of wool on them, while they minister at the gates of the inner court, and within. 18 They shall have linen turbans on their heads, and linen fundergarments around their waists. They shall not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat. 19 And when they go out into the outer court to the people, they shall gput off the garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers. And they shall put on other garments, lest they htransmit holiness to the people with their garments. 20 iThey shall not shave their heads or let their locks grow long; they shall surely trim the hair of their heads. 21 jNo priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court. 22 kThey shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but only virgins of the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest. 23 They shall teach my people the ldifference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. 24 In a dispute, mthey shall act as judges, and they shall judge it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts, and they shall keep my Sabbaths holy. 25 They shall not ndefile themselves by going near to a dead person. However, for father or mother, for son or daughter, for brother or unmarried sister they may defile themselves. 26 After he18 has become clean, they shall count oseven days for him. 27 And on the day that he goes into the Holy Place, into the inner court, to minister in the Holy Place, he shall offer his sin offering, declares the Lord God.
28 “This shall be their inheritance: pI am their inheritance: and you shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession. 29 They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and qevery devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. 30 And the first of all the rfirstfruits of all kinds, and every offering of all kinds from all your offerings, shall belong to the priests. You shall also give to the priests the first of your sdough, tthat a blessing may rest on your house. 31 uThe priests shall not eat of anything, whether bird or beast, that has died of itself or is torn by wild animals.
