1 Then he led me to ^bthe gate, the gate facing east. 2 And behold, ^cthe glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. And ^dthe sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters, and ^ethe earth shone with his glory. 3 And ^fthe vision I saw was just like the vision that I had seen ^gwhen he¹ came to destroy the city, and just like ^hthe vision that I had seen ⁱby the Chebar canal. And ^jI fell on my face. 4 As ^cthe glory of the Lord ^kentered the temple by the gate facing east, 5 ^lthe Spirit lifted me up and brought me into ^mthe inner court; and behold, ⁿthe glory of the Lord filled the temple.

6 ^oWhile the man was standing beside me, ^pI heard one speaking to me out of the temple, 7 and he said to me, ^q“Son of man, this is ^rthe place of my throne and ^sthe place of the soles of my feet, ^twhere I will dwell in the midst of the people of Israel forever. And the house of Israel shall no more ^udefile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoring and by the dead bodies² of their kings at their high places,³ 8 by setting their threshold by my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with ^vonly a wall between me and them. They have ^wdefiled 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, ^tand I will dwell in their midst forever.

10 “As for you, ^qson of man, ^xdescribe 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, ^xmake known to them the design of the temple, its arrangement, ^yits 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 ^zin 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 ^athe mountain ^ball around shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple.

13 “These are the measurements of ^cthe altar by cubits (the cubit being ^da cubit and a handbreadth):⁴ its base shall be one cubit high⁵ and one cubit broad, with a rim of one span⁶ 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, ^efour horns. 16 The altar hearth shall be ^fsquare, 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. ^gThe steps of the altar shall face east.”

18 And he said to me, ^h“Son of man, thus says the Lord God: These are the ordinances for the altar: On the day when it is erected for offering burnt offerings upon it and ⁱfor throwing blood against it, 19 you shall give to ^jthe Levitical priests ^kof the family of Zadok, who draw near to me to minister to me, declares the Lord God, ^la bull from the herd for a sin offering. 20 And ^myou shall take some of its blood and put it on ^ethe four horns of the altar and on the four corners of the ledge and upon ⁿthe rim all around. ^oThus you shall purify the altar and make atonement for it. 21 You shall also take the bull of the sin offering, and ^pit shall be burned 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 ^opurifying it, you shall offer a bull from the herd without blemish and ^qa ram from the flock without blemish. 24 You shall present them before the Lord, and the priests ^rshall sprinkle salt on them and offer them up as a burnt offering to the Lord. 25 ^sFor 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 Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and cleanse it, and so consecrate it.⁷ 27 And when they have completed these days, then ^tfrom the eighth day onward the priests shall offer on the altar your burnt offerings and your ^upeace offerings, and ^vI will accept you, declares the Lord God.”