Ezekiel 45

¹  "And when you divide by lot the land for inheritance, you shall offer an allotment to the LORD, a holy portion of the land; the length shall be the length of 25,000 cubits, and the width shall be 20,000. It shall be holy within all its boundary round about. ²  "Out of this there shall be for the holy place a square round about five hundred by five hundred cubits, and fifty cubits for its open space round about. ³  "From this area you shall measure a length of 25,000 cubits and a width of 10,000 cubits; and in it shall be the sanctuary, the most holy place. ⁴  "It shall be the 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. ⁵  "An area 25,000 cubits in length and 10,000 in width shall be for the Levites, the ministers of the house, and for their possession cities to dwell in. ⁶  "You shall give the city possession of an area 5,000 cubits wide and 25,000 cubits long, alongside the allotment of the holy portion; it shall be for the whole house of Israel. ⁷  "The prince shall have land on either side of the holy allotment and the property of the city, adjacent to the holy allotment and the property of the city, on the west side toward the west and on the east side toward the east, and in length comparable to one of the portions, from the west border to the east border. ⁸  "This shall be his land for a possession in Israel; so My princes shall no longer oppress My people, but they shall give the rest of the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes." ⁹  'Thus says the Lord GOD, " Enough, you princes of Israel; put away violence and destruction, and practice justice and righteousness. Stop your expropriations from My people," declares the Lord GOD. ¹⁰  "You shall have just balances, a just ephah and a just bath. ¹¹  "The ephah and the bath shall be the same quantity, so that the bath will contain a tenth of a homer and the ephah a tenth of a homer; their standard shall be according to the homer. ¹²  "The shekel shall be twenty gerahs; twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels shall be your maneh. ¹³  "This is the offering that you shall offer: a sixth of an ephah from a homer of wheat; a sixth of an ephah from a homer of barley; ¹⁴  and the prescribed portion of oil (namely, the bath of oil), a tenth of a bath from each kor (which is ten baths or a homer, for ten baths are a homer); ¹⁵  and one sheep from each flock of two hundred from the watering places of Israel--for a grain offering, for a burnt offering and for peace offerings, to make atonement for them," declares the Lord GOD. ¹⁶  " All the people of the land shall give to this offering for the prince in Israel. ¹⁷  "It shall be the prince's part to provide the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the drink offerings, at the feasts, on the new moons and on the sabbaths, at all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel; he shall provide the sin offering, the grain offering, 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, on the first of the month, you shall take a young bull without blemish and cleanse the sanctuary. ¹⁹  "The priest shall take some of the blood from the sin offering and put it on the door posts of the house, on the four corners of the ledge of the altar and on the posts of the gate of the inner court. ²⁰  "Thus you shall do on the seventh day of the month for everyone who goes astray or is naive; so you shall make atonement for the house. ²¹  "In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. ²²  "On that day the prince shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a bull for a sin offering. ²³  "During the seven days of the feast he shall provide as a burnt offering to the LORD seven bulls and seven rams without blemish on every day of the seven days, and a male goat daily for a sin offering. ²⁴  "He shall provide as a grain offering an ephah with a bull, an ephah with a ram and a hin of oil with an ephah. ²⁵  "In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, at the feast, he shall provide like this, seven days for the sin offering, the burnt offering, the grain offering and the oil."

Ezekiel 46

¹  'Thus says the Lord GOD, "The gate of the inner court facing east shall be shut the six working days; but it shall be opened on the sabbath day and opened on the day of the new moon. ²  "The prince shall enter by way of the porch of the gate from outside and stand by the post of the gate. Then the priests shall provide his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate and then go out; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening. ³  "The people of the land shall also worship at the doorway of that gate before the LORD on the sabbaths and on the new moons. ⁴  "The burnt offering which the prince shall offer to the LORD on the sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish; ⁵  and the grain offering shall be an ephah with the ram, and the grain offering with the lambs as much as he is able to give, and a hin of oil with an ephah. ⁶  "On the day of the new moon he shall offer a young bull without blemish, also six lambs and a ram, which shall be without blemish. ⁷  "And he shall provide a grain offering, an ephah with the bull and an ephah with the ram, and with the lambs as much as he is able, and a hin of oil with an ephah. ⁸  "When the prince enters, he shall go in by way of the porch of the gate and go out by the same way. ⁹  "But when the people of the land come before the LORD at the appointed feasts, he who enters by way of the north gate to worship shall go out by way of the south gate. And he who enters by way of the south gate shall go out by way of the north gate. No one shall return by way of the gate by which he entered but shall go straight out. ¹⁰  "When they go in, the prince shall go in among them; and when they go out, he shall go out. ¹¹  "At the festivals and the appointed feasts the grain offering shall be an ephah with a bull and an ephah with a ram, and with the lambs as much as one is able to give, and a hin of oil with an ephah. ¹²  "When the prince provides a freewill offering, a burnt offering, or peace offerings as a freewill offering to the LORD, the gate facing east shall be opened for him. And he shall provide his burnt offering and his peace offerings as he does on the sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and the gate shall be shut after he goes out. ¹³  "And you shall provide a lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering to the LORD daily; morning by morning you shall provide it. ¹⁴  "Also you shall provide a grain offering with it morning by morning, a sixth of an ephah and a third of a hin of oil to moisten the fine flour, a grain offering to the LORD continually by a perpetual ordinance. ¹⁵  "Thus they shall provide the lamb, the grain offering and the oil, morning by morning, for a continual burnt offering." ¹⁶  'Thus says the Lord GOD, "If the prince gives a gift out of his inheritance to any of his sons, it shall belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance. ¹⁷  "But if he gives a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his until the year of liberty; then it shall return to the prince. His inheritance shall be only his sons'; it shall belong to them. ¹⁸  "The prince shall not take from the people's inheritance, thrusting them out of their possession; he shall give his sons inheritance from his own possession so that My people will not be scattered, anyone from his possession."'" ¹⁹  Then he brought me through the entrance, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers for the priests, which faced north; and behold, there was a place at the extreme rear toward the west. ²⁰  He said to me, "This is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt offering and the sin offering and where they shall bake the grain offering, in order that they may not bring them out into the outer court to transmit holiness to the people." ²¹  Then he brought me out into the outer court and led me across to the four corners of the court; and behold, in every corner of the court there was a small court. ²²  In the four corners of the court there were enclosed courts, forty cubits long and thirty wide; these four in the corners were the same size. ²³  There was a row of masonry round about in them, around the four of them, and boiling places were made under the rows round about. ²⁴  Then he said to me, "These are the boiling places where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifices of the people."

Genesis 43

¹  Now the famine was severe in the land. ²  So it came about when they had finished eating the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, "Go back, buy us a little food." ³  Judah spoke to him, however, saying, " The man solemnly warned us, 'You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.' ⁴  "If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. ⁵  "But if you do not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, 'You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.'" ⁶  Then Israel said, "Why did you treat me so badly by telling the man whether you still had another brother?" ⁷  But they said, "The man questioned particularly about us and our relatives, saying, ' Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?' So we answered his questions. Could we possibly know that he would say, 'Bring your brother down'?" ⁸  Judah said to his father Israel, "Send the lad with me and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, we as well as you and our little ones. ⁹  " I myself will be surety for him; you may hold me responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame before you forever. ¹⁰  "For if we had not delayed, surely by now we could have returned twice." ¹¹  Then their father Israel said to them, "If it must be so, then do this: take some of the best products of the land in your bags, and carry down to the man as a present, a little balm and a little honey, aromatic gum and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. ¹²  "Take double the money in your hand, and take back in your hand the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks; perhaps it was a mistake. ¹³  "Take your brother also, and arise, return to the man; ¹⁴  and may God Almighty grant you compassion in the sight of the man, so that he will release to you your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved." ¹⁵  So the men took this present, and they took double the money in their hand, and Benjamin; then they arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph. ¹⁶  When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to his house steward, "Bring the men into the house, and slay an animal and make ready; for the men are to dine with me at noon." ¹⁷  So the man did as Joseph said, and brought the men to Joseph's house. ¹⁸  Now the men were afraid, because they were brought to Joseph's house; and they said, "It is because of the money that was returned in our sacks the first time that we are being brought in, that he may seek occasion against us and fall upon us, and take us for slaves with our donkeys." ¹⁹  So they came near to Joseph's house steward, and spoke to him at the entrance of the house, ²⁰  and said, "Oh, my lord, we indeed came down the first time to buy food, ²¹  and it came about when we came to the lodging place, that we opened our sacks, and behold, each man's money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full. So we have brought it back in our hand. ²²  "We have also brought down other money in our hand to buy food; we do not know who put our money in our sacks." ²³  He said, " Be at ease, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; I had your money." Then he brought Simeon out to them. ²⁴  Then the man brought the men into Joseph's house and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their donkeys fodder. ²⁵  So they prepared the present for Joseph's coming at noon; for they had heard that they were to eat a meal there. ²⁶  When Joseph came home, they brought into the house to him the present which was in their hand and bowed to the ground before him. ²⁷  Then he asked them about their welfare, and said, " Is your old father well, of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?" ²⁸  They said, "Your servant our father is well; he is still alive." They bowed down in homage. ²⁹  As he lifted his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, he said, "Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?" And he said, " May God be gracious to you, my son." ³⁰  Joseph hurried out for he was deeply stirred over his brother, and he sought a place to weep; and he entered his chamber and wept there. ³¹  Then he washed his face and came out; and he controlled himself and said, "Serve the meal." ³²  So they served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is loathsome to the Egyptians. ³³  Now they were seated before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth, and the men looked at one another in astonishment. ³⁴  He took portions to them from his own table, but Benjamin's portion was five times as much as any of theirs. So they feasted and drank freely with him.