The Bible, Douay-Rheims Part 562

43:9. Now therefore let them put away their fornications, and the carca.s.ses of their kings far from me: and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever.

43:10. But thou, son of man, shew to the house of Israel the temple, and let them be ashamed of their iniquities, and let them measure the building:

43:11. And be ashamed of all that they have done. Shew them the form of the house, and of the fas.h.i.+on thereof, the goings out and the comings in, and the whole plan thereof, and all its ordinances, and all its order, and all its laws, and thou shalt write it in their sight: that they may keep the whole form thereof, and its ordinances, and do them.

43:12. This is the law of the house upon the top of the mountain: All its border round about; most holy: this then is the law of the house.

43:13. And these are the measures of the altar by the truest cubit, which is a cubit and a handbreadth: the bottom thereof was a cubit, and the breadth a cubit: and the border thereof unto its edge, and round about, one handbreadth: and this was the trench of the altar.

43:14. And from the bottom of the ground to the lowest brim two cubits, and the breadth of one cubit: and from the lesser brim to the greater brim four cubits, and the breadth of one cubit.

43:15. And the Ariel itself was four cubits: and from the Ariel upward were four horns.

The Ariel... That is, the altar itself, or rather the highest part of it, upon which the burnt offerings were laid. In the Hebrew it is Harel, that is, the mountain of G.o.d: but in the following verse Haariel, that is, the lion of G.o.d; a figure, from its consuming, and as it were devouring the sacrifices, as a lion devours its prey.

43:16. And the Ariel was twelve cubits long, and twelve cubits broad, foursquare, with equal sides.

43:17. And the brim was fourteen cubits long, and fourteen cubits broad in the four corners thereof: and the crown round about it was half a cubit, and the bottom of it one cubit round about: and its steps turned toward the east.

43:18. And he said to me: Son of man, thus saith the Lord G.o.d: These are the ceremonies of the altar, in what day soever it shall be made: that holocausts may be offered upon it, and blood poured out.

43:19. And thou shalt give to the priests, and the Levites, that are of the race of Sadoc, who approach to me, saith the Lord G.o.d, to offer to me a calf of the herd for sin.

43:20. And thou shalt take of his blood, and shalt put it upon the four horns thereof, and upon the four corners of the brim, and upon the crown round about: and thou shalt cleanse, and expiate it.

43:21. And thou shalt take the calf, that is offered for sin: and thou shalt burn him in a separate place of the house without the sanctuary.

43:22. And in the second day thou shalt offer a he goat without blemish for sin: and they shall expiate the altar, as they expiated it with the calf.

43:23. And when thou shalt have made an end of the expiation thereof, thou shalt offer a calf of the herd without blemish, and a ram of the flock without blemish.

43:24. And thou shalt offer them in the sight of the Lord, and the priests shall put salt upon them, and shall offer them a holocaust to the Lord.

43:25. Seven days shalt thou offer a he goat for sin daily: they shall offer also a calf of the herd, and a ram of the flock without blemish.

43:26. Seven days shall they expiate the altar, and shall cleanse it: and they shall consecrate it.

Consecrate it... Literally, fill its hand, that is, dedicate and apply it to holy service.

43:27. And the days being expired, on the eighth day and thenceforward, the priests shall offer your holocausts upon the altar, and the peace offerings: and I will be pacified towards you, saith the Lord G.o.d.

Ezechiel Chapter 44

The east gate of the sanctuary shall be always shut. The uncirc.u.mcised shall not enter into the sanctuary: nor the Levites that have served idols: but the sons of Sadoc shall do the priestly functions, who stood firm in the worst of times.

44:1. And he brought me back to the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary, which looked towards the east: and it was shut.

44:2. And the Lord said to me: This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall pa.s.s through it: because the Lord the G.o.d of Israel hath entered in by it, and it shall be shut

44:3. For the prince. The prince himself shall sit in it, to eat bread before the Lord: he shall enter in by the way of the porch of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.

44:4. And he brought me by the way of the north gate, in the sight of the house: and I saw, and behold the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord: and I fell on my face.

44:5. And the Lord said to me: Son of man, attend with thy heart and behold with thy eyes, and hear with thy ears, all that I say to thee concerning all the ceremonies of the house of the Lord, and concerning all the laws thereof: and mark well the ways of the temple, with all the goings out of the sanctuary.

44:6. And thou shalt say to the house of Israel that provoketh me: Thus saith the Lord G.o.d: Let all your wicked doings suffice you, O house of Israel:

44:7. In that you have brought in strangers uncirc.u.mcised in heart, and uncirc.u.mcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, and to defile my house: and you offer my bread, the fat, and the blood: and you have broken my covenant by all your wicked doings.

44:8. And you have not kept the ordinances of my sanctuary: but you have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.

44:9. Thus saith the Lord G.o.d: No stranger uncirc.u.mcised in heart, and uncirc.u.mcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, no stranger that is in the midst of the children of Israel.

44:10. Moreover the Levites that went away far from me, when the children of Israel went astray, and have wandered from me after their idols, and have borne their iniquity:

44:11. They shall be officers in my sanctuary, and doorkeepers of the gates of the house, and ministers to the house: they shall slay the holocausts, and the victims of the people: and they shall stand in their sight, to minister to them.

44:12. Because they ministered to them before their idols, and were a stumblingblock of iniquity to the house of Israel: therefore have I lifted up my hand against them, saith the Lord G.o.d, and they shall bear their iniquity:

44:13. And they shall not come near to me, to do the office of priest to me, neither shall they come near to any of my holy things that are by the holy of holies: but they shall bear their shame, and their wickednesses which they have committed.

44:14. And I will make them doorkeepers of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein.

44:15. But the priests, and Levites, the sons of Sadoc, who kept the ceremonies 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 me the fat, and the blood, saith the Lord G.o.d.

44:16. They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and to keep my ceremonies.

44:17. And when they shall enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments: neither shall any woollen come upon them, when they minister in the gates of the inner court and within.

44:18. They shall have linen mitres on their heads, and linen breeches on their loins, and they shall not be girded with any thing that causeth sweat.

44:19. And when they shall go forth to the outward court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they ministered, and lay them up in the store chamber of the sanctuary, and they shall clothe themselves with other garments: and they shall not sanctify the people with their vestments.

Shall not sanctify the people with their vestments... By exposing them to the danger of touching the sacred vestments, which none were to touch but they that were sanctified.

44:20. Neither shall they shave their heads, nor wear long hair: but they shall only poll their heads.

44:21. And no priest shall drink wine when he is to go into the inner court.

44:22. Neither shall they take to wife a widow, nor one that is divorced, but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel: but they may take a widow also, that is, the widow of a priest.

44:23. And they shall teach my people the difference between holy and profane, and shew them how to discern between clean and unclean.

44:24. And when there shall be a controversy, they shall stand in my judgments, and shall judge: they shall keep my laws, and my ordinances in all my solemnities, and sanctify my sabbaths.

44:25. And they shall come near no dead person, lest they be defiled, only their father and mother, and son and daughter, and brother and sister, that hath not had another husband: for whom they may become unclean.

44:26. And after one is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven days.