Through the Bible – Day 334

_1-2Twenty-five years after King Jehoiachin and the rest of us had been led away as prisoners to Babylonia, and fourteen years after the Babylonians had captured Jerusalem, the LORD's power took control of me on the tenth day of the first month. The LORD showed me some visions in which I was carried to the top of a high mountain in Jerusalem. I looked to the south and saw what looked like a city full of buildings. ₃In my vision the LORD took me closer, and I saw a man who was sparkling like polished bronze. He was standing near one of the gates and was holding a tape measure in one hand and a measuring stick in the other. ₄The man said, “Ezekiel, son of man, pay close attention to everything I'm going to show you—that's why you've been brought here. Listen carefully, because you must tell the people of Israel what you see.”

₅The first thing I saw was an outer wall that completely surrounded the temple area. The man took his measuring stick, which was three metres long, and measured the wall; it was three metres high and three metres thick. _6-7Then he went to the east gate, where he walked up steps that led to a long passageway. On each side of this passageway were three guardrooms, which were three metres square, and they were separated by walls two and a half metres thick. The man measured the distance between the opening of the gate and the first guardroom, and it was three metres, the thickness of the outer wall.

At the far end of this passageway, I saw an entrance room that faced the courtyard of the temple itself. There was also a distance of three metres between the last guardroom and the entrance room _8-9at the end of the passageway. The man measured this room: it was four metres from the doorway to the opposite wall, and the distance from the doorway to the wall on either side was one metre. ₁₀The three guardrooms on each side of the passageway were the same size, and the walls that separated them were the same thickness.

₁₁Next, the man measured the width of the passageway, and it was six and a half metres, but the two doors of the gate were only five metres wide. ₁₂In front of the guardrooms, which were three metres square, was a railing about fifty centimetres high and fifty centimetres thick. ₁₃The man measured the distance from the back wall of one of these rooms to the same spot in the room directly across the passageway, and it was twelve and a half metres. ₁₄He measured the entrance room at the far end of the passageway, and it was ten metres wide. ₁₅Finally, he measured the total length of the passageway, from the outer wall to the entrance room, and it was twenty-five metres. ₁₆The three walls in the guardrooms had small windows in them, just like the ones in the entrance room. The walls along the passageway were decorated with carvings of palm trees.

₁₇The man then led me through the passageway and into the outer courtyard of the temple, where I saw thirty rooms built around the outside of the courtyard. These side rooms were built against the outer wall, and in front of them was a pavement that circled the courtyard. ₁₈This was known as the lower pavement, and it was twenty-five metres wide.

₁₉I saw the gates that led to the inner courtyard of the temple and noticed that they were higher than those leading to the outer courtyard. The man measured the distance between the outer and inner gates, and it was fifty metres.

₂₀Next, the man measured the north gate that led to the outer courtyard. ₂₁This gate also had three guardrooms on each side of a passageway. The measurements of these rooms, the walls between them, and the entrance room at the far end of the passageway were exactly the same as those of the east gate. The north gate was also twenty-five metres long and twelve and a half metres wide, ₂₂and the windows, the entrance room, and the carvings of palm trees were just like those in the east gate. The entrance room also faced the courtyard of the temple and had seven steps leading up to it. ₂₃Directly across the outer courtyard was a gate that led to the inner courtyard, just as there was for the east gate. The man measured the distance between the outer and inner gate, and it was fifty metres.

₂₄The man then took me to the south gate. He measured the walls and the entrance room of this gate, and the measurements were exactly the same as those of the other two gates. ₂₅There were windows in the guardrooms of this gate and in the entrance room, just like the others, and this gate was also twenty-five metres long and twelve and a half metres wide. ₂₆Seven steps led up to the gate; the entrance room was at the far end of the passageway and faced the courtyard of the temple. Carvings of palm trees decorated the walls along the passageway. ₂₇And directly across the outer courtyard was a gate on the south side of the inner courtyard. The man measured the distance between the outer and inner gate, and it was also fifty metres.

₂₈We then went into the inner courtyard, through the gate on the south side of the temple. The man measured the gate, and it was the same size as the gates in the outer wall. _29-30In fact, everything along the passageway was also the same size, including the guardrooms, the walls separating them, the entrance room at the far end, and the windows. This gate, like the others, was twenty-five metres long and twelve and a half metres wide. ₃₁The entrance room of this gate faced the outer courtyard, and carvings of palm trees decorated the walls of the passageway. Eight steps led up to this gate.

₃₂Next, we went through the east gate to the inner courtyard. The man measured this gate, and it was the same size as the others. ₃₃The guardrooms, the walls separating them, and its entrance room had the same measurements as the other gates. The guardrooms and the entrance room had windows, and the gate was twenty-five metres long and twelve and a half metres wide. ₃₄The entrance room faced the outer courtyard, and the walls in the passageway were decorated with carvings of palm trees. Eight steps also led up to this gate.

₃₅Then the man took me to the north gate. He measured it, and it was the same size as the others, ₃₆including the guardrooms, the walls separating them, and the entrance room. There were also windows in this gate. It was twenty-five metres long and twelve and a half metres wide, ₃₇and like the other inner gates, its entrance room faced the outer courtyard, and its walls were decorated with carvings of palm trees. Eight steps also led up to this gate.

_38-39Inside the entrance room of the north gate, I saw four tables, two on each side of the room, where the animals to be sacrificed were killed. Just outside this room was a small building used for washing the animals before they were offered as sacrifices to please the LORD or sacrifices for sin or sacrifices to make things right. ₄₀Four more tables were in the outer courtyard, two on each side of the steps leading into the entrance room. ₄₁So there was a total of eight tables, four inside and four outside, where the animals were killed, _42-43and where the meat was placed until it was sacrificed on the altar.

Next to the tables in the entrance room were four stone tables fifty centimetres high and seventy-five centimetres square; the equipment used for killing the animals was kept on top of these tables. All around the walls of this room was a seventy-five-millimetre shelf.

₄₄The man then took me to the inner courtyard, where I saw two buildings, one beside the inner gate on the north and the other beside the inner gate on the south. ₄₅He said, “The building beside the north gate belongs to the priests who serve in the temple, ₄₆and the building beside the south gate belongs to those who serve at the altar. All of them are descendants of Zadok and are the only Levites allowed to serve as the LORD's priests.”

₂The one who gives life appeared! We saw it happen, and we are witnesses to what we have seen. Now we are telling you about this eternal life that was with the Father and appeared to us. ₃We are telling you what we have seen and heard, so that you may share in this life with us. And we share in it with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. ₄We are writing to tell you these things, because this makes us truly happy.

₅Jesus told us that God is light and doesn't have any darkness in him. Now we are telling you.

₆If we say that we share in life with God and keep on living in the dark, we are lying and are not living by the truth. ₇But if we live in the light, as God does, we share in life with each other. And the blood of his Son Jesus washes all our sins away. ₈If we say that we have not sinned, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth isn't in our hearts. ₉But if we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away.

₁₀If we say that we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and his message isn't in our hearts.

₁My children, I am writing this so that you won't sin. But if you do sin, Jesus Christ always does the right thing, and he will speak to the Father for us. ₂Christ is the sacrifice that takes away our sins and the sins of all the world's people.

₃When we obey God, we are sure that we know him. ₄But if we claim to know him and don't obey him, we are lying and the truth isn't in our hearts. ₅We truly love God only when we obey him as we should, and then we know that we belong to him. ₆If we say we are his, we must follow the example of Christ.