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43 ‎[1] **He,** the man,** led me to the gate, the gate that is facing eastward. **
‎[2] **And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the direction of the east, and its sound, **which accompanied its arrival,** was like the sound of many waters, **ocean waves or a great current of water,** and the earth shone with His glory. **
‎[3] **The appearance of the vision that I saw was like the vision that I saw **previously,** when I came to **prophesy that God would **destroy the city **(chaps. 8-9),** and the visions were like the vision that I saw **in my first prophecy, **near the Kevar River **(chap. 1),** and I fell upon my face. **The repetition of the word “vision” serves to emphasize the uniqueness of Ezekiel’s prophetic experience.
‎[4] However, in contrast to the previous visions in which God’s glory departed the Temple, **the glory of the Lord entered the House via the gate that faced eastward. **
‎[5] **A wind lifted me and brought me into the inner courtyard, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the **entire **House. **
‎[6] **I heard **the sound of** Him speaking to me from the House, **not speaking directly to me; rather, it was in the manner of overhearing a person speaking to no one in particular,** and a man, **the angel accompanying me,** was standing next to me. **
‎[7] **He, **the divine voice,** said to me: Son of man, this is the place of My throne, **a common appellation for the Temple and Jerusalem in the Bible, **and the place of My feet, **My footstool,** where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever. **This is the place where I will dwell for all time,** and the house of Israel, they and their kings, will not defile My holy name any longer with their straying **by** **idol worship and similar practices **and with the carcasses of their kings **that they place **on their shrines, **
‎[8] **when they place their threshold near My threshold, **when they brought their idols into the Temple, as described above (8:16–17), **and their gatepost near My gatepost, with** only** the wall **as a separation **between Me and them; and they defiled My holy name with their abominations that they committed, and I annihilated them in My anger. **
‎[9] **Now **a new era will begin, as **they will distance their straying and the carcasses of their kings from Me, **a possible allusion to the fact that the cemetery of the kings of the Davidic dynasty was situated too close to the Temple, **and I will dwell in their midst forever. **
‎[10] **You, Son of man, tell the house of Israel **your prophetic vision **about the House, and they will be humiliated by their iniquities, **on account of which there is no Temple this day,** and they shall measure, **estimate in their minds, **the design,** the dimensions, of the Temple.
‎[11] **If they are humiliated by everything that they have done, inform them of the form of the House and its design, its exits, its entrances,** **and all its forms and all its statutes, **its dimensions, structure, and governing rules,** **and** all its forms and all its laws, and write it **in a book so that these matters will be **before their eyes, and they will **therefore **keep its entire form and all its statutes and perform them **when the time comes. Present them with the detailed description of the Temple so that it will be possible to study it, become enthusiastic and excited over it, and imagine the future construction of the Temple.
‎[12] **This is the law of the House: **It should be built **atop the mountain. Its entire border all around is a sacred Sanctum. **It is more sacred than the rest of the holy city of Jerusalem.** Behold, this is the law of the House. **
‎[13] The verses that follow describe the large altar that would be situated in the courtyard, outside the Sanctuary. In the Torah, too, the command to erect an altar preceded the command to construct the Tabernacle. **These are the measurements of the altar in cubits: Each cubit is one cubit and a handbreadth. **Before stating the measurements of the altar, the verse notes that the cubits with which the altar is measured are six-handbreadth cubits, one handbreadth larger than regular cubits. Next, the verse depicts the structure of the altar in the manner of its construction, from the bottom upward:** The base of the depression **in which the altar was built** is one cubit wide** around the altar,** and its border **a strip of elevated earth surrounding the altar** at its edge all around, one span**,** **half a cubit**. This is the foundation of the altar. **The Sages explain that whereas the rest of the altar is measured with a cubit of six handbreadths, the base alone is measured with cubits of five handbreadths.
‎[14] **From the base on the ground, **the floor upon which the altar rests, **until **the surface of the lower stratum**, **the bottom square block of the altar, **is two cubits **in height.** **The base of the altar, which is mentioned in the Torah as well, is a flat, square block upon which the rest of the altar is constructed. It is two cubits high, **and the width **of the extension of the base beyond the width of the altar itself **is** **one cubit in each direction; and from **the surface of **the low stratum, **the base,** to the high stratum, **a square block placed on top of the base, **is a height of four cubits**,** **twice the height of the base, **and the width **of** **this block too, by which it extends beyond the width of the block upon which it is placed, **is one cubit. **The function of this extension, which the Sages call the *sovev*, meaning the surrounding ledge, is to enable the priests** **to encircle the altar.
‎[15] **The Harel, **the upper square block of the altar upon which the offerings are burned,** is four cubits. **The Sages interpret the word *harel* as a form of the word *ariel*, which is derived from *arye*, the Hebrew word for lion. Some explain that it is a symbol for divine sanctity. Yet others maintain that *harel* is derived from the words *har*, mountain, and *el*, which can mean a stronghold or a fortress. **And above the Ariel, **the Harel,** are the four horns, **which** **protrude from the four corners of the altar, as stated in the Torah. This concludes the description of the vertical dimensions of the altar.
‎[16] Ezekiel now turns to the horizontal dimensions of the altar, starting from the top of the structure and going downward: **The Ariel is square, twelve in length by twelve in width, to **each of** its four sides.**
‎[17] **The **high **stratum, **the middle block,** is fourteen in length by fourteen in width to its four sides. The border all around it, **a small fence or balcony,** is one-half of a cubit, and its foundation, **the extension of the base beyond the middle block,** is a cubit all around, **as stated above,** and its ramp**** faces east.**** **
‎[18] **He said to me: Son of man, so said the Lord God: These **instructions **are the statutes of the altar on the day of its making,** **to offer up on it burnt offerings and to sprinkle **the **blood **of the offerings **on it. **The burnt offering is the primary offering brought on a regular, daily basis. That is why this altar is known as “the altar of the burnt offering.” The other offerings are described as offered on, meaning subsequent to, the daily burnt offering.
‎[19] **You shall give to the priests, the Levites, **who are** **from the tribe of Levi,** who are from the descendants of Tzadok, **the High Priest in Solomon’s Temple, **who are near to Me, **who are loyal and dedicated to God, **to serve Me** –** the utterance of the Lord God – a young bull as a sin offering. **
‎[20] **You shall take from its, **the bull’s,** blood, and you shall place it on its, **the altar’s,** four horns, on the four corners of the **high** stratum, and on the border **of the altar’s base, **all around. **As stated in the Torah, after blood from an offering has been sprinkled upon the altar, the rest of the blood is poured upon the base of the altar. **And** **you shall cleanse it, **the altar,** and atone for it, **thereby rendering it fit for divine service. Similar expressions appear with regard to the bull brought as a sin offering during the dedication of the Tabernacle in the days of Moses.
‎[21] **You shall take the bull of the sin offering, and he shall burn it in the designated place of the House,** or at the end of the House, which is **outside** **the Sanctuary.** Alternatively, *mifkad* is the name of a building or area.** **
‎[22] **On the second day you shall present an unblemished goat as a sin offering, and they shall cleanse the altar as they cleansed **it** with the bull. **
‎[23] **When you finish cleansing **by means of the sin offering of a male goat,** you shall present an unblemished young bull and an unblemished ram from the flock. **
‎[24] **You shall present them before the Lord, and the priests shall cast salt upon them and offer them up as a burnt offering to the Lord. **
‎[25] **Seven days you shall offer a goat as a sin offering for each day, and they shall offer **a burnt offering of **an unblemished young bull and ram from the flock. **It is unclear whether the aforementioned sin offering of a young bull must also be prepared each day, just like on the first day.
‎[26] **Seven days they shall atone for the altar and cleanse it, and they shall inaugurate it **for its function, to bring offerings upon it. This concludes the description of the dedication of the altar in the future Temple. These sacrificial rites do not appear in the Torah but were instructed to Ezekiel as a provisional edict.
‎[27] **They, **the priests,** shall conclude the days **of dedication; when they conclude,** it will be from the eighth day onward that the priests shall offer upon the altar your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, and I will grant you propitiation – the utterance of the Lord God. **
Version: The Steinsaltz Tanakh - English
Source: https://korenpub.com/collections/the-steinsaltz-tanakh/products/steinsaltz-tanakh
License: Copyright: Steinsaltz Center