STAY at the ALTAR - Ezekiel 43

God’s Glory Returns to the Temple

Ezekiel 43 Then the man brought me to the gate facing east, ² and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory. ³ The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when he^[a] came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown. ⁴ The glory of the Lord entered the temple through the gate facing east. ⁵ Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.

⁶ While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the temple. ⁷ He said: “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet. This is where I will live among the Israelites forever. The people of Israel will never again defile my holy name—neither they nor their kings—by their prostitution and the funeral offerings^[b] for their kings at their death.^[c] 8 When they placed their threshold next to my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them, they defiled my holy name by their detestable practices. So I destroyed them in my anger. ⁹ Now let them put away from me their prostitution and the funeral offerings for their kings, and I will live among them forever.

¹⁰ “Son of man, describe the temple to the people of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their sins. Let them consider its perfection, ¹¹ and if they are ashamed of all they have done, make known to them the design of the temple—its arrangement, its exits and entrances—its whole design and all its regulations^[d] and laws. Write these down before them so that they may be faithful to its design and follow all its regulations.

¹² “This is the law of the temple: All the surrounding area on top of the mountain will be most holy. Such is the law of the temple.

The Great Altar Restored

¹³ “These are the measurements of the altar in long cubits,^[e] that cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth: Its gutter is a cubit deep and a cubit wide, with a rim of one span^[f] around the edge. And this is the height of the altar: ¹⁴ From the gutter on the ground up to the lower ledge that goes around the altar it is two cubits high, and the ledge is a cubit wide.^[g] From this lower ledge to the upper ledge that goes around the altar it is four cubits high, and that ledge is also a cubit wide.^[h] 15 Above that, the altar hearth is four cubits high, and four horns project upward from the hearth. ¹⁶ The altar hearth is square, twelve cubits^[i] long and twelve cubits wide. ¹⁷ The upper ledge also is square, fourteen cubits^[j] long and fourteen cubits wide. All around the altar is a gutter of one cubit with a rim of half a cubit.^[k] The steps of the altar face east.”