Ezekiel 40
Ezekiel’s Vision: New City, New Temple
1 Again in the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, in the first month, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was captured, on the very same day, the hand of the Lord was upon me.
2 He took me in a vision of God into the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain. On it, but opposite from me, was something like the structure of a city.†
3 He took me there, and behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of gleaming bronze. He had a builder’s cord and a measuring rod in his hand, and he stood at the gate.
4 Then the man said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this? Look with your eyes and hear with your ears, and fix your heart on everything I show you; for you were brought here that I might show them to you. For you shall reveal to the house of Israel everything you see.”
The East Gate of the Temple
5 Now there was a wall around the entire outside of the house. In the man’s hand was a measuring stick, six cubits long, each consisting of a cubit and a handbreadth, and he measured the width of the wall structure, one measuring stick, and the height, one measuring stick.†
6 Then he went to the gate which faced east, up seven stairs, and measured across the entrance of the gate, one measuring stick wide.†
7 Each gate chamber was one measuring stick long and one measuring stick wide. Between the gate chambers was a space of six cubits, and the second gate chamber was one measuring stick wide, one measuring stick long; and the entrance was five cubits.
8 The third gate chamber was one measuring stick wide and one measuring stick long.
9 The neighboring entrance was eight cubits, and the gatepost was two cubits, also the outer entrance of the gate.
10 The gate chambers were three on one side and three on the other. There was one measurement to all three and one measurement to the entrances on this side and the other.†
11 He measured the width of the entrance to the gate, ten cubits, and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits.
12 The dimensions of the front of the gate chambers were equal, and the gate chambers were six cubits on this side and six cubits on that side.
13 Then he measured the gate from the roof of one gate chamber to the roof of the other, and the width was twenty-five cubits, from one gate to the other.
14 He measured the open inner court of the gate chamber, sixty cubits high, and there were twenty gate chambers all around.
15 From the open court of the gate outside into the open inner court of the gate chamber within was fifty cubits.†
16 There were hidden windows in the gate chambers and in their entrances on the inside of the gate all around, and likewise the entrances had hidden windows all around. There were windows all around on the inside, and on each entrance chamber were ornamental palm trees, equally displayed on one side and the other.†
17 Then he brought me into the inner court; and behold, there were temple chambers and pillars all around the court; thirty chambers among the pillars.
18 The porches were behind the gates; corresponding to the same length of the gates was the underlying pillar.
19 Then he measured the width of the court, from the open air court of the gate which was to the outside to the open air court of the gate which faces out, a hundred cubits to the court which faces east.
The North Gate
Then he led me to the north side,
20 and behold, there was the gate facing north to the outer court, and he measured its length and its width.†
21 Its gate chambers, three on this side and three on that side, its gateposts and its porches, and palm trees, and they were the same measurement of the gate which faces to the east: its length was fifty cubits and its width twenty-five cubits.
22 Its windows, its doorposts, and also its palm trees were just like the gate facing east, and it was ascended by seven steps, and the doorpost within.
23 A gate of the inner court was opposite the northern gate, in the same manner as the eastern gate, and he measured from gate to gate, one hundred cubits.
The South Gate
24 Then he brought me toward the south, and behold, a gate was facing south; and he measured its gate chambers, gateposts, and archways according to these same measurements.
25 There were windows in it and in its archways all around like those windows. Its length was fifty cubits and its width twenty-five cubits.
26 Seven steps led up to it, and its gateposts were within; and it had palm trees on its gateposts, one on this side and one on that side.
27 There was also a gate on the inner court, facing south, and he measured from gate to gate toward the south, one hundred cubits, in the southerly direction.†
The Inner Court
28 Then he brought me to the inner court through the southern gate, and he measured the southern gate according to these same measurements.
29 Also its gate chambers, its gateposts, and its archways were according to these same measurements, and there were windows in it and in its archways all around. It was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.
30 There was the porch into the outer court, and palm trees were on its gatepost, and going up to it were eight steps.
31 Then he brought me to the gate facing east, and he measured it according to these same measurements.†
32 Its gate chambers, its gateposts, and its archways were according to these same measurements. There were windows in it and in its archways all around, and it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.
33 There were porches opening into the inner court, and palm trees were on its gateposts, on this side and on that side; and going up to it were eight steps.
34 Then he brought me to the north gate and measured it according to these same measurements—
35 also its gate chambers, its gateposts, and its archways. It had windows all around, and its length was fifty cubits and its width twenty-five cubits.
36 Its porches were toward the outer court, and there were palm trees on its gateposts, on this side and on that side, and going up to it were eight steps.
A Place for the Sacrifices and the Priests
37 There were its chambers and its gateposts at its gate,
38 and a drain for the second gate, so they might slay in it the sin offerings and trespass offerings.
39 Behind the drain line for the whole burnt offerings of the gate which faces north, there were two tables placed toward the east, and behind the second gate and its gate chamber, there were two tables toward the east.†
40 Four tables were on this side and four tables on that side, and behind the gate, there were eight tables on which they slaughtered the sacrifices.
41 There were also four tables of hewn stone for the whole burnt offerings, two cubits long, one cubit and a half wide, and one cubit high. On these they laid the instruments with which they slaughtered the whole burnt offerings and the sacrifices.
42 Inside were projections hewn out, a handbreadth wide, all around, and over the tables above, there were little roofs to cover from the rain and the drying wind.
43 Then he led me into the inner court, and behold, there were two halls in the inner court, one behind the gate which faces north and bearing to the south, and the other behind the gate which faces to the south and bearing to the north.
44 So he said to me, “This hall which faces south is for the priests who have charge of the temple.
45 The hall which faces north is for the priests who have charge of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, from the sons of Levi, who come near the Lord to minister liturgically to Him.”
46 Then he measured the court, one hundred cubits long and one hundred cubits wide, foursquare. The altar of sacrifice was in front of the house.
47 Then he brought me to the entrance chamber of the house and measured the doorpost of the entrance chamber, five cubits on this side and five cubits on that side; and the width of the doorway was fourteen cubits; and the sills of the door to the entrance chamber were three by three on each side.
48 The length of the entrance chamber was twenty cubits, and the width twelve cubits, and one would ascend it by ten steps; and there were pillars by the entrance chamber, one on this side and another on that side.
Psalms 138
13 For You possess my heart, O Lord; You took hold of me from my mother’s womb.
14 I will give thanks to You, For I am fearfully and wondrously made; Marvelous are Your works, And my soul knows this very well.
15 My bone you made in secret was not hidden from You. And my substance was in the lowest parts of the earth;
16 Your eyes saw me when I was unformed, And all men shall be written in Your book; They shall be formed day by day, When as yet there were none among them.
17 Your friends, O God, became very honorable to me; Their principalities became very strong;
18 I shall count them, And they shall be multiplied more than the sand; I awakened, and I am still with You.
19 If You should slay sinners, O God, You would turn aside from me, O men of blood.
20 For You will say regarding their reasoning, “They shall receive your cities in vain.”
21 Have I not hated those who hate You, O Lord? And was I not wasting away because of Your enemies?
22 I hated them with perfect hatred; They became my enemies.
23 Test me, O God, and know my heart; Examine me, and know my paths,
24 And see if there is a lawless way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.
Proverbs of Solomon 29
24 He who takes part with a thief hates his own soul, And if, when an oath is set forth, those who hear it do not report it,
25 They are tripped up, because they fear and stand in awe of men; But he who trusts in the Lord will rejoice.†
26 Ungodliness causes a man to stumble, But he who trusts in the Master shall be saved.
27 Many serve in the presence of leaders, But righteousness comes to a man from the Lord.†
28 An abomination to the righteous is an unrighteous man, And the upright way is an abomination to the lawless.
Revelation 9
Trumpet Five, Woe One: The Locusts
1 Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit.†
2 And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.
3 Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.†
4 They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
5 And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man.†
6 In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.
7 The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men.†
8 They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth.
9 And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle.
10 They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months.
11 And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.†
12 One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.
Trumpet Six, Woe Two: The Plagues
13 Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,†
14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”
15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind.
16 Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone.†
18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths.
19 For their power is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm.
20 But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.†
21 And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.