Bible Reading December 7 (World English Bible)
Ezekiel
41-44
Eze
41:1 He brought me to the temple, and measured the posts, six cubits
broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side, which
was the breadth of the tent.
Eze
41:2 The breadth of the entrance was ten cubits; and the sides of
the entrance were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the
other side: and he measured its length, forty cubits, and the
breadth, twenty cubits.
Eze
41:3 Then went he inward, and measured each post of the entrance,
two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the breadth of the
entrance, seven cubits.
Eze
41:4 He measured its length, twenty cubits, and the breadth, twenty
cubits, before the temple: and he said to me, This is the most holy
place.
Eze
41:5 Then he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the
breadth of every side chamber, four cubits, all around the house on
every side.
Eze
41:6 The side chambers were in three stories, one over another, and
thirty in order; and they entered into the wall which belonged to the
house for the side chambers all around, that they might have hold
therein,
and not have hold in the wall of the house.
Eze
41:7 The side chambers were broader as they encompassed the
house higher and higher; for the
encompassing of the house went higher and higher around the house:
therefore the breadth of the house continued
upward; and so one went up from
the lowest chamber
to the highest by the middle chamber.
Eze
41:8 I saw also that the house had a raised base all around: the
foundations of the side chambers were a full reed of six great
cubits.
Eze
41:9 The thickness of the wall, which was for the side chambers, on
the outside, was five cubits: and that which was left was the place
of the side chambers that belonged to the house.
Eze
41:10 Between the chambers was a breadth of twenty cubits around the
house on every side.
Eze
41:11 The doors of the side chambers were toward the
place that was left, one door toward the
north, and another door toward the south: and the breadth of the
place that was left was five cubits all around.
Eze
41:12 The building that was before the separate place at the side
toward the west was seventy cubits broad; and the wall of the
building was five cubits thick all around, and its length ninety
cubits.
Eze
41:13 So he measured the house, one hundred cubits long; and the
separate place, and the building, with its walls, one hundred cubits
long;
Eze
41:14 also the breadth of the face of the house, and of the separate
place toward the east, one hundred cubits.
Eze
41:15 He measured the length of the building before the separate
place which was at its back, and its galleries on the one side and on
the other side, one hundred cubits; and the inner temple, and the
porches of the court;
Eze
41:16 the thresholds, and the closed windows, and the galleries
around on their three stories, over against the threshold, with wood
ceilings all around, and from
the ground up to the windows, (now the windows were covered),
Eze
41:17 to the space
above the door, even to the inner house, and outside, and by all the
wall all around inside and outside, by measure.
Eze
41:18 It was made with cherubim and palm trees; and a palm tree was
between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces;
Eze
41:19 so that there was the face of a man toward the palm tree on
the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on
the other side. thus was it
made through all the house all around:
Eze
41:20 from the ground to above the door were cherubim and palm trees
made: thus was the wall of the temple.
Eze
41:21 As for the temple, the door posts were squared; and as for the
face of the sanctuary, the appearance of
it was as the appearance of
the temple.
Eze
41:22 The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two
cubits; and its corners, and its length, and its walls, were of wood:
and he said to me, This is the table that is before Yahweh.
Eze
41:23 The temple and the sanctuary had two doors.
Eze
41:24 The doors had two leaves apiece,
two turning leaves: two leaves
for the one door, and two leaves for the other.
Eze
41:25 There were made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubim
and palm trees, like as were made on the walls; and there was a
threshold of wood on the face of the porch outside.
Eze
41:26 There were closed windows and palm trees on the one side and
on the other side, on the sides of the porch: thus were the side
chambers of the house, and the thresholds.
Eze
42:1 Then he brought me forth into the outer court, the way toward
the north: and he brought me into the chamber that was over against
the separate place, and which was over against the building toward
the north.
Eze
42:2 Before the length of one hundred cubits was the north door, and
the breadth was fifty cubits.
Eze
42:3 Over against the twenty cubits
which belonged to the inner court, and over against the pavement
which belonged to the outer court, was gallery against gallery in the
third story.
Eze
42:4 Before the chambers was a walk of ten cubits' breadth inward, a
way of one cubit; and their doors were toward the north.
Eze
42:5 Now the upper chambers were shorter; for the galleries took
away from these, more than from the lower and the middle, in the
building.
Eze
42:6 For they were in three stories, and they didn't have pillars as
the pillars of the courts: therefore the
uppermost was straitened more than the
lowest and the middle from the ground.
Eze
42:7 The wall that was outside by the side of the chambers, toward
the outer court before the chambers, its length was fifty cubits.
Eze
42:8 For the length of the chambers that were in the outer court was
fifty cubits: and behold, before the temple were one hundred cubits.
Eze
42:9 From under these chambers was the entry on the east side, as
one goes into them from the outer court.
Eze
42:10 In the thickness of the wall of the court toward the east,
before the separate place, and before the building, there were
chambers.
Eze
42:11 The way before them was like the appearance of the
way of the chambers which were toward
the north; according to their length so was their breadth: and all
their exits were both according to their fashions, and according to
their doors.
Eze
42:12 According to the doors of the chambers that were toward the
south was a door at the head of the way, even the way directly before
the wall toward the east, as one enters into them.
Eze
42:13 Then said he to me, The north chambers and the south chambers,
which are before the separate place, they are the holy chambers,
where the priests who are near to Yahweh shall eat the most holy
things: there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meal
offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; for the
place is holy.
Eze
42:14 When the priests enter in, then shall they not go out of the
holy place into the outer court, but there they shall lay their
garments in which they minister; for they are holy: and they shall
put on other garments, and shall approach to that which pertains to
the people.
Eze
42:15 Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he
brought me forth by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the
east, and measured it all around.
Eze
42:16 He measured on the east side with the measuring reed five
hundred reeds, with the measuring reed all around.
Eze
42:17 He measured on the north side five hundred reeds with the
measuring reed all around.
Eze
42:18 He measured on the south side five hundred reeds with the
measuring reed.
Eze
42:19 He turned about to the west side, and measured five hundred
reeds with the measuring reed.
Eze
42:20 He measured it on the four sides: it had a wall around it, the
length five hundred, and the breadth five hundred, to make a
separation between that which was holy and that which was common.
Eze
43:1 Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looks
toward the east.
Eze
43:2 Behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the
east: and his voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth
shined with his glory.
Eze
43:3 It was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw,
even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the
city; and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river
Chebar; and I fell on my face.
Eze
43:4 The glory of Yahweh came into the house by the way of the gate
whose prospect is toward the east.
Eze
43:5 The Spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and
behold, the glory of Yahweh filled the house.
Eze
43:6 I heard one speaking to me out of the house; and a man stood by
me.
Eze
43:7 He said to me, Son of man, this is
the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where
I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever. The
house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor
their kings, by their prostitution, and by the dead bodies of their
kings in
their high places;
Eze
43:8 in their setting of their threshold by my threshold, and their
doorpost beside my doorpost, and there was but
the wall between me and them; and they have defiled my holy name by
their abominations which they have committed: therefore I have
consumed them in my anger.
Eze
43:9 Now let them put away their prostitution, and the dead bodies
of their kings, far from me; and I will dwell in the midst of them
forever.
Eze
43:10 You, son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that
they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the
pattern.
Eze
43:11 If they be ashamed of all that they have done, make known to
them the form of the house, and its fashion, and its exits, and its
entrances, and all its forms, and all its ordinances, and all its
forms, and all its laws; and write it in their sight; that they may
keep the whole form of it, and all its ordinances, and do them.
Eze
43:12 This is the law of the house: on the top of the mountain the
whole limit around it shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of
the house.
Eze
43:13 These are the measures of the altar by cubits (the cubit is a
cubit and a handbreadth): the bottom shall be a cubit, and the
breadth a cubit, and its border around its edge a span; and this
shall be the base of the altar.
Eze
43:14 From the bottom on the ground to the lower ledge shall be two
cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser ledge to the
greater ledge shall be four cubits, and the breadth a cubit.
Eze
43:15 The upper altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar
hearth and upward there shall be four horns.
Eze
43:16 The altar hearth shall be twelve cubits
long by twelve broad, square in the four sides of it.
Eze
43:17 The ledge shall be fourteen cubits
long by fourteen broad in the four sides of it; and the border about
it shall be half a cubit; and its bottom shall be a cubit around; and
its steps shall look toward the east.
Eze
43:18 He said to me, Son of man, thus says the Lord Yahweh: These
are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it,
to offer burnt offerings thereon, and to sprinkle blood thereon.
Eze
43:19 You shall give to the priests the Levites who are of the seed
of Zadok, who are near to me, to minister to me, says the Lord
Yahweh, a young bull for a sin offering.
Eze
43:20 You shall take of its blood, and put it on the four horns of
it, and on the four corners of the ledge, and on the border all
around: thus you shall cleanse it and make atonement for it.
Eze
43:21 You shall also take the bull of the sin offering, and it shall
be burnt in the appointed place of the house, outside of the
sanctuary.
Eze
43:22 On the second day you shall offer a male goat without blemish
for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they did
cleanse it with the bull.
Eze
43:23 When you have made an end of cleansing it, you shall offer a
young bull without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without
blemish.
Eze
43:24 You shall bring them near before Yahweh, and the priests shall
cast salt on them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering
to Yahweh.
Eze
43:25 Seven days you shall prepare every day a goat for a sin
offering: they shall also prepare a young bull, and a ram out of the
flock, without blemish.
Eze
43:26 Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and purify
it; so shall they consecrate it.
Eze
43:27 When they have accomplished the days, it shall be that on the
eighth day, and forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings
on the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, says
the Lord Yahweh.
Eze
44:1 Then he brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the
sanctuary, which looks toward the east; and it was shut.
Eze
44:2 Yahweh said to me, This gate shall be shut; it shall not be
opened, neither shall any man enter in by it; for Yahweh, the God of
Israel, has entered in by it; therefore it shall be shut.
Eze
44:3 As for the prince, he shall sit therein as prince to eat bread
before Yahweh; he shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate,
and shall go out by the way of the same.
Eze
44:4 Then he brought me by the way of the north gate before the
house; and I looked, and behold, the glory of Yahweh filled the house
of Yahweh: and I fell on my face.
Eze
44:5 Yahweh said to me, Son of man, mark well, and see with your
eyes, and hear with your ears all that I tell you concerning all the
ordinances of the house of Yahweh, and all its laws; and mark well
the entrance of the house, with every exit of the sanctuary.
Eze
44:6 You shall tell the rebellious, even to the house of Israel,
Thus says the Lord Yahweh: you house of Israel, let it suffice you of
all your abominations,
Eze
44:7 in that you have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart
and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it,
even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and
they have broken my covenant, to add
to all your abominations.
Eze
44:8 You have not performed the duty of my holy things; but you have
set performers of my duty in my sanctuary for yourselves.
Eze
44:9 Thus says the Lord Yahweh, No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart
and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any
foreigners who are among the children of Israel.
Eze
44:10 But the Levites who went far from me, when Israel went astray,
who went astray from me after their idols, they shall bear their
iniquity.
Eze
44:11 Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight
at the gates of the house, and ministering in the house: they shall
kill the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they
shall stand before them to minister to them.
Eze
44:12 Because they ministered to them before their idols, and became
a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel; therefore have
I lifted up my hand against them, says the Lord Yahweh, and they
shall bear their iniquity.
Eze
44:13 They shall not come near to me, to execute the office of
priest to me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, to the
things that are most holy; but they shall bear their shame, and their
abominations which they have committed.
Eze
44:14 Yet will I make them performers of the duty of the house, for
all its service, and for all that shall be done therein.
Eze
44:15 But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who performed
the duty 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 to me the fat and the blood, says the Lord
Yahweh:
Eze
44:16 they shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near
to my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my instruction.
Eze
44:17 It shall be that, when they enter in at the gates of the inner
court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall
come on them, while they minister in the gates of the inner court,
and within.
Eze
44:18 They shall have linen tires on their heads, and shall have
linen breeches on their waists; they shall not gird themselves with
anything that causes
sweat.
Eze
44:19 When they go forth into the outer court, even into the outer
court to the people, they shall put off their garments in which they
minister, and lay them in the holy chambers; and they shall put on
other garments, that they not sanctify the people with their
garments.
Eze
44:20 Neither shall they shave their heads, nor allow their locks to
grow long; they shall only cut off the hair of their heads.
Eze
44:21 Neither shall any of the priests drink wine, when they enter
into the inner court.
Eze
44:22 Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her who
is put away; but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of
Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.
Eze
44:23 They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and
the common, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the
clean.
Eze
44:24 In a controversy they shall stand to judge; according to my
ordinances shall they judge it: and they shall keep my laws and my
statutes in all my appointed feasts; and they shall make my Sabbaths
holy.
Eze
44:25 They shall go in to no dead person to defile themselves; but
for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother,
or for sister who has had no husband, they may defile themselves.
Eze
44:26 After he is cleansed, they shall reckon to him seven days.
Eze
44:27 In the day that he goes into the sanctuary, into the inner
court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering,
says the Lord Yahweh.
Eze
44:28 They shall have an inheritance: I am their inheritance; and
you shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession.
Eze
44:29 They shall eat the meal offering, and the sin offering, and
the trespass offering; and every devoted thing in Israel shall be
theirs.
Eze
44:30 The first of all the first fruits of every thing, and every
offering of everything, of all your offerings, shall be for the
priest: you shall also give to the priests the first of your dough,
to cause a blessing to rest on your house.
Eze
44:31 The priests shall not eat of anything that dies of itself, or
is torn, whether it be bird or animal.
1 Peter 5
1Pe 5:1 I
exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder, and a witness of the
sufferings of Christ, and who will also share in the glory that will
be revealed.
1Pe 5:2
Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, exercising the
oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, not for dishonest
gain, but willingly;
1Pe 5:3
neither as lording it over those entrusted to you, but making
yourselves examples to the flock.
1Pe 5:4
When the chief Shepherd is revealed, you will receive the crown of
glory that doesn't fade away.
1Pe 5:5
Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you
gird yourselves with humility, to subject yourselves to one another;
for "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
1Pe 5:6
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may
exalt you in due time;
1Pe 5:7
casting all your worries on him, because he cares for you.
1Pe 5:8
Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary the devil,
walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
1Pe 5:9
Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who
are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings.
1Pe 5:10
But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by
Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect,
establish, strengthen, and settle you.
1Pe 5:11
To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.
1Pe 5:12
Through Silvanus, our faithful brother, as I consider him, I have
written to you briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the
true grace of God in which you stand.
1Pe 5:13
She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, greets you; and so
does Mark, my son.
1Pe 5:14
Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to you all who are in
Christ Jesus. Amen.
Every
philosophy contains its own inherent logical implications. For
instance, Charles Darwin once suggested: “There is no fundamental
difference between man and the higher mammals in their mental faculties”
(1898). If such a philosophy were adopted by a society, how would that
civilization seek to explain the behavior of its members? One way would
be to study the behaviors of animals and reason that since humans are
little more than “complex” animals, bestial behaviors could be justified
and accounted for based solely on the assertion that animals in the
natural world perform them.