Ezequiel 46

ARC · Chapter 46/48

1Assim diz o Senhor Jehovah: A porta do atrio interior, que olha para o oriente, estará fechada os seis dias que são de trabalho; porém no dia de sabbado ella se abrirá; tambem no dia da lua nova se abrirá.

2E o principe entrará pelo caminho do vestibulo da porta, por fóra, e estará em pé na hombreira da porta; e os sacerdotes prepararão o seu holocausto, e os seus sacrificios pacificos, e elle se prostrará no umbral da porta, e sairá; porém a porta não se fechará até á tarde.

3E o povo da terra se prostrará á entrada da mesma porta, nos sabbados e nas luas novas, diante do Senhor.

4E o holocausto, que o principe offerecerá ao Senhor, será, no dia de sabbado, seis cordeiros sem mancha e um carneiro sem mancha.

5E a offerta de manjares será um epha para cada carneiro; e para cada cordeiro, a offerta de manjares será um dom da sua mão; e de azeite um hin para cada epha.

6Mas no dia da lua nova será um bezerro, sem mancha; e seis cordeiros e um carneiro, elles serão sem mancha.

7E preparará por offerta de manjares um epha para o bezerro e um epha para o carneiro, mas para os cordeiros, conforme o que alcançar a sua mão; e um hin de azeite para um epha.

8E, quando entrar o principe, entrará pelo caminho do vestibulo da porta, e sairá pelo mesmo caminho.

9Mas, quando vier o povo da terra perante a face do Senhor nas solemnidades, aquelle que entrar pelo caminho da porta do norte, para adorar, sairá pelo caminho da porta do sul; e aquelle que entrar pelo caminho da porta do sul sairá pelo caminho da porta do norte: não tornará pelo caminho da porta por onde entrou, mas sairá pela outra que está opposta.

10E o principe no meio d'elles entrará, quando elles entrarem, e, saindo elles, sairão todos.

11E nas festas e nas solemnidades será a offerta de manjares um epha para o bezerro, e um epha para o carneiro, mas para os cordeiros um dom da sua mão; e de azeite um hin para um epha.

12E, quando o principe fizer offerta voluntaria de holocaustos, ou de sacrificios pacificos, por offerta voluntaria ao Senhor, então lhe abrirão a porta que olha para o oriente, e fará o seu holocausto e os seus sacrificios pacificos, como houver feito no dia de sabbado; e sairá, e se fechará a porta depois d'elle sair

13E prepararás um cordeiro d'um anno sem mancha, em holocausto ao Senhor, cada dia: todas as manhãs o prepararás.

14E, por offerta de manjares farás juntamente com elle, todas as manhãs, a sexta parte d'um epha, e de azeite a terça parte d'um hin, para sovar a flor de farinha; por offerta de manjares para o Senhor, em estatutos perpetuos e continuos.

15Assim prepararão o cordeiro, e a offerta de manjares, e o azeite, todas as manhãs, em holocausto continuo.

16Assim diz o Senhor Jehovah: Quando o principe der um presente da sua herança a algum de seus filhos, isto será para seus filhos: será possessão d'elles por herança.

17Porém, dando elle um presente da sua herança a algum dos seus servos, será d'este até ao anno da liberdade; então tornará para o principe, porque herança d'elle é; seus filhos, elles a herdarão.

18E o principe não tomará nada da herança do povo, para os defraudar da sua possessão: da sua possessão deixará herança a seus filhos, para que o meu povo não seja espalhado, cada um da sua possessão.

19Depois d'isto me trouxe pela entrada que estava ao lado da porta, ás camaras sanctas dos sacerdotes, que olhavam para o norte; e eis que ali estava um logar em ambos os lados, para a banda do occidente.

20E elle me disse: Este é o logar onde os sacerdotes cozerão o sacrificio pela culpa, e o sacrificio pelo peccado, e onde cozerão a offerta de manjares, para que a não tragam ao atrio exterior para sanctificarem o povo.

21Então me levou para fóra, para o atrio exterior, e me fez passar ás quatro esquinas do atrio: e eis que em cada esquina do atrio havia outro atrio.

22Nas quatro esquinas do atrio havia outros atrios com chaminés de quarenta covados de comprimento e de trinta de largura: estas quatro esquinas tinham uma mesma medida.

23E um muro havia ao redor d'ellas, ao redor das quatro: e havia cozinhas feitas por baixo dos muros ao redor.

24E me disse: Estas são as casas dos cozinheiros, onde os ministros da casa cozerão o sacrificio do povo.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God details specific rules for worship on the Sabbath and the new moon, the conduct of the prince during celebrations, and how offerings and property are to be properly administered and inherited.

Explanation

The instruction for the people to enter by one gate and leave by another during the festivals (v.9) prevented crowding and confusion, but also symbolically taught that an encounter with God should produce a change of direction in life — one does not leave the same way one came in. The rule that the prince may not permanently take property from the people to give to his servants (v.16-18) guards against the land exploitation that characterized earlier kings of Israel and Judah, directly correcting a historical pattern of royal abuse of power. These details about worship and social justice go hand in hand, reinforcing that Ezekiel's vision for the future involves both proper worship and just government.

Fun facts

  • The practice of entering by one gate and leaving by another during religious pilgrimages has architectural parallels in temples of the ancient Near East, designed specifically to control the flow of large crowds.
  • The limit placed on the prince's power over land (v.18) is a direct and implicit correction of the historical conduct of kings like Ahab, who forcibly seized Naboth's vineyard (1 Kings 21), showing how this vision corrects real abuses of the past.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Ezequiel 46:1The east gate of the inner court opens only on the sabbath and the new moon, when the prince enters through the porch to worship alongside the people — a sign that even the ruler follows the same calendar and the same rules of access.
  2. Ezequiel 46:2Details the prince’s ritual on the sabbath: he enters by the porch of the east gate, stands at the entrance without going past the priests’ space, and leaves after they offer the sacrifices.
  3. Ezequiel 46:3The common people also take part, bowing down at the entrance of this same gate on the sabbaths and new moons, even without actually entering the inner space.
  4. Ezequiel 46:4Details the specific sabbath offering: six lambs and a ram, all without physical blemish.
  5. Ezequiel 46:5Specifies the amounts of grain offering that go with the sabbath offering, with more flexibility for the lambs, “as he shall be able to give.”
  6. Ezequiel 46:6Details the new-moon offering, slightly different from the sabbath’s: one bull more, in addition to the lambs and the ram.
  7. Ezequiel 46:7Specifies the amounts of grain and oil that accompany the new-moon offering, following the same pattern used on the sabbath.
  8. Ezequiel 46:8Reinforces the rule for the prince’s entering and leaving: always by the same route, through the gate’s porch, both coming in and going out.
  9. Ezequiel 46:9The rule of leaving by a different gate from the one used to enter is a practical, curious detail of the vision: it shows a concern for crowd flow during the great celebrations, keeping everyone from crossing paths trying to leave by the same spot they came in.
  10. Ezequiel 46:10Details the prince’s position during the great feasts: he enters and leaves together with the common people, in the middle of the crowd, unlike the individual treatment he receives on the sabbath.
  11. Ezequiel 46:11Specifies that, at the great annual feasts, the offering amounts follow the same pattern already set for the new moon.
  12. Ezequiel 46:12Addresses a voluntary offering from the prince, outside the fixed calendar: in this case the east gate is opened specially for him, following the sabbath protocol, and shut again afterward.
  13. Ezequiel 46:13Establishes a daily, continual sacrifice, every morning, of a year-old lamb without blemish, separate from the specific sabbath and new-moon offerings.
  14. Ezequiel 46:14Details the amounts of grain and oil that go with this daily sacrifice, calling the rule a “perpetual ordinance.”
  15. Ezequiel 46:15Sums up the instruction: this morning sacrifice, with its grain offering, was to be made every day, without interruption.
  16. Ezequiel 46:16The ban on the prince taking land from the people as a permanent gift to his servants protects the subjects’ family inheritance from royal confiscation — a direct response to the abuses of earlier kings of Judah, who had a history of seizing land by force.
  17. Ezequiel 46:17Regulates the case of the prince giving a gift of land to a servant, not a son: the property returns to the prince in the jubilee year, preserving the inheritance for his own children.
  18. Ezequiel 46:18Explicitly forbids the prince from taking the people’s land by force — he may only use his own property to give gifts to his children, so that no family loses its tribal inheritance.
  19. Ezequiel 46:19The guide takes Ezekiel to a set of priests’ chambers, facing west, within the area already described as set aside for them.
  20. Ezequiel 46:20Explains the purpose of this space: cooking the sin, guilt, and grain offerings without having to carry them out to the outer court, keeping their holiness from affecting the people’s common space.
  21. Ezequiel 46:21The guide takes Ezekiel to the outer court, showing that each of its four corners had its own smaller structure within the court itself.
  22. Ezequiel 46:22Details these smaller corner structures: enclosed spaces of a standard size, with hearths, indicating a use tied to food preparation.
  23. Ezequiel 46:23Describes a wall around these structures, with kitchens built beneath it, running all the way around the court.
  24. Ezequiel 46:24Explains their final purpose: these were the kitchens where the temple’s assistants prepared the sacrifices brought by the common people, kept separate from the more sacred area used by the priests.

Chapters

Our apps

Our apps →

Bible in Stories

The Bible told as a story, with audio and videos.

📱 Get the app

World in Stories

True stories of humanity that sound made up.

Feito! Pequenas Vitórias

A light daily routine for people who lose track of the day.