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Ezekiel 43

KJV · Chapter 43/48

1Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east:

2And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.

3And 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 upon my face.

4And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.

5So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house.

6And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me.

7And he said unto me, Son of man, 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 for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places.

8In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, and the wall between me and them, they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger.

9Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcases of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever.

10Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.

11And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.

12This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.

13And these are the measures of the altar after the cubits: The cubit is a cubit and an hand breadth; even the bottom shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the border thereof by the edge thereof round about shall be a span: and this shall be the higher place of the altar.

14And from the bottom upon the ground even to the lower settle shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser settle even to the greater settle shall be four cubits, and the breadth one cubit.

15So the altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar and upward shall be four horns.

16And the altar shall be twelve cubits long, twelve broad, square in the four squares thereof.

17And the settle shall be fourteen cubits long and fourteen broad in the four squares thereof; and the border about it shall be half a cubit; and the bottom thereof shall be a cubit about; and his stairs shall look toward the east.

18And he said unto me, Son of man, thus saith the Lord God; 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.

19And thou shalt give to the priests the Levites that be of the seed of Zadok, which approach unto me, to minister unto me, saith the Lord God, a young bullock for a sin offering.

20And thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and put it on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the settle, and upon the border round about: thus shalt thou cleanse and purge it.

21Thou shalt take the bullock also of the sin offering, and he shall burn it in the appointed place of the house, without the sanctuary.

22And on the second day thou shalt offer a kid of the goats without blemish for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they did cleanse it with the bullock.

23When thou hast made an end of cleansing it, thou shalt offer a young bullock without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without blemish.

24And thou shalt offer them before the Lord, and the priests shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering unto the Lord.

25Seven days shalt thou prepare every day a goat for a sin offering: they shall also prepare a young bullock, and a ram out of the flock, without blemish.

26Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it; and they shall consecrate themselves.

27And when these days are expired, it shall be, that upon the eighth day, and so forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, saith the Lord God.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The glory of the Lord returns to the temple through the east gate, exactly as it had departed in chapters 10-11, and God declares that he will dwell there forever, giving instructions about the altar and its consecration.

Explanation

This is the emotional high point of the entire book: the same glory that Ezekiel saw sorrowfully departing from the ancient temple (chapters 10-11) now returns, entering through the very same east gate through which it had left. This closes a powerful narrative circle, showing that God's withdrawal was never final or vengeful, but disciplinary and temporary. The instruction for the people to feel ashamed of their past sins as they consider this new temple (v.10-11) shows that restoration does not erase the need for a sincere acknowledgment of wrongdoing. The details about the seven-day consecration of the altar echo consecration rituals already seen in Exodus and Leviticus, showing continuity between the old covenant and this new phase of relationship with God.

Fun facts

  • The return of God's glory through the east gate (v.4) is a deliberate and careful parallel to its departure through the same gate in Ezekiel 10:19 and 11:23, one of the clearest examples of circular literary structure in the whole Bible.
  • The command that the east gate remain shut afterward, used only by the prince (Ezekiel 44:1-3), may reflect special reverence because it was the gate through which the very glory of God had entered.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Ezekiel 43:1The glory of the Lord returns and enters through the same east gate it had left by in chapters 10 and 11 — the symmetrical close of one of the book’s most important threads: the presence of God that abandoned the temple now returns to stay.
  2. Ezekiel 43:2The glory of God returns by way of the east, with a sound like “many waters,” the same language used in the opening vision of chapter 1 — the earth shines with this presence.
  3. Ezekiel 43:3Ezekiel recognizes this scene as matching earlier visions: the one of the city’s destruction (chapters 8-11, when the glory left the temple) and the initial one by the Chebar River — the return closes a loop opened long before.
  4. Ezekiel 43:4The glory of God enters the temple exactly through the east gate — the same gate through which, in an earlier vision, it had left before Jerusalem’s destruction.
  5. Ezekiel 43:5The Spirit carries Ezekiel into the inner court, where he sees the temple completely filled with the glory of God — the opposite of the empty temple from before the exile.
  6. Ezekiel 43:6Someone speaks to Ezekiel from inside the temple, while the “man” who had been measuring everything stays standing beside him.
  7. Ezekiel 43:7The complaint about kings being buried too close to the sanctuary refers to the real practice of burying Judah’s royalty near the temple, in Jerusalem — the text treats this closeness between royal tombs and the sacred space as a form of contamination that must never happen again.
  8. Ezekiel 43:8Explains the reason for the earlier destruction: kings and people profaned the temple by placing their own spaces right against the sacred wall, mixing the common with the holy.
  9. Ezekiel 43:9The condition for God to dwell there forever: the people must permanently put away these practices of profanation tied to the old royal customs.
  10. Ezekiel 43:10Ezekiel receives the task of showing this detailed “house” to the people, not as an architectural curiosity, but so they may be ashamed of their own evils in light of this standard of holiness.
  11. Ezekiel 43:11Details the task: to write down the whole form, the entrances, exits, and laws of the temple, so that the people will truly keep and practice what they are instructed.
  12. Ezekiel 43:12Sums up the “law of the house” in a single sentence: the whole top of the mountain, all around, is most holy — the principle that organizes everything measured up to this point.
  13. Ezekiel 43:13“Harel” and “Ariel,” names given to different parts of the altar, are ancient technical terms meaning something like “mountain of God” and “hearth of God” — specific sacrificial-architecture vocabulary that does not appear in many other places in the Bible.
  14. Ezekiel 43:14Details the altar’s tiers, measuring from the ground up through the different ledges that formed its stepped structure.
  15. Ezekiel 43:15Names specific parts of the altar, with Hebrew terms tied to “mountain of God” and “lion of God,” along with its four horns, a common element in ancient altars.
  16. Ezekiel 43:16Measures the top of the altar as a perfect square, twelve cubits by twelve cubits.
  17. Ezekiel 43:17Measures the tier below, larger than the top, with steps facing east — the orientation toward the sunrise repeats at several points in the complex.
  18. Ezekiel 43:18The altar’s seven-day dedication, with blood applied to its horns and corners, follows the same pattern of ritual purification described in Exodus and Leviticus for consecrating a sacred space before its first use.
  19. Ezekiel 43:19Details the start of the consecration ritual: a bull offered by the priests descended from Zadok, the ones authorized to serve at this altar.
  20. Ezekiel 43:20The bull’s blood is applied to the horns of the altar and its edges, a purification ritual that symbolically “cleanses” the structure before its first use.
  21. Ezekiel 43:21The bull used in the purification is burned at a specific place outside the sanctuary, not on the altar that has just been purified.
  22. Ezekiel 43:22On the second day of the consecration, a goat without blemish repeats the same process of purifying the altar.
  23. Ezekiel 43:23Once purified, the altar receives its first regular offerings: a bull and a ram, both without physical blemish.
  24. Ezekiel 43:24Details the offering: salt is added, an element tied to durability and purity in biblical sacrifices, before everything is burned as a burnt offering.
  25. Ezekiel 43:25The consecration process repeats for seven full days, with a goat, a bull, and a ram offered daily.
  26. Ezekiel 43:26Sums up the purpose of the seven days: to purify the altar and prepare it for continued use, a Hebrew expression tied to the consecration of sacred objects.
  27. Ezekiel 43:27From the eighth day on, the altar comes into regular use, and God promises to be pleased with the offerings made there — marking the end of the temple’s dedication process.

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