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Ezekiel 46

KJV · Chapter 46/48

1Thus saith the Lord God; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened.

2And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate without, and shall stand by the post of the gate, and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate: then he shall go forth; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening.

3Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the Lord in the sabbaths and in the new moons.

4And the burnt offering that the prince shall offer unto the Lord in the sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish.

5And the meat offering shall be an ephah for a ram, and the meat offering for the lambs as he shall be able to give, and an hin of oil to an ephah.

6And in the day of the new moon it shall be a young bullock without blemish, and six lambs, and a ram: they shall be without blemish.

7And he shall prepare a meat offering, an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs according as his hand shall attain unto, and an hin of oil to an ephah.

8And when the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the way of the porch of that gate, and he shall go forth by the way thereof.

9But when the people of the land shall come before the Lord in the solemn feasts, he that entereth in by the way of the north gate to worship shall go out by the way of the south gate; and he that entereth by the way of the south gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate: he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but shall go forth over against it.

10And the prince in the midst of them, when they go in, shall go in; and when they go forth, shall go forth.

11And in the feasts and in the solemnities the meat offering shall be an ephah to a bullock, and an ephah to a ram, and to the lambs as he is able to give, and an hin of oil to an ephah.

12Now when the prince shall prepare a voluntary burnt offering or peace offerings voluntarily unto the Lord, one shall then open him the gate that looketh toward the east, and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, as he did on the sabbath day: then he shall go forth; and after his going forth one shall shut the gate.

13Thou shalt daily prepare a burnt offering unto the Lord of a lamb of the first year without blemish: thou shalt prepare it every morning.

14And thou shalt prepare a meat offering for it every morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of an hin of oil, to temper with the fine flour; a meat offering continually by a perpetual ordinance unto the Lord.

15Thus shall they prepare the lamb, and the meat offering, and the oil, every morning for a continual burnt offering.

16Thus saith the Lord God; If the prince give a gift unto any of his sons, the inheritance thereof shall be his sons’; it shall be their possession by inheritance.

17But if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, then it shall be his to the year of liberty; after it shall return to the prince: but his inheritance shall be his sons’ for them.

18Moreover the prince shall not take of the people’s inheritance by oppression, to thrust them out of their possession; but he shall give his sons inheritance out of his own possession: that my people be not scattered every man from his possession.

19After he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers of the priests, which looked toward the north: and, behold, there was a place on the two sides westward.

20Then said he unto me, This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, where they shall bake the meat offering; that they bear them not out into the utter court, to sanctify the people.

21Then he brought me forth into the utter court, and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; and, behold, in every corner of the court there was a court.

22In the four corners of the court there were courts joined of forty cubits long and thirty broad: these four corners were of one measure.

23And there was a row of building round about in them, round about them four, and it was made with boiling places under the rows round about.

24Then said he unto me, These are the places of them that boil, where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of the people.

📖 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. Ezekiel 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. Ezekiel 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. Ezekiel 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. Ezekiel 46:4Details the specific sabbath offering: six lambs and a ram, all without physical blemish.
  5. Ezekiel 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. Ezekiel 46:6Details the new-moon offering, slightly different from the sabbath’s: one bull more, in addition to the lambs and the ram.
  7. Ezekiel 46:7Specifies the amounts of grain and oil that accompany the new-moon offering, following the same pattern used on the sabbath.
  8. Ezekiel 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. Ezekiel 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. Ezekiel 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. Ezekiel 46:11Specifies that, at the great annual feasts, the offering amounts follow the same pattern already set for the new moon.
  12. Ezekiel 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. Ezekiel 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. Ezekiel 46:14Details the amounts of grain and oil that go with this daily sacrifice, calling the rule a “perpetual ordinance.”
  15. Ezekiel 46:15Sums up the instruction: this morning sacrifice, with its grain offering, was to be made every day, without interruption.
  16. Ezekiel 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. Ezekiel 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. Ezekiel 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. Ezekiel 46:19The guide takes Ezekiel to a set of priests’ chambers, facing west, within the area already described as set aside for them.
  20. Ezekiel 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. Ezekiel 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. Ezekiel 46:22Details these smaller corner structures: enclosed spaces of a standard size, with hearths, indicating a use tied to food preparation.
  23. Ezekiel 46:23Describes a wall around these structures, with kitchens built beneath it, running all the way around the court.
  24. Ezekiel 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.

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