The sabbath and the new moon
1 Thus speak Yahweh: The east gate of the inner court must be kept shut for
the six working days. On the sab bath day it is to be opened, as also on the
day of the New Moon;
2 and the prince is to go in through the entrance of the outer gate and
stand by the doorposts of the gate. The priest must then offer his holocaust
and his communion sacrifice. He must prostate himself on the threshold of
the gate and go out, and the gate is not to be shut again until the evening.
3 The people of the country are to prostrate themselves in the presence of
Yahweh at the entrance to the gate on sabbaths and days of the New Moon.
4 On the sabbath day the prince shall offer six unblemished lambs and one
unblemished ram for the burnt offer ing.
5 The grain offering is of one ephah for the ram, with such oblation as he
pleases for the lambs, and a hin of oil for every ephah.
6 On the day of the New Moon he shall offer a young bull without blemish,
six unblemished lambs and one unblemished ram;
7 he must make a grain offering of one ephah for the bull and one ephah for
the ram, and what he pleases for the lambs, and a hin of oil for every
ephah.
8 When the prince goes in, he is to enter by the entrance of the gate, and
he must leave by the same way.
9 When the people of the country come into the presence of Yahweh at the
solemn festivals to prostrate themselves, those who have come in by the
north gate are to go out by the south gate, and those who have come in by
the south gate are to go out by the north gate; no one is to turn back to
leave through the gate by which he en tered but is to go out on the opposite
side.
10 The prince is to come with them, coming in like them and going out like
them.
11 On feast days and solemn festivals the oblation must be one ephah for
every bull, one ephah for every ram, what he pleases for the lambs, and a
hin of oil for every ephah.
12 When the prince offers Yahweh a voluntary communion sacrifice, the east
gate is to be opened for him, and he is to offer his holocaust and his
communion sacrifice as he does on the sabbath day; when he has gone out, the
gate is to be shut after him.
13 Every day he must offer an unblemished lamb one year old as a holocaust
to Yahweh; he must offer this every morning.
14 Every morning, in addition, he is to offer an oblation of one sixth of an
ephah and one third of a hin of oil, for mixing with the flour. This is an
eternal law.
15 The lamb, the oblation and the oil are to be offered morning after
morning forever.
16 Yahweh says this: If the prince gives his sons part of his inheritance,
the gift is to pass to the ownership of his sons, and become their heritage.
17 But if he gives part of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall
only belong to the man until the year of liberation and is then to revert to
the prince. Only his sons may retain his inheritance.
18 The prince may not take any part of the people��s inheritance and thus rob
them of their rightful possessions; he must provide the patrimony of his
sons out of his own property, so that no mem ber of my people will be robbed
of his rightful possessions.��
19 He took me through the entrance at the side of the north gate that leads
to the rooms of the Holy Place set apart for the priests. And there before
us, to the west, was a space at the end.
20 He said to me, ��This is where the priests are to boil the slaughtered
animals for the sacrifice for sin and the sacrifice of re paration, and
where they are to bake the oblation. They shall not carry them into the
outer court lest they hallow the people.��
21 He took me into the outer court and led me to each of its four corners;
22 in each corner was a compound; there were four small compounds, forty
cubits by thirty, all four being the same size.
23 Each of the four was enclosed by a wall, with hearths all around the
bottom of the wall.
24 He said, ��These are the kitchens where the Temple servants are to boil
the sacrifices offered by the people.��