Week 45, Day 5 in the LEB

Nov 8, 2024

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The reading for today is Ezekiel 43-45; Psalm 135; John 15.

Scripture quotations are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.

Ezekiel 43

And he brought me to the gate which was facing east. And, look! The glory of the God of Israel, it came from the way of the east, and its sound was like the sound of many waters and the land radiated due to his glory! And the appearance of the vision which I saw was as the vision which I saw at his coming to destroy the city, and these visions were also as the vision which I saw by the Kebar River, and I fell on my face.

And then the glory of Yahweh came to the temple by the way of the gate facing east. And the Spirit lifted me and it brought me to the inner courtyard and, look! The glory of Yahweh filled the temple! And I heard someone speaking to me from the house, and a man was standing beside me. And he said to me, "Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet where I will dwell in the midst of the Israelites to eternity, and they, the house of Israel, they and their kings, will not again defile my holy name with their fornication and with their offerings for the dead of their kings on their high places. When they placed their threshold with my threshold, their doorframe beside my doorframe and the wall was between me and between them, then they defiled my holy name, with their detestable things that they did, and so I consumed them in my anger. Now let them send their fornication far away and the offerings for the dead of their kings away from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them forever.

You, son of man, describe to the house of Israel the temple and let them be ashamed of their iniquities and let them measure the pattern. And if they are ashamed of all that they did, then the plan of the temple and its arrangement and its exits and its entrances and all of its plans and all of its statutes. And all of its plans and all of its laws make known to them and write them before their eyes, so that they may remember all of its plans and all of its statutes, so that they do them! This is the law of the temple: On the top of the mountain, all of its territory, all the way around it, will be most holy. Look, this is the law of the temple.

And these are the measurements of the altar in the cubits (a cubit is a cubit and a handbreadth): now its gutter is a cubit in depth by a cubit in width and its rim along its edge all around is one span, and this is also the height of the altar. And from the gutter at the ground up to the lower ledge is two cubits, and its width is one cubit, and from the small ledge up to the large ledge is four cubits, and its width is one cubit. And the altar hearth was four cubits, and from the altar hearth and upwards were the four horns of the altar. And the altar hearth was twelve cubits in length and twelve cubits in width; it was squared on its four sides. And the ledge was fourteen cubits in length with fourteen cubits its width to all four of its sides, and a rim was all around it of one-half cubit. And the gutter for it was a cubit all around, and its steps were facing east."

And he said to me, "Son of man, thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘These are the statutes of the altar on the day when it is made, to sacrifice a burnt offering on it and to sprinkle blood on it. And you must give to the Levitical priests who are from the offspring of Zadok, the ones coming near me," declares the Lord Yahweh, "to serve me, a bull, a calf as a sin offering.

You must take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar, and the four corners of the ledge, and on the rim all around; thus you must purify it and make atonement for it. And you must take the bull, the sin offering, and you must burn it in the designated place of the temple outside of the holy place. And on the second day you must offer a he-goat without defect as a sin offering, and they must purify the altar like they purified with the bull. When you are finished from purifying, you must offer a bull, a calf, without defect, and a ram from the flock without defect. And you must bring them near before Yahweh, and the priests must throw salt on them, and they must offer them as a burnt offering to Yahweh. For seven days you must provide a goat of sin offering for the day and a bull, a calf, and a ram from the flock without defect; you must provide them. Seven days they must purify the altar and they must cleanse it and so they will consecrate it. And they will finish the days, and then on the eighth day and beyond that the priests will offer on the altar your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings, and then I will be pleased with you," declares the Lord Yahweh.

Ezekiel 44

And he brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary that is facing east, and it was shut. And Yahweh said to me, "This gate will be shut. It shall not be opened, and no one will go through it, for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has entered it, and it will be shut. The prince, he may sit in it to eat food before Yahweh; he will come from the way of the portico of the gate and by means of its way he will also go out."

Then he brought me by the way of the gate of the north to the front of the temple, and I looked, and look! The glory of Yahweh filled the temple of Yahweh, and I fell on my face. And Yahweh said, "Son of man, set your heart and look with your eyes and with your ears hear everything I am saying to you concerning all the statutes of the temple of Yahweh and concerning all its laws, and you must listen with your heart concerning the entrance of the temple with all of the exits of the sanctuary. And you must say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Enough for you, house of Israel, of all of your detestable things! At your bringing foreigners who are uncircumcised of heart and uncircumcised of flesh to be in my sanctuary to profane it, my temple, as you offered my food, fat, and blood, so you broke my covenant by all of your detestable things. And you did not observe the responsibility of my sanctuary, but you appointed them as the keepers of my responsibility in my sanctuary for you."

Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Every foreigner uncircumcised of heart and uncircumcised of flesh shall not come into my sanctuary—not any of the foreigners who are in the midst of the Israelites. But the Levites who removed themselves from me at the going astray of Israel, who went astray from me and went after their idols, as a result they will bear their guilt. Then they will be in my sanctuary, those serving in my sanctuary, as sentries at the gates of the temple and as those serving the temple; they will slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they will stand before them to serve them, because they used to serve them before their idols and they were for the house of Israel like a stumbling block of iniquity. Therefore I swore concerning them," declares the Lord Yahweh, "that they will bear their iniquity. And they shall not approach me to serve as a priest for me and to come near to all of my holy objects, to the most holy objects, and they will bear their disgrace and the results of their detestable things they have done. And I will appoint them as the keepers of the responsibility of the temple, for all of its work and everything which will be done in it.

But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok, who cared for the responsibility of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me, they will approach me to serve me, and they will stand before me to offer to me fat and blood," declares the Lord Yahweh. "They shall come to my sanctuary, and they shall approach my table to serve me, and they will observe my requirement. And then when they come to the gates of the inner courtyards, they shall put on their inner linen garments and not wear wool garments when they serve in the gates of the inner courtyard and inside the temple. Linen turbans shall be on their head and linen undergarments shall be on their waists; they shall not gird themselves with material causing perspiration. When they go out to the outer courtyard to the people, they must take off their garment in which they were serving, and they must place them in the holy chambers, and they must put on other garments, so that they will not make the people holy with their garments. And their head they shall not shave, or long hair they shall not let grow; short they shall clip their heads. And no priest shall drink wine when they come into the inner courtyard. And a widow or divorced woman they shall not take for themselves as wives, but only a virgin from the offspring of the house of Israel, or the widow who is a widow for a priest they may take.

And they will teach my people the difference between what is holy and what is unholy, and the difference between unclean and clean they must show them. And at a legal dispute they themselves shall stand to judge; employing my judgments they shall judge it, and with respect to my laws and my statutes. All my festivals they shall keep and my Sabbaths they shall consecrate. And near a dead person he shall not come to be defiled, but only for a father and for a mother and for a son and for a daughter, for a brother and for a sister who was not married may they defile themselves. And, after his cleansing, they shall count for him seven days, and then on the day of his coming into the sanctuary to the inner courtyard to serve in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering," declares the Lord Yahweh.

And thus it will be to them as regards inheritance, that I am their inheritance, and so you shall not give to them property in Israel; I am their property. The grain offering and the sin offering and the guilt offering, they themselves may eat them, and also all the consecrated possessions in Israel will be theirs. And also what is first of all of the firstfruits of everything, and of all of the contribution of everything from all of your contributions, to the priest it belongs, and what is first of your dough you shall give to the priest, so that a blessing may rest on your house. Any dead body or mangled carcass from the birds or from the animals, the priests shall not eat."

Ezekiel 45

And when you allocate the land as an inheritance, you shall provide a contribution for Yahweh as a holy portion from the land, its length being twenty-five thousand cubits and its width ten thousand cubits; it is holy in all its territory, all around. And there shall be from this area five hundred cubits by five hundred cubits, squared all around, for the sanctuary; and fifty cubits of open space shall be for it all around it. And from this measured area you shall measure a length of twenty-five thousand cubits and a width of ten thousand cubits, and in it will be the sanctuary, the most holy place. It is a holy portion from the land; it will be for the priests, the servants of the sanctuary who approach to serve Yahweh, and it will be for them a place for houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. And an area twenty-five thousand cubits in length and ten thousand cubits in width will be for the Levites, the servants of the temple. It will serve as property for them as cities to dwell in. And as property of the city, you must set apart alongside the contribution of the sanctuary a portion five thousand cubits in width and twenty-five thousand cubits in length, and it shall be for the entire house of Israel.

And a portion will be for the prince on both sides of the holy district, and both sides of the property of the city, and alongside the property of the city on the west, and alongside the property on the east. And also its length corresponds to one of the tribal portions to the west running to the eastern border. This shall be to him with respect to the land as property in Israel; and so my princes shall not again oppress my people, but they shall give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes."

Thus says the Lord Yahweh, "Enough of this for you, the princes of Israel; put away violence and destruction and do justice and righteousness; revoke your acts of dispossession from upon my people!" declares the Lord Yahweh. There shall be for you an honest set of scales and an honest ephah and an honest bath. The ephah and the bath shall be one unit of measurement; the tenth part of the homer is the bath, and the tenth of the homer is the ephah; so the homer shall be its unit of measurement. And the shekel shall weigh twenty gerahs, twenty shekels and five and twenty shekels and ten and five shekels, that shall make the mina for you.

This is the contribution offering which you shall present: a sixth of the ephah from a homer of wheat, and a sixth of the ephah from a homer of barley. And the quota of the olive oil, the bath of the olive oil, is the tenth part of a bath from a kor, which is ten baths, or a homer—for ten baths are equal to a homer. And one sheep from the flock from among two hundred from the pastures of Israel will be taken as a grain offering and as a burnt offering and as a fellowship offering to make atonement for them," declares the Lord Yahweh. "All of the people of the land shall join in to this contribution with the prince in Israel.

"But on the prince shall be the responsibility for the burnt offerings, and the grain offering, and the libation at the feasts, and at the New Moon festivals, and at the Sabbaths at all of the assemblies of the house of Israel; he shall provide the sin offering, and the grain offering, and the burnt offering, and the fellowship offering to make atonement for the house of Israel. Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘On the first month on the first day of the month, you shall take a bull, a calf without defect, and you shall purify the sanctuary. And the priest shall take from the blood of the sin offering, and he shall put it on the doorframe of the temple and on the four corners of the ledge of the altar and on the doorframe of the gate of the inner courtyard. And so you shall do on the seventh day in the month for anyone doing wrong inadvertently or due to ignorance, and so you must make atonement for the temple.

In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall have the Passover, a feast lasting for seven days, when you shall eat unleavened breads. And the prince shall provide on that day for himself and for all of the people of the land a bull as a sin offering. And during the seven days of the religious feast he shall provide as a burnt offering to Yahweh seven bulls and seven rams without defect for each of the seven days, and as a sin offering a he-goat for each day. And as a grain offering, an ephah for the bull and an ephah for the ram he must provide, and a hin of olive oil for each ephah. In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, during the feast, he shall provide just as he has for these seven days, as he did for the sin offering, as he did for the burnt offering, and as he did for the grain offering, and as he did for the olive oil.’"

Psalm 135

Praise Yah! Praise the name of Yahweh.
Praise him, O servants of Yahweh,
who stand in the house of Yahweh,
in the courts of the house of our God.
Praise Yah, for Yahweh is good.
Sing praises concerning his name, for it is pleasant.
For Yah has chosen Jacob for himself,
Israel as his special possession.
For I know that Yahweh is great,
and our Lord is greater than all gods.
All that Yahweh desires, he does,
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and all the depths.
He causes clouds to rise from the edge of the earth;
he makes lightnings for the rain;
he brings out the wind from his storehouses.
Who struck the firstborn of Egypt,
both of humans and animals.
He sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt,
against Pharaoh and all his servants.
Who struck many nations
and killed mighty kings—
Sihon the king of the Amorites,
and Og the king of Bashan,
and all the kingdoms of Canaan—
and he gave their land as an inheritance,
an inheritance for his people Israel.
O Yahweh, your name endures forever,
your renown throughout all generations,
for Yahweh will plead the cause of his people
and will have compassion on his servants.
The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
the work of the hands of humankind.
They have mouths, but cannot speak;
they have eyes, but cannot see;
they have ears, but cannot hear;
there is not even breath in their mouths.
Those who make them become like them,
as does everyone who trusts in them.
O house of Israel, bless Yahweh.
O house of Aaron, bless Yahweh.
O house of Levi, bless Yahweh.
You who fear Yahweh, bless Yahweh.
Blessed be Yahweh from Zion,
who dwells in Jerusalem. Praise Yah!

John 15

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch that does not bear fruit in me, he removes it, and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it in order that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I in you. Just as the branch is not able to bear fruit from itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him—this one bears much fruit, for apart from me you are not able to do anything. If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and dries up, and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this: that you bear much fruit, and prove to be my disciples.

"Just as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have spoken these things to you in order that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be made complete. This is my commandment: that you love one another just as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this: that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, because the slave does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything that I have heard from my Father I have revealed to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and your fruit should remain, in order that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. These things I command you: that you love one another.

If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin. But now they do not have a valid excuse for their sin. The one who hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this happened so that the word that is written in their law would be fulfilled, ‘They hated me without a reason.’

"When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father—that one will testify about me. And you also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.