"This is what the Sovereign LORD says: The east gateway of the inner wall will be closed during the six workdays each week, but it will be open on Sabbath days and the days of new moon celebrations.
The prince will enter the foyer of the gateway from the outside. Then he will stand by the gatepost while the priest offers his burnt offering and peace offering. He will worship inside the gateway passage and then go back out the way he came. The gateway will not be closed until evening.
The common people will worship the LORD in front of this gateway on Sabbath days and the days of new moon celebrations.
"Each Sabbath day the prince will present to the LORD a burnt offering of six lambs and one ram, all with no physical defects.
He will present a grain offering of a half bushel of flour to go with the ram and whatever amount of flour he chooses to go with each lamb. He is to offer one gallon of olive oil for each half bushel of flour.
At the new moon celebrations, he will bring one young bull, six lambs, and one ram, all with no physical defects.
With the young bull he must bring a half bushel of flour for a grain offering. With the ram he must bring another half bushel of flour. And with each lamb he is to bring whatever amount of flour that he decides to give. With each half bushel of flour he must offer one gallon of olive oil.
"The prince must enter the gateway through the foyer, and he must leave the same way he came.
But when the people come in through the north gateway to worship the LORD during the religious festivals, they must leave by the south gateway. And those who entered through the south gateway must leave by the north gateway. They must never leave by the same gateway they came in; they must always use the opposite gateway.
The prince will enter and leave with the people on these occasions.
"So at the special feasts and sacred festivals, the grain offering will be a half bushel of flour with each young bull, another half bushel of flour with each ram, and as much flour as the prince chooses to give with each lamb. One gallon of oil is to be given with each half bushel of flour.
Whenever the prince offers a voluntary burnt offering or peace offering to the LORD, the east gateway to the inner courtyard will be opened for him to enter, and he will offer his sacrifices just as he does on Sabbath days. Then he will turn and leave the way he entered, and the gateway will be shut behind him.
"Each morning a year-old lamb with no physical defects must be sacrificed as a burnt offering to the LORD.
With the lamb, a grain offering must also be given to the LORD--about two and a half quarts of flour with a third of a gallon of olive oil to moisten the flour. This will be a permanent law for you.
The lamb, the grain offering, and the olive oil must be given as a daily sacrifice every morning without fail.
"This is what the Sovereign LORD says: If the prince gives a gift of land to one of his sons, it will belong to him and his descendants forever.
But if he gives a gift of land to one of his servants, the servant may keep it only until the Year of Jubilee, which comes every fiftieth year. At that time the servant will be set free, and the land will return to the prince. Only the gifts given to the prince's sons will be permanent.
And the prince may never take anyone's property by force. If he gives property to his sons, it must be from his own land, for I do not want any of my people unjustly evicted from their property."
Then the man brought me through the entrance beside the gateway and led me to the sacred rooms assigned to the priests, which faced toward the north. He showed me a place at the extreme west end of these rooms.
He explained, "This is where the priests will cook the meat from the guilt offerings and sin offerings and bake the flour from the grain offerings into bread. They will do it here to avoid carrying the sacrifices through the outer courtyard and harming the people by transmitting holiness to them."
Then he brought me back to the outer courtyard and led me to each of its four corners. In each corner I saw an enclosure.
Each of these enclosures was 70 feet long and 52 1/2 feet wide, surrounded by walls.
Along the inside of these walls was a ledge of stone with fireplaces under the ledge all the way around.
The man said to me, "These are the kitchens to be used by the Temple assistants to boil the sacrifices offered by the people."