And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the east and His voice was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with His glory. [Rev. 1:15; 14:2.]
And the vision which I saw was like the vision I had seen when I came to foretell the destruction of the city and like the vision I had seen beside the river Chebar [near Babylon]; and I fell on my face. [Ezek. 1:4; 3:23; 10:15, 22.]
And He [the Lord] said to me, Son of man, this is 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 forever; and My holy name the house of Israel shall no more profane, neither they nor their kings, by their [idolatrous] harlotry, nor by the dead bodies and monuments of their kings,
Nor by setting their threshold by My thresholds and their doorposts by My doorposts, with a mere wall between Me and them. They have profaned My holy name by their abominations which they have committed; therefore I have consumed them in My anger.
Now let them put away their [idolatrous] harlotry and the dead bodies and monuments of their kings far from Me, and I will dwell in their midst forever.
Son of man, show the temple by your description of it to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure accurately its appearance and plan.
And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the form of the temple and the arrangement of it--its exits and its entrances and the whole form of it--all its ordinances and all its forms and all its laws. And write it down in their sight so that they may keep the whole form of it and all the ordinances of it and do them.
This is the law of the house [of the Lord]: The whole area round about on the top of the mountain [Mount Moriah] shall be most holy, separated, and set apart. Behold, this is the law of the house [of the Lord].
And these are the measurements of the altar [of burnt offering] in cubits. The cubit is a royal cubit [the length of a forearm and a palm of the hand]; the bottom or gutter shall be a cubit deep and a cubit wide, with a rim or lip round about it of a span's breadth. And this shall be the height of the altar:
From the bottom or gutter on the ground to the lower ledge or brim shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser ledge to the greater ledge shall be four cubits, and the breadth one cubit.
And the ledge shall be fourteen cubits long and fourteen cubits broad on its four sides, and the border about it shall be half a cubit; and its bottom or gutter shall be a cubit deep and wide, and its ascent [not steps] shall face the east. [Exod. 20:26.]
And [the Lord] said to me, Son of man, thus says the Lord God: These are the regulations for the use of the altar in the day that it is erected, upon which to offer burnt offerings and to sprinkle blood against it:
You shall give to the priests, the Levites who are of the offspring of Zadok, who are near to Me to minister to Me, says the Lord God, a young bull for a sin offering.
And you shall take of its blood and put it on the four horns of [the altar of burnt offering] and on the four corners of the ledge and on the rim or border round about. Thus shall you cleanse and make atonement for [the altar].
You shall also take the bullock of the sin offering, and it shall be burned in the appointed place of the temple, outside the sacred enclosure. [Heb. 13:11.]
And on the second day you shall offer a male goat without blemish for a sin offering. Thus the altar shall be cleansed, as it was cleansed with the bullock.
And you shall bring them near before the Lord, and the priests shall cast salt upon them and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering to the Lord.
For seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and purify it; so the priests shall consecrate, separate, and set it apart to receive offerings. [Exod. 29:37.]
And when these days have been accomplished, on the eighth day and from then on, the priests shall offer your burnt offerings upon the altar and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, says the Lord God. [Rom. 12:1; I Pet. 2:5.]