1The man led me to the gate which faced east,
2and there, coming from the east, was the glory of the God of Israel. The sound of his coming was like that of a mighty torrent, and the earth was bright with his glory.
3The form that I saw was the same as I had seen when he came to destroy the city, the same I had seen by the river Kebar, and I prostrated myself.
4As the glory of the LORD came to the temple by the east gate,
5a spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and I saw the glory of the LORD fill the temple.
6With the man standing beside me I heard someone speak to me from the temple
7and say, “O man, do you see the place of my throne, the place where I set my feet, and where I shall dwell among the Israelites for ever? Neither they nor their kings must ever defile my holy name again with their wanton idolatry, and with the monuments raised to dead kings.
8They set their threshold by mine and their doorpost beside mine, with only a wall between me and them. They defiled my holy name with the abominations they committed; so I destroyed them in my anger.
9But now they must put away their wanton idolatry and remove the monuments to their kings far from me, and I shall dwell among them for ever.
10“Tell the Israelites, O man, about this temple, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities.
11If they are ashamed of all they have done, you are to describe to them the temple and its fittings, its exits and entrances, all the details and particulars of its elevation and plan. Make a sketch for them to look at, so that they may keep them in mind and carry them out.
12This is the plan of the temple to be built on the top of the mountain: all its precincts on every side shall be most holy.”
13These were the dimensions of the altar in cubits (the cubit that is a cubit and a hand's breadth). This was the height of the altar: the base was a cubit high and projected a cubit; on its edge was a rim one span deep.
14From the base to the cubit-wide ridge of the lower pedestal-block was two cubits, and from this smaller pedestal-block to the cubit-wide ridge of the larger pedestal-block was four cubits.
15The altar-hearth was four cubits high and was surmounted by four horns a cubit high.
16The hearth was square, twelve cubits long and twelve cubits wide.
17The upper pedestal-block was fourteen cubits long and fourteen cubits wide on its four sides, and the rim round it was half a cubit deep. The base of the altar projected a cubit, and there were steps facing east.
18He said to me, “O man, the Lord GOD says: Here are the regulations for the altar when it has been made, for sacrificing whole-offerings on it and for flinging the blood against it.
19Only the levitical priests of the family of Zadok may come near to serve me, says the Lord GOD. You are to assign them a young bull for a purification-offering;
20you must take some of the blood and apply it to the four horns of the altar, on the four corners of the upper pedestal, and all round the rim, and so purify and make expiation for the altar.
21Then take the bull chosen as the purification-offering, and let the priests destroy it by fire in the proper place within the precincts, but outside the Holy Place.
22“On the following day you are to present a he-goat without blemish as a purification-offering, and with it they are to purify the altar as they did with the bull.
23When you have completed the purifying of the altar, you are to present a young bull without blemish and a ram without blemish.
24Present them before the LORD, and have the priests throw salt on them and sacrifice them as a whole-offering to the LORD.
25For seven days you are to offer a goat as a daily purification-offering, as well as a young bull, and a ram without blemish from the flock.
26For seven days they are to make expiation for the altar, and, having pronounced it ritually clean, they are to consecrate it.
27At the end of that time, on the eighth day and onwards, the priests will sacrifice on the altar your whole-offerings and your shared-offerings, and I shall accept you. This is the word of the Lord GOD.”