The New Jerusalem

1. Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looks toward the east. 2. Behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth was illuminated with his glory. 3. It was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city; and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face. 4. Yahweh’s glory came into the house by the way of the gate which faces toward the east. 5. The Spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and behold, Yahweh’s glory filled the house. 6. I heard one speaking to me out of the house; and a man stood by me. 7. He 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 among the children of Israel forever. The house of Israel will no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their prostitution, and by the dead bodies of their kings in their high places; 8. in their setting of their threshold by my threshold, and their door post beside my door post. There was a wall between me and them; and they have defiled my holy name by their abominations which they have committed. Therefore I have consumed them in my anger. 9. Now let them put away their prostitution, and the dead bodies of their kings, far from me. Then I will dwell among them forever. 10. “You, son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern. 11. If they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the form of the house, and its fashion, and its exits, and its entrances, and all its forms, and all its ordinances, and all its forms, and all its laws; and write it in their sight; that they may keep the whole form of it, and all its ordinances, and do them. 12. “This is the law of the house. On the top of the mountain the whole limit around it shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house. 13. “These are the measurements of the altar by cubits (the cubit is a cubit and a hand width): the bottom shall be a cubit, and the width a cubit, and its border around its edge a span; and this shall be the base of the altar. 14. From the bottom on the ground to the lower ledge shall be two cubits, and the width one cubit; and from the lesser ledge to the greater ledge shall be four cubits, and the width a cubit. 15. The upper altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar hearth and upward there shall be four horns. 16. The altar hearth shall be twelve cubits long by twelve wide, square in its four sides. 17. The ledge shall be fourteen cubits long by fourteen wide in its four sides; and the border about it shall be half a cubit; and its bottom shall be a cubit around; and its steps shall look toward the east.” 18. He said to me, “Son of man, the Lord Yahweh says: ‘These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they make it, to offer burnt offerings on it, and to sprinkle blood on it. 19. You shall give to the Levitical priests who are of the offspring of Zadok, who are near to me, to minister to me,’ says the Lord Yahweh, ‘a young bull for a sin offering. 20. You shall take of its blood, and put it on its four horns, and on the four corners of the ledge, and on the border all around. You shall cleanse it and make atonement for it that way. 21. You shall also take the bull of the sin offering, and it shall be burned in the appointed place of the house, outside of the sanctuary. 22. “On the second day you shall offer a male goat without defect for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they cleansed it with the bull. 23. When you have finished cleansing it, you shall offer a young bull without defect, and a ram out of the flock without defect. 24. You shall bring them near to Yahweh, and the priests shall cast salt on them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering to Yahweh. 25. “Seven days you shall prepare every day a goat for a sin offering. They shall also prepare a young bull, and a ram out of the flock, without defect. 26. Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and purify it. So shall they consecrate it. 27. When they have accomplished the days, it shall be that on the eighth day, and forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings on the altar, and your peace offerings. Then I will accept you,’ says the Lord Yahweh.”

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1. Then he brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which looks toward the east; and it was shut. 2. Yahweh said to me, “This gate shall be shut. It shall not be opened, no man shall enter in by it; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has entered in by it. Therefore it shall be shut. 3. As for the prince, he shall sit in it as prince to eat bread before Yahweh. He shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate, and shall go out the same way.” 4. Then he brought me by the way of the north gate before the house; and I looked, and behold, Yahweh’s glory filled Yahweh’s house; so I fell on my face. 5. Yahweh said to me, “Son of man, mark well, and see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I tell you concerning all the ordinances of Yahweh’s house, and all its laws; and mark well the entrance of the house, with every exit of the sanctuary. 6. You shall tell the rebellious, even the house of Israel, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “You house of Israel, let that be enough of all your abominations, 7. in that you have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, to add to all your abominations. 8. You have not performed the duty of my holy things; but you have set performers of my duty in my sanctuary for yourselves.” 9. The Lord Yahweh says, “No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigners who are among the children of Israel. 10. “ ‘ “But the Levites who went far from me, when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, they will bear their iniquity. 11. Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house, and ministering in the house. They shall kill the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them. 12. Because they ministered to them before their idols, and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel. Therefore I have lifted up my hand against them,” says the Lord Yahweh, “and they will bear their iniquity. 13. They shall not come near to me, to execute the office of priest to me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they will bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed. 14. Yet I will make them performers of the duty of the house, for all its service, and for all that will be done therein. 15. “ ‘ “But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who performed the duty of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me. They shall stand before me to offer to me the fat and the blood,” says the Lord Yahweh. 16. “They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my instruction. 17. “ ‘ “It will be that, when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments. No wool shall come on them while they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within. 18. They shall have linen turbans on their heads, and shall have linen trousers on their waists. They shall not clothe themselves with anything that makes them sweat. 19. When they go out into the outer court, even into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments in which they minister, and lay them in the holy rooms. They shall put on other garments, that they not sanctify the people with their garments. 20. “ ‘ “They shall not shave their heads, or allow their locks to grow long. They shall only cut off the hair of their heads. 21. None of the priests shall drink wine when they enter into the inner court. 22. They shall not take for their wives a widow, or her who is put away; but they shall take virgins of the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest. 23. They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. 24. “ ‘ “In a controversy they shall stand to judge. They shall judge it according to my ordinances. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts. They shall make my Sabbaths holy. 25. “ ‘ “They shall go in to no dead person to defile themselves; but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister who has had no husband, they may defile themselves. 26. After he is cleansed, they shall reckon to him seven days. 27. In the day that he goes into the sanctuary, into the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering,” says the Lord Yahweh. 28. “ ‘They shall have an inheritance. I am their inheritance; and you shall give them no possession in Israel. I am their possession. 29. They shall eat the meal offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. 30. The first of all the first fruits of every thing, and every offering of everything, of all your offerings, shall be for the priest. You shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, to cause a blessing to rest on your house. 31. The priests shall not eat of anything that dies of itself, or is torn, whether it is bird or animal.

9. One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, who were loaded with the seven last plagues came, and he spoke with me, saying, “Come here. I will show you the wife, the Lamb’s bride.” 10. He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, 11. having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, as if it were a jasper stone, clear as crystal; 12. having a great and high wall; having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. 13. On the east were three gates; and on the north three gates; and on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. 14. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. 15. He who spoke with me had for a measure a golden reed to measure the city, its gates, and its walls. 16. The city is square, and its length is as great as its width. He measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand twelve stadia. Its length, width, and height are equal. 17. Its wall is one hundred forty-four cubits, by the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. 18. The construction of its wall was jasper. The city was pure gold, like pure glass. 19. The foundations of the city’s wall were adorned with all kinds of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; 20. the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; and the twelfth, amethyst. 21. The twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each one of the gates was made of one pearl. The street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. 22. I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple. 23. The city has no need for the sun or moon to shine, for the very glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24. The nations will walk in its light. The kings of the earth bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. 25. Its gates will in no way be shut by day (for there will be no night there), 26. and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it so that they may enter. 27. There will in no way enter into it anything profane, or one who causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

1. “Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears fawns? 2. Can you count the months that they fulfill? Or do you know the time when they give birth? 3. They bow themselves. They bear their young. They end their labor pains. 4. Their young ones become strong. They grow up in the open field. They go out, and don’t return again. 5. “Who has set the wild donkey free? Or who has loosened the bonds of the swift donkey, 6. whose home I have made the wilderness, and the salt land his dwelling place? 7. He scorns the tumult of the city, neither does he hear the shouting of the driver. 8. The range of the mountains is his pasture, He searches after every green thing. 9. “Will the wild ox be content to serve you? Or will he stay by your feeding trough? 10. Can you hold the wild ox in the furrow with his harness? Or will he till the valleys after you?