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I felt the powerful presence of the LORD, and his spirit took me and set me down in a valley where the ground was covered with bones.
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He led me all around the valley, and I could see that there were very many bones and that they were very dry.
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He said to me, "Mortal man, can these bones come back to life?" I replied, "Sovereign LORD, only you can answer that!"
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He said, "Prophesy to the bones. Tell these dry bones to listen to the word of the LORD.
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Tell them that I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying to them: I am going to put breath into you and bring you back to life.
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I will give you sinews and muscles, and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you and bring you back to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD."
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So I prophesied as I had been told. While I was speaking, I heard a rattling noise, and the bones began to join together.
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While I watched, the bones were covered with sinews and muscles, and then with skin. But there was no breath in the bodies.
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God said to me, "Mortal man, prophesy to the wind. Tell the wind that the Sovereign LORD commands it to come from every direction, to breathe into these dead bodies, and to bring them back to life."
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So I prophesied as I had been told. Breath entered the bodies, and they came to life and stood up. There were enough of them to form an army.
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God said to me, "Mortal man, the people of Israel are like these bones. They say that they are dried up, without any hope and with no future.
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So prophesy to my people Israel and tell them that I, the Sovereign LORD, am going to open their graves. I am going to take them out and bring them back to the land of Israel.
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When I open the graves where my people are buried and bring them out, they will know that I am the LORD.
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I will put my breath in them, bring them back to life, and let them live in their own land. Then they will know that I am the LORD. I have promised that I would do this---and I will. I, the LORD, have spoken."
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The LORD spoke to me again.
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"Mortal man," he said, "take a wooden stick and write on it the words, 'The kingdom of Judah.' Then take another stick and write on it the words, 'The kingdom of Israel.'
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Then hold the two sticks end to end in your hand so that they look like one stick.
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When your people ask you to tell them what this means,
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tell them that I, the Sovereign LORD, am going to take the stick representing Israel and put it with the one that represents Judah. Out of the two I will make one stick and hold it in my hand.
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"Hold in your hand the two sticks and let the people see them.
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Then tell them that I, the Sovereign LORD, am going to take all my people out of the nations where they have gone, gather them together, and bring them back to their own land.
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I will unite them into one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. They will have one king to rule over them, and they will no longer be divided into two nations or split into two kingdoms.
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They will not defile themselves with disgusting idols any more or corrupt themselves with sin. I will free them from all the ways in which they sin and betray me. I will purify them; they will be my people, and I will be their God.
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A king like my servant David will be their king. They will all be united under one ruler and will obey my laws faithfully.
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They will live on the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where their ancestors lived. They will live there forever, and so will their children and all their descendants. A king like my servant David will rule them forever.
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I will make a covenant with them that guarantees their security forever. I will establish them and increase their population, and will see to it that my Temple stands forever in their land.
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I will live there with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people.
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When I place my Temple there to be among them forever, then the nations will know that I, the LORD, have chosen Israel to be my own people."
2
"Mortal man," he said, "denounce Gog, chief ruler of the nations of Meshech and Tubal in the land of Magog. Denounce him
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and tell him that I, the Sovereign LORD, am his enemy.
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I will turn him around, put hooks in his jaws, and drag him and all his troops away. His army, with its horses and uniformed riders, is enormous, and every soldier carries a shield and is armed with a sword.
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Troops from Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with him, and all have shields and helmets.
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All the fighting men of the lands of Gomer and Beth Togarmah in the north are with him, and so are men from many other nations.
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Tell him to get ready and have all his troops ready at his command.
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After many years I will order him to invade a country where the people were brought back together from many nations and have lived without fear of war. He will invade the mountains of Israel, which were desolate and deserted so long, but where all the people now live in safety.
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He and his army and the many nations with him will attack like a storm and cover the land like a cloud."
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This is what the Sovereign LORD says to Gog: "When that time comes, you will start thinking up an evil plan.
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You will decide to invade a helpless country where the people live in peace and security in unwalled towns that have no defenses.
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You will plunder and loot the people who live in cities that were once in ruins. They have been gathered from the nations, and now they have livestock and property and live at the crossroads of the world.
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The people of Sheba and Dedan and the merchants from the towns of Spain will ask you, 'Have you assembled your army and attacked in order to loot and plunder? Do you intend to get silver and gold, livestock and property, and march off with all those spoils?' "
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So the Sovereign LORD sent me to tell Gog what he was saying to him: "Now while my people Israel live in security, you will set out
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to come from your place in the far north, leading a large, powerful army of soldiers from many nations, all of them on horseback.
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You will attack my people Israel like a storm moving across the land. When the time comes, I will send you to invade my land in order to show the nations who I am, to show my holiness by what I do through you.
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You are the one I was talking about long ago, when I announced through my servants, the prophets of Israel, that in days to come I would bring someone to attack Israel." The Sovereign LORD has spoken.
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The Sovereign LORD says, "On the day when Gog invades Israel, I will become furious.
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I declare in the heat of my anger that on that day there will be a severe earthquake in the land of Israel.
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Every fish and bird, every animal large and small, and every human being on the face of the earth will tremble for fear of me. Mountains will fall, cliffs will crumble, and every wall will collapse.
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I will terrify Gog with all sorts of calamities. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken. His men will turn their swords against one another.
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I will punish him with disease and bloodshed. Torrents of rain and hail, together with fire and sulfur, will pour down on him and his army and on the many nations that are on his side.
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In this way I will show all the nations that I am great and that I am holy. They will know then that I am the LORD."
1
The Sovereign LORD said, "Mortal man, denounce Gog, the chief ruler of the nations of Meshech and Tubal, and tell him that I am his enemy.
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I will turn him in a new direction and lead him out of the far north until he comes to the mountains of Israel.
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Then I will knock his bow out of his left hand and his arrows out of his right hand.
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Gog and his army and his allies will fall dead on the mountains of Israel, and I will let their bodies be food for all the birds and wild animals.
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They will fall dead in the open field. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken.
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I will start a fire in the land of Magog and along all the seacoasts where people live undisturbed, and everyone will know that I am the LORD.
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I will make sure that my people Israel know my holy name, and I will not let my name be disgraced any more. Then the nations will know that I, the LORD, am the holy God of Israel."
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The Sovereign LORD said, "The day I spoke about is certain to come.
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The people who live in the cities of Israel will go out and collect the abandoned weapons for firewood. They will build fires with the shields, bows, arrows, spears, and clubs, and have enough to last for seven years.
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They will not have to gather firewood in the fields or cut down trees in the forest, because they will have the abandoned weapons to burn. They will loot and plunder those who looted and plundered them." The Sovereign LORD has spoken.
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The LORD said, "When all this happens, I will give Gog a burial ground there in Israel, in Travelers' Valley, east of the Dead Sea. Gog and all his army will be buried there, and the valley will be called 'The Valley of Gog's Army.'
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It will take the Israelites seven months to bury all the corpses and make the land clean again.
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Everyone in the land will help bury them, and they will be honored for this on the day of my victory. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken.
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After the seven months are over, men will be chosen to travel through the land in order to find and bury those bodies remaining on the ground, so that they can make the land clean.
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As they go up and down the country, every time they find a human bone, they will put a marker beside it so that the gravediggers can come and bury it in the Valley of Gog's Army.
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(There will be a town nearby named after the army.) And so the land will be made clean again."
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The Sovereign LORD said to me, "Mortal man, call all the birds and animals to come from all around to eat the sacrifice I am preparing for them. It will be a huge feast on the mountains of Israel, where they can eat meat and drink blood.
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They are to eat the bodies of soldiers and drink the blood of the rulers of the earth, all of whom will be killed like rams or lambs or goats or fat bulls.
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When I kill these people like sacrifices, the birds and animals are to eat all the fat they can hold and to drink blood until they are drunk.
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At my table they will eat all they can hold of horses and their riders and of soldiers and fighting men. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken."
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The LORD said, "I will let the nations see my glory and show them how I use my power to carry out my just decisions.
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The Israelites will know from then on that I am the LORD their God.
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And the nations will know that the Israelites went into exile because of the sins which they committed against me. I turned away from them and let their enemies defeat them and kill them in battle.
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I gave them what they deserved for their uncleanness and their wickedness, and I turned away from them."
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The Sovereign LORD said, "But now I will be merciful to Jacob's descendants, the people of Israel, and make them prosperous again. I will protect my holy name.
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When they are once more living in safety in their own land, with no one to threaten them, they will be able to forget how they were disgraced for having betrayed me.
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In order to show to the many nations that I am holy, I will bring my people back from all the countries where their enemies live.
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Then my people will know that I am the LORD their God. They will know this, because I sent them into captivity and now gather them and bring them back into their own land, not leaving even one of them behind.
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I will pour out my spirit on the people of Israel and never again turn away from them. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken."
1
It was the tenth day of the new year, which was the twenty-fifth year after we had been taken into exile and the fourteenth year after Jerusalem was captured. On that day I felt the powerful presence of the LORD, and he carried me away.
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In a vision God took me to the land of Israel and put me on a high mountain. I saw in front of me a group of buildings that looked like a city.
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He took me closer, and I saw a man who shone like bronze. He was holding a linen tape measure and a measuring rod and was standing by a gateway.
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He said to me, "Watch, mortal man. Listen carefully and pay close attention to everything I show you, because this is why you were brought here. You are to tell the people of Israel everything you see."
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What I saw was the Temple, and there was a wall around it. The man took his measuring rod, which was 10 feet long, and measured the wall. It was 10 feet high and 10 feet thick.
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Then he went to the gateway that faced east. He went up the steps, and at the top he measured the entrance; it was 10 feet deep.
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Beyond it there was a passageway, which had three guardrooms on each side. Each of the rooms was square, 10 feet on each side, and the walls between them were 8 feet thick. Beyond the guardrooms there was a passageway 10 feet long that led to an entrance room which faced the Temple.
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He measured this room and found it was 14 feet deep. It formed that end of the gateway which was nearest the Temple, and at its far end the walls were 4 feet thick.
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(These guardrooms on each side of the passageway were all the same size, and the walls between them were all of the same thickness.)
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Next, the man measured the width of the passageway in the gateway. It was 22 feet altogether, and the space between the open gates was 16 feet.
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In front of each of the guardrooms there was a low wall 20 inches high and 20 inches thick. (The rooms were 10 feet square.)
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Then he measured the distance from the back wall of one room to the back wall of the room across the passageway from it, and it was 42 feet.
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The room at the far end led out to a courtyard. He measured that room and found it was 34 feet wide.
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The total length of the gateway from the outside wall of the gate to the far side of the last room was 84 feet.
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There were small openings in the outside walls of all the rooms and also in the inner walls between the rooms. There were palm trees carved on the inner walls that faced the passageway.
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The man took me through the gateway into the courtyard. There were thirty rooms built against the outer wall, and in front of them there was an area paved with stones,
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which extended around the courtyard. This outer courtyard was at a lower level than the inner courtyard.
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There was a gateway at a higher level that led to the inner courtyard. The man measured the distance between the two gateways, and it was 168 feet.
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Then the man measured the gateway on the north side that led into the outer courtyard.
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The three guardrooms on each side of the passageway, the walls between them, and the entrance room all had the same measurements as those in the east gateway. The total length of the gateway was 84 feet and the width 42 feet.
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The entrance room, the windows, and the carved palm trees were like those in the east gate. Here seven steps led up to the gate, and the entrance room was at the end facing the courtyard.
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Across the courtyard from this north gateway was another gateway leading to the inner courtyard, just as there was on the east side. The man measured the distance between these two gateways, and it was 168 feet.
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Next, the man took me to the south side, and there we saw another gateway. He measured its inner walls and its entrance room, and they were the same as the others.
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There were windows in the rooms of this gateway just as in the others. The total length of the gateway was 84 feet and the width 42 feet.
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Seven steps led up to it, and its entrance room was also at the end facing the courtyard. There were palm trees carved on the inner walls that faced the passageway.
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Here, too, there was a gateway leading to the inner courtyard. The man measured the distance to this second gateway, and it was 168 feet.
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The man took me through the south gateway into the inner courtyard. He measured the gateway, and it was the same size as the gateways in the outer wall.
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Its guardrooms, its entrance room, and its inner walls were the same size as those in the other gateways. There were also windows in the rooms of this gateway. The total length was 84 feet and the width 42 feet.
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Its entrance room faced the other courtyard, and palm trees were carved on the walls along the passageway. Eight steps led up to this gate.
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The man took me through the east gateway into the inner courtyard. He measured the gateway, and it was the same size as the others.
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Its guardrooms, its entrance room, and its inner walls measured the same as those in the other gateways. There were windows all around, and in the entrance room also. The total length was 84 feet and the width 42 feet.
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The entrance room faced the outer courtyard. Palm trees were carved on the walls along the passageway. Eight steps led up to this gate.
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Then the man took me to the north gateway. He measured it, and it was the same size as the others.
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Like them, it also had guardrooms, decorated inner walls, an entrance room, and windows all around. Its total length was 84 feet and its width 42 feet.
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The entrance room faced the outer courtyard. Palm trees were carved on the walls along the passageway. Eight steps led up to this gate.
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In the outer courtyard there was an annex attached to the inner gateway on the north side. It opened into the entrance room that faced the courtyard, and there they washed the carcasses of the animals to be burned whole as sacrifices.
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In this entrance room there were four tables, two on each side of the room. It was on these tables that they killed the animals to be offered as sacrifices, either to be burned whole or to be sacrifices for sin or as repayment offerings.
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Outside the room there were four similar tables, two on either side of the entrance of the north gate.
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Altogether there were eight tables on which the animals to be sacrificed were killed: four inside the room and four out in the courtyard.
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The four tables in the annex, used to prepare the offerings to be burned whole, were of cut stone. They were 20 inches high, and their tops were 30 inches square. All the equipment used in killing the sacrificial animals was kept on these tables.
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Ledges 3 inches wide ran around the edge of the tables. All the meat to be offered in sacrifice was placed on the tables.
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Then he brought me into the inner court. There were two rooms opening on the inner court, one facing south beside the north gateway and the other facing north beside the south gateway.
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The man told me that the room which faced south was for the priests who served in the Temple,
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and the room which faced north was for the priests who served at the altar. All the priests are descended from Zadok; they are the only members of the tribe of Levi who are permitted to go into the LORD's presence to serve him.
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The man measured the inner courtyard, and it was 168 feet square. The Temple was on the west side, and in front of it was an altar.
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Then he took me into the entrance room of the Temple. He measured the entranceway: it was 9 feet deep and 24 feet wide, with walls 5 feet thick on either side.
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Steps led up to the entrance room, which was 34 feet wide and 20 feet deep. There were two columns, one on each side of the entrance.
