Along The Way (December 1st - 7th)
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Ezekiel 39
Gog’s Armies Destroyed
And you, mortal, prophesy against Gog and say: Thus says the Lord God: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal! I will turn you around and drive you forward and bring you up from the remotest parts of the north and lead you against the mountains of Israel. I will strike your bow from your left hand and will make your arrows drop out of your right hand. You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples who are with you; I will give you to birds of prey of every kind and to the wild animals to be devoured. You shall fall in the open field, for I have spoken, says the Lord God. I will send fire on Magog and on those who live securely in the coastlands, and they shall know that I am the Lord.
My holy name I will make known among my people Israel, and I will not let my holy name be profaned any more, and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. It has come! It has happened, says the Lord God. This is the day of which I have spoken.
Then those who live in the towns of Israel will go out and make fires of the weapons and burn them — bucklers and shields, bows and arrows, clubs and spears — and they will make fires of them for seven years. They will not need to take wood out of the field or cut down any trees in the forests, for they will make their fires of the weapons; they will despoil those who despoiled them and plunder those who plundered them, says the Lord God.
The Burial of Gog
On that day I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers east of the sea; it shall block the path of the travelers, for there Gog and all his horde will be buried; it shall be called the Valley of Hamon-gog. Seven months the house of Israel shall spend burying them, in order to cleanse the land. All the people of the land shall bury them, and it will bring them honor on the day that I show my glory, says the Lord God. They will set apart men to pass through the land regularly and bury any invaders who remain on the face of the land, so as to cleanse it; for seven months they shall make their search. As the searchers pass through the land, anyone who sees a human bone shall set up a sign by it until the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog. (A city Hamonah is there also.) Thus they shall cleanse the land.
As for you, mortal, thus says the Lord God: Speak to the birds of every kind and to all the wild animals: Assemble and come, gather from all around to the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, a great sacrificial feast on the mountains of Israel, and you shall eat flesh and drink blood. You shall eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth — of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bulls, all of them fatted calves of Bashan. You shall eat fat until you are filled and drink blood until you are drunk, at the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you. And you shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with warriors and all kinds of soldiers, says the Lord God.
Israel Restored to the Land
I will display my glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed and my hand that I have laid on them. The house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward. And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they dealt treacherously with me. So I hid my face from them and gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword. I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their transgressions and hid my face from them.
Therefore thus says the Lord God: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name. They shall bear their shame, and all the treachery they have practiced against me, when they live securely in their land with no one to make them afraid, when I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from their enemies’ lands and through them have displayed my holiness in the sight of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God because I sent them into exile among the nations and then gathered them into their own land. I will leave none of them behind, and I will never again hide my face from them, when I pour out my spirit upon the house of Israel, says the Lord God.
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Ezekiel 40
The Vision of the New Temple
In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck down, on that very day, the hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me there. He brought me, in visions of God, to the land of Israel and set me down upon a very high mountain on which was a structure like a city to the south. When he brought me there, a man was there whose appearance shone like bronze, with a linen cord and a measuring reed in his hand, and he was standing in the gateway. The man said to me, “Mortal, look closely and listen attentively, and set your mind on all that I shall show you, for you were brought here in order that I might show it to you; declare all that you see to the house of Israel.”
Now there was a wall all around the outside of the temple area. The length of the measuring reed in the man’s hand was six long cubits, each being a cubit and a handbreadth in length, so he measured the thickness of the wall, one reed, and the height, one reed. Then he went into the gateway facing east, going up its steps, and measured the threshold of the gate, one reed deep. There were recesses, and each recess was one reed wide and one reed deep, and the space between the recesses, five cubits, and the threshold of the gate by the vestibule of the gate at the inner end was one reed deep. Then he measured the inner vestibule of the gateway, one reed. Then he measured the vestibule of the gateway, eight cubits, and its posts, two cubits, and the vestibule of the gate was at the inner end. There were three recesses on either side of the east gate; the three were of the same size, and the posts on either side were of the same size. Then he measured the width of the opening of the gateway, ten cubits, and the width of the gateway, thirteen cubits. There was a barrier before the recesses, one cubit on either side, and each recess was six cubits square. Then he measured the gate from the back of the one recess to the back of the other, a width of twenty-five cubits from wall to wall. He measured the vestibule (sixty cubits) and the gate next to the post on every side of the court. From the front of the gate at the entrance to the end of the inner vestibule of the gate was fifty cubits. The recesses and their posts had windows, with shutters on the inside of the gateway all around, and the vestibules also had windows on the inside all around, and on the posts were palm trees.
Then he brought me into the outer court; there were chambers there and a pavement all around the court; thirty chambers fronted on the pavement. The pavement ran along the side of the gates, corresponding to the length of the gates; this was the lower pavement. Then he measured the distance from the inner front of the lower gate to the outer front of the inner court, one hundred cubits.
Then he measured the gate of the outer court that faced north — its depth and width. Its recesses, three on either side, and its posts and its vestibule were of the same size as those of the first gate; its depth was fifty cubits and its width twenty-five cubits. Its windows, its vestibule, and its palm trees were of the same size as those of the gate that faced toward the east. Seven steps led up to it, and its vestibule was on the inside. Opposite the gate on the north, as on the east, was a gate to the inner court; he measured from gate to gate, one hundred cubits.
Then he led me toward the south, and there was a gate on the south, and he measured its posts and its vestibule; they had the same dimensions as the others. There were windows all around in it and in its vestibule, like the windows of the others; its depth was fifty cubits and its width twenty-five cubits. There were seven steps leading up to it; its vestibule was on the inside. It had palm trees on its posts, one on either side. There was a gate on the south of the inner court, and he measured from gate to gate toward the south, one hundred cubits.
Then he brought me to the inner court by the south gate, and he measured the south gate; it was of the same dimensions as the others. Its recesses, its posts, and its vestibule were of the same size as the others, and there were windows all around in it and in its vestibule; its depth was fifty cubits and its width twenty-five cubits. There were vestibules all around the inner court, twenty-five cubits deep and five cubits wide. Its vestibule faced the outer court, and palm trees were on its posts, and its stairway had eight steps.
Then he brought me to the inner court on the east side, and he measured the gate; it was of the same size as the others. Its recesses, its posts, and its vestibule were of the same dimensions as the others, and there were windows all around in it and in its vestibule; its depth was fifty cubits and its width twenty-five cubits. Its vestibule faced the outer court, and it had palm trees on its posts, on either side, and its stairway had eight steps.
Then he brought me to the north gate, and he measured it; it had the same dimensions as the others. Its recesses, its posts, and its vestibule were of the same size as the others, and it had windows all around. Its depth was fifty cubits and its width twenty-five cubits. Its vestibule faced the outer court, and it had palm trees on its posts, on either side, and its stairway had eight steps.
There was a chamber with its door in the vestibule of the gate where the burnt offering was to be washed. And in the vestibule of the gate were two tables on either side on which the burnt offering and the purification offering and the guilt offering were to be slaughtered. On the outside of the vestibule, where one goes up to the entrance of the north gate, were two tables, and on the other side of the vestibule of the gate were two tables. Four tables were on one side and four tables on the other side of the gate, eight tables, on which the sacrifices were to be slaughtered. There were also four tables of hewn stone for the burnt offering, a cubit and a half long, and one cubit and a half wide, and one cubit high, on which the instruments were to be laid with which the burnt offerings and the sacrifices were slaughtered. There were pegs one handbreadth long fastened all around the inside. And on the tables the flesh of the offering was to be laid.
On the outside of the inner gateway there were two chambers in the inner court, one at the side of the north gate facing south, the other at the side of the south gate facing north. He said to me, “This chamber that faces south is for the priests who have charge of the temple, and the chamber that faces north is for the priests who have charge of the altar; these are the descendants of Zadok, who alone among the descendants of Levi may come near to the Lord to minister to him.” He measured the court, one hundred cubits deep and one hundred cubits wide, a square, and the altar was in front of the temple.
The Temple
Then he brought me to the vestibule of the temple and measured the posts of the vestibule, five cubits deep on either side, and the width of the gate between the posts was fourteen cubits, and the shoulders of the gate were three cubits wide on either side. The width of the vestibule was twenty cubits and the depth twelve cubits; ten steps led up to it, and there were pillars beside the posts on either side.
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Ezekiel 41
Then he brought me to the nave and measured the posts; on each side six cubits was the depth of the posts. The width of the entrance was ten cubits, and the sidewalls of the entrance were five cubits on either side. He measured the length of the nave, forty cubits, and its width, twenty cubits. Then he went into the inner room and measured the posts of the entrance, two cubits, and the width of the entrance, six cubits, and the sidewalls of the entrance, seven cubits. He measured the depth of the room, twenty cubits, and its width, twenty cubits, beyond the nave. And he said to me, “This is the most holy place.”
Then he measured the wall of the temple, six cubits thick, and the width of the side chambers, four cubits, all around the temple. The side chambers were in three stories, one over another, thirty in each story. There were offsets all around the wall of the temple to serve as supports for the side chambers so that they should not be supported by the wall of the temple. The passageway of the side chambers widened from story to story, for the structure was supplied with a stairway all around the temple. For this reason the structure became wider from story to story. One ascended from the bottom story to the uppermost story by way of the middle one. I saw also that the temple was on a raised platform all around; the foundations of the side chambers measured a full reed of six long cubits high. The thickness of the outer wall of the side chambers was five cubits, and the free space between the side chambers of the temple and the chambers of the court was a width of twenty cubits all around the temple on every side. The side chambers opened onto the area left free, one door toward the north and another door toward the south, and the width of the part that was left free was five cubits all around.
The building that was facing the temple yard on the west side was seventy cubits deep, and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around and its width ninety cubits.
Then he measured the temple, one hundred cubits deep, and the yard and the building with its walls, one hundred cubits deep, also the width of the east front of the temple and the yard, one hundred cubits.
Then he measured the width of the building facing the yard at the west, together with its galleries on either side, one hundred cubits.
The nave of the temple’s interior and the outer vestibule were paneled, and all around all three had windows with recessed frames. Facing the threshold, the temple was paneled with wood all around, from the floor up to the windows (now the windows were covered). On the space above the door, even to the inner room, and on the outside and on all the walls all around in the inner room and the nave there was a pattern. It was formed of cherubim and palm trees, a palm tree between cherub and cherub. Each cherub had two faces: a human face turned toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion turned toward the palm tree on the other side. They were carved on the whole temple all around; from the floor to the area above the door, cherubim and palm trees were carved on the wall.
The doorposts of the nave were square. In front of the holy place was something resembling an altar of wood, three cubits high, two cubits long, and two cubits wide; its corners, its base, and its walls were of wood. He said to me, “This is the table that stands before the Lord.” The nave and the holy place had each a double door. The doors had two leaves apiece, two swinging leaves for each door. On the doors of the nave were carved cherubim and palm trees, such as were carved on the walls, and there was a canopy of wood in front of the vestibule outside. And there were recessed windows and palm trees on either side, on the sidewalls of the vestibule.
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Ezekiel 42
The Holy Chambers and the Outer Wall
Then he led me out into the outer court toward the north, and he brought me to the chambers that were opposite the temple yard and opposite the building on the north. The length of the building that was on the north side was one hundred cubits and the width fifty cubits. Facing the twenty cubits that belonged to the inner court and facing the pavement that belonged to the outer court, the chambers rose gallery by gallery in three stories. Amid the chambers was an interior passage, ten cubits wide and one hundred cubits deep, and its entrances were on the north. Now the upper chambers were narrower, for the galleries took more away from them than from the lower and middle chambers in the building. For they were in three stories, and they had no pillars like the pillars of the outer court; for this reason the upper chambers were set back from the ground more than the lower and the middle ones. There was a wall outside parallel to the chambers, toward the outer court, opposite the chambers, fifty cubits long. For the chambers on the outer court were fifty cubits long, while those opposite the temple were one hundred cubits long. At the foot of these chambers ran a passage that one entered from the east in order to enter them from the terrace space outside. The entrance was aligned with the start of the wall toward the court.
On the south also, opposite the vacant area and opposite the building, there were chambers with a passage in front of them; they were similar to the chambers on the north, of the same length and width, with the same exits and arrangements and doors. So the entrances of the chambers to the south were entered through the entrance at the head of the corresponding passage, from the east, along the matching wall.
Then he said to me, “The north chambers and the south chambers opposite the vacant area are the holy chambers where the priests who approach the Lord shall eat the most holy offerings; there they shall deposit the most holy offerings — the grain offering, the purification offering, and the guilt offering — for the place is holy. When the priests enter the holy place, they shall not go out of it into the outer court without laying there the vestments in which they minister, for these are holy; they shall put on other garments before they go near to the area open to the people.”
When he had finished measuring the interior of the temple area, he led me out by the gate that faces east and measured the temple area all around. He measured the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred cubits by the measuring reed. Then he turned and measured the north side, five hundred cubits by the measuring reed. Then he turned and measured the south side, five hundred cubits by the measuring reed. Then he turned to the west side and measured, five hundred cubits by the measuring reed. He measured it on the four sides. It had a wall around it, five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide, to make a separation between the holy and the common.
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Ezekiel 43
The Divine Glory Returns to the Temple
Then he brought me to the gate, the gate facing east. And there the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east; the sound was like the sound of mighty waters, and the earth shone with his glory. The vision I saw was like the vision that I had seen when he came to destroy the city and like the vision that I had seen by the River Chebar, and I fell upon my face. As the glory of the Lord entered the temple by the gate facing east, the spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me out of the temple. He said to me: “Mortal, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will reside among the people of Israel forever. The house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their prostitution and by sacrificing to their kings at their death. When they placed their threshold by my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them, they were defiling my holy name by their abominations that they committed; therefore I have consumed them in my anger. Now let them put away their idolatry and sacrifices to their kings far from me, and I will reside among them forever.
“As for you, mortal, describe the temple to the house of Israel, and let them measure the pattern, and let them be ashamed of their iniquities. When they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the plan of the temple, its arrangement, its exits and its entrances, and its whole form — all its ordinances and its entire plan and all its laws; and write it down in their sight so that they may observe and follow the entire plan and all its ordinances. This is the law of the temple: the whole territory on the top of the mountain all around shall be most holy. This is the law of the temple.
The Altar
“These are the dimensions of the altar by long cubits in which each is a cubit and a handbreadth: its base shall be one cubit high and one cubit wide, with a rim of one span around its edge. This shall be the height of the altar: from the base on the ground to the lower ledge, two cubits, with a width of one cubit, and from the lower ledge to the upper ledge, four cubits, with a width of one cubit, and the altar hearth, four cubits, and from the altar hearth projecting upward, four horns. The altar hearth shall be square, twelve cubits long by twelve wide. The ledge also shall be square, fourteen cubits long by fourteen wide, with a rim around it half a cubit high, and its surrounding base, one cubit. Its steps shall face east.”
Then he said to me: “Mortal, thus says the Lord God: These are the ordinances for the altar: On the day when it is erected for offering burnt offerings upon it and for dashing blood against it, you shall give to the Levitical priests of the family of Zadok, who draw near to me to minister to me, says the Lord God, a bull of the herd for a purification offering. And you shall take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar and on the four corners of the ledge and upon the rim all around; thus you shall purify it and make atonement for it. You shall also take the bull of the purification offering, and it shall be burnt in the appointed place belonging to the temple, outside the sacred area.
“On the second day you shall offer a male goat without blemish for a purification offering, and the altar shall be purified, as it was purified with the bull. When you have finished purifying it, you shall offer a bull of the herd without blemish and a ram from the flock without blemish. You shall present them before the Lord, and the priests shall throw salt on them and offer them up as a burnt offering to the Lord. For seven days you shall provide daily a goat for a purification offering; also a bull of the herd and a ram from the flock, without blemish, shall be provided. Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and cleanse it and so consecrate it. When these days are over, then from the eighth day onward the priests shall offer upon the altar your burnt offerings and your offerings of well-being, and I will accept you, says the Lord God.”
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Ezekiel 44
The Closed Gate
Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary that faces east, and it was shut. The Lord said to me: “This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it shall remain shut. Only the prince, because he is a prince, may sit in it to eat food before the Lord; he shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate and shall go out by the same way.”
Admission to the Temple
Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple, and I looked, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord, and I fell upon my face. The Lord said to me: “Mortal, mark well, look closely, and listen attentively to all that I shall tell you concerning all the ordinances of the temple of the Lord and all its laws, and mark well the entrances to the temple and all the exits of the sanctuary. Say to the rebellious house, to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: O house of Israel, let there be an end to all your abominations in admitting foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary, profaning my temple when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. You have broken my covenant with all your abominations. And you have not kept charge of my sacred offerings, but you have appointed foreigners to act for you in keeping my charge in my sanctuary.
“Thus says the Lord God: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, shall enter my sanctuary. But the Levites who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols when Israel went astray, shall bear their punishment. They shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple and serving in the temple; they shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall attend on them and serve them. Because they ministered to them before their idols and made the house of Israel stumble into iniquity, therefore I have sworn concerning them, says the Lord God, that they shall bear their punishment. They shall not come near to me, to serve me as priest, nor come near any of my sacred offerings, the things that are most sacred, but they shall bear their shame and the consequences of the abominations that they have committed. Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the temple, to do all its chores, all that is to be done in it.
The Levitical Priests
“But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me, and they shall attend me to offer me the fat and the blood, says the Lord God. It is they who shall enter my sanctuary; it is they who shall approach my table to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge. When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen vestments; they shall have nothing of wool on them while they minister at the gates of the inner court and within the temple. They shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments on their loins; they shall not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat. When they go out into the outer court to the people, they shall remove the vestments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments, so that they may not communicate holiness to the people with their vestments. They shall not shave their heads or let their locks grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads. No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court. They shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman but only a virgin of the stock of the house of Israel or a widow who is the widow of a priest. They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. In a dispute they shall act as judges, and they shall decide it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes regarding all my appointed festivals, and they shall keep my Sabbaths holy. They shall not defile themselves by going near a dead person; for father or mother, however, and for son or daughter and for brother or unmarried sister they may defile themselves. After he has become clean, they shall count seven days for him. On the day that he goes into the holy place, into the inner court, to minister in the holy place, he shall offer his purification offering, says the Lord God.
“This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance, and you shall give them no holding in Israel; I am their holding. They shall eat the grain offering, the purification offering, and the guilt offering, and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. The first of all the first fruits of all kinds and every offering of all kinds from all your offerings shall belong to the priests; you shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, in order that a blessing may rest on your house. The priests shall not eat of anything, whether bird or animal, that died of itself or was torn by animals.
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Ezekiel 45
The Holy District
“When you allot the land as an inheritance, you shall set aside for the Lord a portion of the land as a holy district, twenty-five thousand cubits long and twenty thousand cubits wide; it shall be holy throughout its entire extent. Of this, a square plot of five hundred by five hundred cubits shall be for the sanctuary, with fifty cubits for an open space around it. In the holy district you shall measure off a section twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand wide, in which shall be the sanctuary, the most holy place. It shall be a holy portion of the land; it shall be for the priests who minister in the sanctuary and approach the Lord to minister to him, and it shall be both a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. Another section, twenty-five thousand cubits long and ten thousand cubits wide, shall be for the Levites who minister at the temple, as their holding for cities to live in.
“Alongside the portion set apart as the holy district you shall assign as a holding for the city an area five thousand cubits wide and twenty-five thousand cubits long; it shall belong to the whole house of Israel.
“And to the prince shall belong the land on both sides of the holy district and the holding of the city, alongside the holy district and the holding of the city, on the west and on the east, corresponding in length to one of the tribal portions and extending from the western to the eastern boundary of the land. It is to be his property in Israel. And my princes shall no longer oppress my people, but they shall let the house of Israel have the land according to their tribes.
“Thus says the Lord God: Enough, O princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression, and do what is just and right. Cease your evictions of my people, says the Lord God.
Weights and Measures
“You shall have honest balances, an honest ephah, and an honest bath. The ephah and the bath shall be of the same measure, the bath containing one-tenth of a homer and the ephah one-tenth of a homer; the homer shall be the standard measure. The shekel shall be twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels shall make a mina for you.
Offerings
“This is the offering that you shall make: one-sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat, and one-sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley, and as the fixed portion of oil one-tenth of a bath from each cor (the cor, like the homer, contains ten baths), and one sheep from every flock of two hundred from the pastures of Israel. This is the offering for grain offerings, burnt offerings, and offerings of well-being, to make atonement for them, says the Lord God. All the people of the land shall join in making this offering in Israel through the prince. This shall be the obligation of the prince regarding the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the festivals, the new moons, and the Sabbaths, all the appointed festivals of the house of Israel: he shall provide the purification offerings, the grain offerings, the burnt offerings, and the offerings of well-being, to make atonement for the house of Israel.
Festivals
“Thus says the Lord God: In the first month, on the first day of the month, you shall take a bull of the herd without blemish and purify the sanctuary. The priest shall take some of the blood of the purification offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and the posts of the gate of the inner court. You shall do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who has sinned through error or ignorance; so you shall make atonement for the temple.
“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall celebrate the Festival of the Passover, and for seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten. On that day the prince shall provide for himself and all the people of the land a bull for a purification offering. And during the seven days of the festival he shall provide as a burnt offering to the Lord seven bulls and seven rams without blemish, on each of the seven days, and a male goat daily for a purification offering. He shall provide as a grain offering an ephah for each bull, an ephah for each ram, and a hin of oil to each ephah. In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month and for the seven days of the festival, he shall make the same provision for purification offerings, burnt offerings, and grain offerings and for the oil.