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Ezekiel

About this book
Chapter 43

1 Then he brought me to the gate that faced toward the east. 2 I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east; the sound was like that of rushing water,⁠ and the earth radiated his glory.⁠ 3 It was like the vision I saw when he came to destroy the city, and the vision I saw by the Kebar River. I threw myself face down. 4 The glory of the Lord came into the temple by way of the gate that faces east. 5 Then a wind lifted me up and brought me to the inner court; I watched the glory of the Lord filling the temple. 6 I heard someone speaking to me from the temple, while the man was standing beside me. 7 He said to me: “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will live among the people of Israel forever.⁠ The house of Israel will no longer profane my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their spiritual prostitution or by the pillars of their kings set up when they die. 8 When they placed their threshold by my threshold and their doorpost by my doorpost, with only the wall between me and them, they profaned my holy name by the abominable deeds they committed. So I consumed them in my anger. 9 Now they must put away their spiritual prostitution and the pillars of their kings far from me, and then I will live among them forever. 10 “As for you, son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, so that they will be ashamed of their sins and measure the pattern. 11 When they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple—its pattern, its exits and entrances, and its whole design—all its statutes, its entire design, and all its laws; write it all down in their sight, so that they may observe its entire design and all its statutes and do them. 12 “This is the law of the temple: The entire area on top of the mountain all around will be most holy. Indeed, this is the law of the temple. 13 “And these are the measurements of the altar: Its base is 1¾ feet high and 1¾ feet wide, and its border 9 inches on its edge. This is to be the height of the altar. 14 From the base of the ground to the lower ledge is 3½ feet, and the width 1¾ feet; and from the smaller ledge to the larger ledge, 7 feet, and the width 1¾ feet; 15 and the altar hearth, 7 feet, and from the altar hearth four horns projecting upward. 16 Now the altar hearth is a perfect square, 21 feet long and 21 feet wide. 17 The ledge is 24½ feet long and 24½ feet wide on four sides; the border around it is 10½ inches, and its surrounding base 1¾ feet. Its steps face east.” 18 Then he said to me: “Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: These are the statutes of the altar: On the day it is built to offer up burnt offerings on it and to sprinkle blood on it, 19 you will give a young bull for a sin offering to the Levitical priests who are descended from Zadok, who approach me to minister to me, declares the Sovereign Lord. 20 You will take some of its blood and place it on the four horns of the altar, on the four corners of the ledge, and on the border all around; you will purify it and make atonement for it. 21 You will also take the bull for the sin offering, and it will be burned in the appointed place in the temple, outside the sanctuary. 22 “On the second day, you will offer a male goat without blemish for a sin offering. They will purify the altar just as they purified it with the bull. 23 When you have finished purifying it, you will offer an unblemished young bull and an unblemished ram from the flock. 24 You will present them before the Lord, and the priests will scatter salt on them and offer them up as a burnt offering to the Lord. 25 “For seven days you will provide every day a goat for a sin offering; a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without blemish, will be provided. 26 For seven days they will make atonement for the altar and cleanse it, so they will consecrate it. 27 When the prescribed period is over, on the eighth day and thereafter the priests will offer up on the altar your burnt offerings and your peace offerings; I will accept you, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

Texts in conversation

Compare Ezekiel 43:7 and LXX Ezekiel 43:7

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

Ezekiel 43 describes God declaring the temple as the place of his throne and presence forever with Israel. The Greek Septuagint changes this to focus on God's name dwelling there, likely to remove the implication that God is physically present.

Passages

Ezekiel 43:7

Hebrew Bible
6 I heard someone speaking to me from the temple, while the man was standing beside me. 7 He said to me: “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will live among the people of Israel forever. The house of Israel will no longer profane my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their spiritual prostitution or by the pillars of their kings set up when they die. 8 When they placed their threshold by my threshold and their doorpost by my doorpost, with only the wall between me and them, they profaned my holy name by the abominable deeds they committed. So I consumed them in my anger.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ezekiel

LXX Ezekiel 43:7

Septuagint
6 And I stood, and look, there was a voice out of the house of one speaking to me, and a man stood near me, 7 and he said to me, Son of man, you have seen the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, in which my name shall dwell in the midst of the house of Israel for ever; and the house of Israel shall no more profane my holy name, they and their princes, by their fornication, or by the murders of their princes in the midst of them; 8 when they set my door-way by their door-way, and my thresholds near to their thresholds: and they made my wall as it were joining myself and them, and they profaned my holy name with their iniquities which they committed: and I destroyed them in my fierce anger and with slaughter.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Ezekiel

References

"... In the ideal Temple described by Ezekiel (xliii 7) God will make His dwelling in the midst of His people forever, or as the LXX has it: “My name shall dwell in the midst of the house of Israel forever.” (The latter is interesting in view of the Johannine interest in the name.) When the Prologue proclaims that the Word made his dwelling among men, we are being told that the flesh of Jesus Christ is the new localization of God’s presence on earth, and that Jesus is the replacement of the ancient Tabernacle. The Gospel will present Jesus as the replacement of the Temple (ii 19–22), which is a variation of the same theme ..."
Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008), 77.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Ezekiel 43:7 and LXX Ezekiel 43:7

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