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.

It sprouted and became a vine, spreading low to the ground; ¹  its branches turning toward him, ²  its roots were under itself. ³  So it became a vine; it produced shoots and sent out branches.

I made it beautiful with its many branches; all the trees of Eden, in the garden of God, envied it.

Its windows, its porches, and its decorative palm trees had the same measurement as the gate which faced east. Seven steps led up to it, and its porch was in front of them.

He plucked off its topmost shoot; he brought it to a land of merchants and planted it in a city of traders.

And everyone ¹  will see that I, the Lord, have burned it; it will not be extinguished.’”

No! ¹  It is thrown in the fire for fuel; when the fire has burned up both ends of it and it is charred in the middle, will it be useful for anything?

No human foot will pass through it, and no animal’s foot will pass through it; it will be uninhabited for forty years.

A fire has gone out from its branch; it has consumed its shoot and its fruit. ¹  No strong branch was left in it, nor a scepter to rule.’ This is a lament song, and has become a lament song.”

Realize that it is coming and it will be done, declares the sovereign Lord. It is the day I have spoken about.

“‘Say to them: This is what the sovereign Lord says: “‘Will it prosper? Will he not rip out its roots and cause its fruit to rot ¹  and wither? All its foliage ²  will wither. No strong arm or large army will be needed to pull it out by its roots. ³ 

I will plant it on a high mountain of Israel, and it will raise branches and produce fruit and become a beautiful cedar. Every bird will live under it; Every winged creature will live in the shade of its branches.

The Lord said to me: “This gate will be shut; it will not be opened, and no one will enter by it. For the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it will remain shut.

He unrolled it before me, and it had writing on the front ¹  and back; ²  written on it were laments, mourning, and woe.

“‘He gave it to be polished, to be grasped in the hand – the sword is sharpened, it is polished – giving it into the hand of the executioner.

Those who lived in its shade, its allies ¹  among the nations, also went down with it to Sheol, to those killed by the sword.

He measured it on all four sides. It had a wall around it, 875 feet long and 875 feet wide, to separate the holy and common places.

The cedars in the garden of God could not eclipse it, nor could the fir trees ¹  match its boughs; the plane trees were as nothing compared to its branches; no tree in the garden of God could rival its beauty.

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 cleanse it and make atonement for it. ¹ 

add the pieces of meat to it, every good piece, the thigh and the shoulder; fill it with choice bones.