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.

Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the temple, all of its service and all that will be done in it.

This is what you must do on the seventh day of the month for anyone who sins inadvertently or through ignorance; so you will make atonement for the temple.

But the house of Israel is unwilling to listen to you, ¹  because they are not willing to listen to me, ²  for the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted. ³ 

“Son of man, you are living in the midst of a rebellious house. ¹  They have eyes to see, but do not see, and ears to hear, but do not hear, ²  because they are a rebellious house.

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: It is not for your sake that I am about to act, O house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy reputation ¹  which you profaned among the nations where you went.

The side chambers were in three stories, one above the other, thirty in each story. There were offsets in the wall all around to serve as supports for the side chambers, so that the supports were not in the wall of the temple.

The Lord said to me: “Son of man, pay attention, ¹  watch closely and listen carefully to ²  everything I tell you concerning all the statutes of the Lord’s house and all its laws. Pay attention to the entrances ³  to the temple with all the exits of the sanctuary.

Yet they will be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple, and serving the temple. They will slaughter the burnt offerings and the sacrifices for the people, and they will stand before them to minister to them.

It will be the duty of the prince to provide the burnt offerings, the grain offering, and the drink offering at festivals, on the new moons and Sabbaths, at all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel; he will provide the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel.

And as for them, ¹  whether they listen ²  or not – for they are a rebellious ³  house ⁴  – they will know that a prophet has been among them.

He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you see in front of you ¹  – eat this scroll – and then go and speak to the house of Israel.”

For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech ¹  and difficult language, ²  but ³  to the house of Israel –

I have made your forehead harder than flint – like diamond! ¹  Do not fear them or be terrified of the looks they give you, ²  for they are a rebellious house.”

Then a wind ¹  came into me and stood me on my feet. The Lord ²  spoke to me and said, “Go shut yourself in your house.

I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to reprove ¹  them, for they are a rebellious house.

I have determined that the number of the years of their iniquity are to be the number of days ¹  for you – 390 days. ²  So bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. ³ 

Again, take more of them and throw them into the fire, ¹  and burn them up. From there a fire will spread to all the house of Israel.

The sword is outside; pestilence and famine are inside the house. Whoever is in the open field will die by the sword, and famine and pestilence will consume everyone in the city.

So I went in and looked. I noticed every figure ¹  of creeping thing and beast – detestable images ²  – and every idol of the house of Israel, engraved on the wall all around. ³