The Prince’s Offerings

1‘Thus says the Lord God, “The gate of the inner court facing east shall be shut the six working days; but it shall be opened on the sabbath day and opened on the day of the new moon. 2The prince shall enter by way of the porch of the gate from outside and stand by the post of the gate. Then the priests shall provide his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate and then go out; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening. 3The people of the land shall also worship at the doorway of that gate before the Lord on the sabbaths and on the new moons. 4The burnt offering which the prince shall offer to the Lord on the sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish; 5and the grain offering shall be an ephah with the ram, and the grain offering with the lambs as much as he is able to give, and a hin of oil with an ephah. 6On the day of the new moon he shall offer a young bull without blemish, also six lambs and a ram, which shall be without blemish. 7And he shall provide a grain offering, an ephah with the bull and an ephah with the ram, and with the lambs as much as he is able, and a hin of oil with an ephah. 8When the prince enters, he shall go in by way of the porch of the gate and go out by the same way. 9But when the people of the land come before the Lord at the appointed feasts, he who enters by way of the north gate to worship shall go out by way of the south gate. And he who enters by way of the south gate shall go out by way of the north gate. No one shall return by way of the gate by which he entered but shall go straight out. 10When they go in, the prince shall go in among them; and when they go out, he shall go out.

11“At the festivals and the appointed feasts the grain offering shall be an ephah with a bull and an ephah with a ram, and with the lambs as much as one is able to give, and a hin of oil with an ephah. 12When the prince provides a freewill offering, a burnt offering, or peace offerings as a freewill offering to the Lord, the gate facing east shall be opened for him. And he shall provide his burnt offering and his peace offerings as he does on the sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and the gate shall be shut after he goes out.

13“And you shall provide a lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering to the Lord daily; morning by morning you shall provide it. 14Also you shall provide a grain offering with it morning by morning, a sixth of an ephah and a third of a hin of oil to moisten the fine flour, a grain offering to the Lord continually by a perpetual ordinance. 15Thus they shall provide the lamb, the grain offering and the oil, morning by morning, for a continual burnt offering.”

16‘Thus says the Lord God, “If the prince gives a gift out of his inheritance to any of his sons, it shall belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance. 17But if he gives a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his until the year of liberty; then it shall return to the prince. His inheritance shall be only his sons’; it shall belong to them. 18The prince shall not take from the people’s inheritance, thrusting them out of their possession; he shall give his sons inheritance from his own possession so that My people will not be scattered, anyone from his possession.” ’ ”

The Boiling Places

19Then he brought me through the entrance, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers for the priests, which faced north; and behold, there was a place at the extreme rear toward the west. 20He said to me, “This is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt offering and the sin offering and where they shall bake the grain offering, in order that they may not bring them out into the outer court to transmit holiness to the people.”

21Then he brought me out into the outer court and led me across to the four corners of the court; and behold, in every corner of the court there was a small court. 22In the four corners of the court there were enclosed courts, forty cubits long and thirty wide; these four in the corners were the same size. 23There was a row of masonry round about in them, around the four of them, and boiling places were made under the rows round about. 24Then he said to me, “These are the boiling places where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifices of the people.”

Serve God Willingly

1Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, 2shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; 3nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. 4And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

1) What links daily sacrifice to daily devotion?

2) How does Messiah’s work perfect continual worship?

3) Why must assembly remain constant in hope?

PSALM 149

Israel Invoked to Praise the Lord.

1Praise the Lord!

Sing to the Lord a new song,

And His praise in the congregation of the godly ones.

2Let Israel be glad in his Maker;

Let the sons of Zion rejoice in their King.

3Let them praise His name with dancing;

Let them sing praises to Him with timbrel and lyre.

4For the Lord takes pleasure in His people;

He will beautify the afflicted ones with salvation.

5Let the godly ones exult in glory;

Let them sing for joy on their beds.

6Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,

And a two-edged sword in their hand,

7To execute vengeance on the nations

And punishment on the peoples,

8To bind their kings with chains

And their nobles with fetters of iron,

9To execute on them the judgment written;

This is an honor for all His godly ones.

Praise the Lord!

Judgment of Egypt

1In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth of the month, the word of the Lord came to me saying, 2“Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. 3Speak and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God,

“Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,

The great monster that lies in the midst of his rivers,

That has said, ‘My Nile is mine, and I myself have made it.’

4I will put hooks in your jaws

And make the fish of your rivers cling to your scales.

And I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers,

And all the fish of your rivers will cling to your scales.

5I will abandon you to the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers;

You will fall on the open field; you will not be brought together or gathered.

I have given you for food to the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the sky.

6Then all the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I am the Lord,

Because they have been only a staff made of reed to the house of Israel.

7When they took hold of you with the hand,

You broke and tore all their hands;

And when they leaned on you,

You broke and made all their loins quake.”

8‘Therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will bring upon you a sword and I will cut off from you man and beast. 9The land of Egypt will become a desolation and waste. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

Because you said, ‘The Nile is mine, and I have made it,’ 10therefore, behold, I am against you and against your rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdol to Syene and even to the border of Ethiopia. 11A man’s foot will not pass through it, and the foot of a beast will not pass through it, and it will not be inhabited for forty years. 12So I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated lands. And her cities, in the midst of cities that are laid waste, will be desolate forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the lands.”

13‘For thus says the Lord God, “At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered. 14I will turn the fortunes of Egypt and make them return to the land of Pathros, to the land of their origin, and there they will be a lowly kingdom. 15It will be the lowest of the kingdoms, and it will never again lift itself up above the nations. And I will make them so small that they will not rule over the nations. 16And it will never again be the confidence of the house of Israel, bringing to mind the iniquity of their having turned to Egypt. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.” ’ ”

17Now in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the word of the Lord came to me saying, 18“Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre; every head was made bald and every shoulder was rubbed bare. But he and his army had no wages from Tyre for the labor that he had performed against it.” 19Therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And he will carry off her wealth and capture her spoil and seize her plunder; and it will be wages for his army. 20I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor which he performed, because they acted for Me,” declares the Lord God.

21“On that day I will make a horn sprout for the house of Israel, and I will open your mouth in their midst. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”