I'll place the corpses of the Israelis in front of their idols. I'll scatter your bones around your altar.

Then he told me, "Son of Man, look up toward the north." So I looked off toward the north. Suddenly, off toward the north, facing the gate that led to the altar, the image that provoked God's jealousy was standing near the entrance.

Then he brought me to the inner court of the LORD's Temple. There, at the entrance to the LORD's Temple, between the porch and the altar, were 25 men, with their backs toward the LORD's Temple and facing the east, prostrating themselves to the sun.

All of a sudden, I noticed six men approaching from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north. Each of them held a destructive weapon in his hand. Among them there was one man, clothed in linen, who was equipped with a writing set at his side. They went in and presented themselves beside the bronze altar.

and the north-facing chamber is for the priests who maintain the altar. These are Zadok's descendants, who, as descendants of Levi approach the LORD to minister directly to him."

He measured the court in the form of a square at 100 cubits long and 100 cubits wide. The altar stood in front of the Temple.

The altar was made of wood, three cubits high and two cubits long. Its corners, base, and sides were of wood. He told me, "This table stands in the LORD's presence."

"Here are the measurements of the altar in cubits that were a cubit and a handbreadth long: its base is a cubit long and a cubit wide, and its border around the edge at one handbreadth is to be the height of the altar.

Then he told me, "This is what the Lord GOD says: "These are the regulations for the altar, starting the day that it is constructed for presenting burnt offerings and sprinkling blood.

You are to take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar, on the four corners of its ledge, and on the border that surrounds it, thus cleansing it and making an atonement for it.

"The second day following commencement of offerings, you are to offer a male goat without defect for a sin offering to cleanse the altar the same way they cleansed it with the bull.

For a seven day period they are to make atonement for the altar, purifying it and consecrating it.

When they will have completed this period, starting the next day, the priests are to offer your burnt offerings on the altar, along with your peace offerings, and I will accept you,' declares the Lord GOD."

The priest is to place some of the blood from the sin offering on the door posts of the Temple, on the four corners of the ledge around the altar, and on the posts of the gate leading to the inner court.

After this, he brought me back to the doorway to the Temple. To my amazement, there was water flowing out toward the east from beneath the threshold of the Temple! (The Temple faced eastward.) The water flowed down from beneath the right side of the Temple, that is, from the south-facing side where the altar was located.