and on the outer side, approaching the northern gateway, there were two tables, as well as two tables on the opposite side of the porch in front of the gate.

In that way, there were four tables on each side in front of the gate, for a total of eight tables for use in slaughtering the offerings.

From outside leading into the inner gate there were chambers for the choir. One was beside the north gate facing the south, and another was at the south gate facing the north.

Next, he brought me to the Temple porch and measured the side pillars at five cubits on each side. The width of the gate measured three cubits on each side.

After he had finished measuring the inner temple, he brought me out through the east-facing gate and measured it all around.

Next, he brought me to the east-facing gate,

and the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. His voice sounded like roaring water, and the land shimmered from his glory.

while the glory of the LORD entered the Temple through the east-facing gate.

"Son of Man," the Lord GOD told me, "This is where my throne is, where I place the soles of my feet, and where I will live among the Israelis forever. The house of Israel will no longer defile my holy name neither they nor their kings by their unfaithfulness, by the lifeless idols of their kings on their funeral mounds,

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 present to the Levitical priests, Zadok's descendants, who will approach me to serve me, a young bull for a sin offering,' declares the Lord GOD.

"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.

"Every day for a week, you are to prepare a goat for a sin offering, a young bull, and a ram from the flock, each without defect.

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."

Then the Lord GOD brought me back through the east-facing outer gate of the sanctuary. But it was shut.

The LORD told me, "This gate is to remain shut. It will not be opened. No man is to enter through it, because the LORD God of Israel entered through it, so it is to remain shut.

The Regent Prince will be seated there, as Regent Prince, and will dine in the LORD's presence, entering through the portico of the gate and exiting through it also."

Then he brought me through the north-facing gate to the front of the Temple. As I looked, the glory of the LORD filled the LORD's Temple, and I fell flat on my face!

"You are to tell the Resistance that is, the house of Israel, "This is what the Lord GOD says: "I've had enough of all of your loathsome behavior, you house of Israel!

"This is what the Lord GOD says, "No foreigner who is both uncircumcised in heart and flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the Israelis is to enter my sanctuary.

Because they kept serving them in the presence of their idols, becoming a sin-filled stumbling block to the house of Israel,' declares the Lord GOD.

"The descendants of Zadok, Levitical priests who took care of my sanctuary when the Israelis wandered away from me, are to come near me to minister to me. They are to stand before me to offer the fat and the blood to me," declares the Lord GOD.

On the day that he returns to the sanctuary's inner court to minister, he is to offer his own sin offering," declares the Lord GOD.

"This is what the Lord GOD says, "Enough of you, you regent princes of Israel! Abandon your violence and destruction. Practice what is just and right instead! Stop confiscating property from my people!' declares the Lord GOD.

The olive oil quota is to be based on the bath, measured at ten baths to each omer, which is equal to one kor.

The sheep quota is to be one from each flock of 200 taken from the pastures of Israel. From all of these you are to present grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings, to make atonement for them," declares the Lord GOD.

"This is what the Lord GOD says, "On the first day of the first month, you are to present a young bull without defect in order to cleanse the sanctuary.

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.

Each day during the seven days of the festival, he is to provide a burnt offering to the LORD, consisting of seven bulls and seven rams without defect, offered each day throughout the seven days, along with a male goat offered each day as a sin offering.

"This is what the Lord GOD says: "The inner, east-facing courtyard is to remain shut during the six working days of the week, but on the Sabbath day it is to be opened, as well as on the day of the New Moon.

The Regent Prince is to enter through the portico of the gate from outside and is to stand at the doorframe of the gate where the priests are to present the Regent Prince's burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then the Regent Prince is to worship at the threshold of the gate and go out. The gate is not to be closed until evening.

The people who live in the land are to worship at the doorway of the gate on the Sabbaths and New Moons in the LORD's presence.'"

""The Regent Prince is to enter through the portico of the gate and is to leave the same way he came in.

When the people who live in the land come into the LORD's presence during the festivals, whoever enters through the northern gate is to leave through the southern gate, and whoever enters through the southern gate is to leave through the northern gate. No one is to leave by the same route that he enters, but instead is to go straight out.

Whenever the Regent Prince presents a voluntary offering, burnt offering, or peace offering, he is to present it voluntarily to the LORD, and the east-facing gate is to be opened for him. He is to provide his burnt offering and peace offering as he does on the Sabbath. When he leaves, the gate is to be shut behind him.

"This is what the Lord GOD says: "If the Regent Prince gives a gift to someone, it is to remain with the man's descendants as their own inheritance.

Then the angel brought me in through an entrance beside the gate into the north-facing chambers dedicated to the priests. As I looked toward the rear of the far western end, I saw a place

Then he brought me out through the north gateway and around to the one outside that faces toward the east. To my amazement, water was trickling out from that part of the south side, too!

This is what the Lord GOD says: "This is to be the territorial border by which you apportion the land for an inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel, with Joseph double-portioned.

Furthermore, you are to provide the foreigner's inheritance there in the tribe within which he remains," declares the Lord GOD.

Adjacent to the border of Zebulun running from east to west, Gad is to retain one portion.

Adjacent to the border of Gad to the south and extending toward the south, the border is to proceed from Tamar to the waters of Meribath-kadesh, then to the Wadi of Egypt, and from there to the Mediterranean Sea.

This is the land that you are to allocate by lottery to the tribes of Israel as their inheritance, and these are their respective divisions," declares the Lord GOD.

are to be the gates of the city. Named after the tribes of Israel, three gates are to serve the north site: one named the Reuben Gate, one named the Judah Gate, and one named the Levi Gate.

On the east side, 4,500 units by measurement, there are to be three gates: one named the Joseph Gate, one named the Benjamin Gate, and one named the Dan Gate.

On the south side, 4,500 units by measurement, there are to be three gates: one named the Simeon Gate, one named the Issachar Gate, and one named the Zebulun Gate.

On the west side, 4,500 units by measurement, there are to be three gates: one named the Gad Gate, one named the Asher Gate, and one named the Naphtali Gate.

Within a week, the Lord handed King Jehoiakim of Judah over to him, along with valuable objects from the house of God. Nebuchadnezzar brought them to the temple of his god in the land of Shinar and stored them in its treasure house.

God granted to Daniel grace and compassion on the part of the chief officer.

As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge, aptitude for learning, and wisdom. Daniel also could understand all kinds of visions and dreams.

Daniel was seeking mercy, in order to ask about this mystery in the presence of the God of heaven, so that Daniel and his friends might not be executed along with the rest of the advisors of Babylon.

When the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision later that night, Daniel blessed the God of heaven

and said, "May the name of God be blessed forever and ever; wisdom and power are his for evermore.

It is God who alters the times and seasons, and he removes kings and promotes kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.

To you, God of my ancestors, I give thanks and praise, because you have given me wisdom and power; you have now revealed to me what we asked of you by making known to us what the king commanded."

"None of the advisors, enchanters, diviners, or astrologers can explain the secret that the king has requested to be made known. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he is making known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the latter days.

You, your majesty, king of kings to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength, and the glory,

"During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor its sovereignty left in the hands of another people. It will shatter and crush all of these kingdoms, and it will stand forever.

Now, just as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without human hands and that it crushed the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold to pieces so also the great God has revealed to the king what will take place after this. Your dream will come true, and its meaning will prove trustworthy."

The king told Daniel, "Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and the Revealer of Secrets, because you were able to reveal this mystery."

Now, if you are ready at this very moment to obey "the sound of the trumpet, the flute, the lyre, the four-stringed lyre, and the harp,' and worship the image that I have made" If you do not so worship, you will immediately have cast yourselves into the middle of the blazing fire, and what god is there who can deliver you from my power?"

Your majesty, if it be his will, our God whom we serve can deliver us from the blazing fire furnace, and he will deliver us from you.

Then Nebuchadnezzar approached the opening of the blazing fire furnace. He shouted out, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out and come here!" So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire.

"Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego! He sent his angel to deliver his servants who trusted in him. They disobeyed the king's command and were willing to risk their lives in order not to serve or worship any god except their own God. So I decree that people from any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego will be destroyed and their house reduced to rubble, because there is no other god who can save like this."

It gives me great pleasure to tell about the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me.

Eventually, Daniel appeared before me. (He is called Belteshazzar, in accordance with the name of my god, and the spirit of the holy gods is within him.) I told him my dream:

"Cut down the tree and cut off its branches. Strip off its foliage and scatter its fruit. Let the animals get out from under it, and let the birds leave its branches. Nevertheless, leave the stump and its roots in the ground, but bind it with iron and bronze in the field grass. Let him be drenched with dew from the sky, and let him graze with the animals in the grass of the earth.

"Your majesty saw a holy observer descending from heaven and saying, "Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump in the ground, along with its roots, bound with iron and bronze in the field grass. Let him be soaked with the dew of the sky and live with the wild animals of the field until seven seasons pass over him.'

As ordered, they brought in the gold vessels that had been taken from the sanctuary of God's Temple in Jerusalem, and the king, his officials, his wives, and mistresses drank from them.

Your majesty, the Most High God gave your grandfather Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty, as well as greatness, glory, and splendor.

He was driven away from human society and given the mind of an animal. He lived with wild donkeys, ate grass like cattle, and his body was soaked with dew from the sky until he realized that the Most High God is sovereign over human kingdoms and places over them whomever he desires.

"You've exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. "You've had the vessels from his Temple brought into your presence. "And you, your officials, and your wives and mistresses drank wine from them. "You praised gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which can't see, hear, or demonstrate knowledge. "But you didn't honor God, who holds in his power your very life and all your ways.

These are the meanings of the words: MENE: God has audited your kingdom and has ended it.

So these men said, "We'll never find any basis for complaint against Daniel unless we build it on the requirements of his God."

All of the royal administrators, prefects, regional authorities, scribes, and governors have concluded that the king should establish and enforce an edict that anyone who prays to any god or man for the next 30 days (except to you, your majesty) is to be thrown into the lions' pit.

When Daniel learned that the written document had been signed, he went to an upstairs room in his house that had windows opened facing Jerusalem. Three times a day he would kneel down, pray, and give thanks to his God, just as he had previously done.

The conspirators then went as a group and found Daniel praying and seeking help before his God.

So they approached the king and asked, "Didn't you sign an edict that for the next 30 days if anyone prays to any god or man, except to you, your majesty, he would be thrown into the lions' pit?" The king responded, "The decree has been established, in accordance with the laws of the Medes and Persians that can't be repealed."

At this point, the king ordered Daniel brought in and thrown into the lions' pit. The king spoke to Daniel, "Your God, whom you serve constantly, will deliver you himself."

The king got up at dawn and went quickly to the lions' pit.

As he approached where Daniel was in the pit, he cried out to him in a voice filled with anguish, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve constantly, been able to deliver you from the lions?"

My God sent his angel and sealed the mouths of the lions. They have not harmed me, proving that I'm innocent before him. Also against you, your majesty, I've committed no offense."

The king was ecstatic, so he gave orders for Daniel to be released from the pit. Daniel was taken up from the pit, and no injury was found to have been inflicted on him, because he had believed in his God.

"I hereby decree that in every area of my kingdom men are to fear and tremble before the God of Daniel. For he is the living God, who endures forever. His kingdom is one that will not be destroyed, and his dominion continues forever.

"Then look! a second animal resembling a bear followed it. It was raised up on one side, with three ribs held between the teeth in its mouth. Therefore people kept telling it, "Get up and devour lots of meat!'

"At this point the vision ended. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts continued to alarm me, and I lost my natural color, but I kept quiet about the matter."

"As I watched and wondered, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the entire earth without touching the ground. The goat had a distinctive horn between its eyes.

I saw it approach the ram, overflowing with fury at him, and run into him with the full force of its strength. The goat shattered the ram's two horns, and the ram could not oppose it. So the goat threw him to the ground and trampled him. No one could rescue the ram from its control.

Then the goat grew extremely great, but when it was strong, its great horn was shattered. In its place, four distinctive horns grew out in all directions."

The demonic goat is the king of Greece, and the great horn between its eyes is its first king.

Then I, Daniel, was exhausted and ill for days, but afterward I got up and went about the king's business. Nevertheless, I was astonished by the vision, and could not understand it."

"So I turned my attention to the Lord God, seeking him in prayer and supplication, accompanied with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

I prayed to the LORD my God, confessing and saying:

"Lord! Great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant and gracious love for those who love him and obey his commandments, we've sinned, we've practiced evil, we've acted wickedly, and we've rebelled, turning away from your commands and from your regulations.

But to the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we've rebelled against him

and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God by walking in his laws that he gave us through his servants the prophets.

And all Israel flouted your Law, turning aside from it and not obeying your voice. Because we've sinned against him, the curse has been poured upon us, along with the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God.

As it's written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has befallen us, but we still haven't sought the LORD our God by turning from our lawlessness to pay attention to your truth.

So the LORD watched for the right time to bring the calamity upon us, because the LORD our God is righteous regarding everything he does, but we have not obeyed his voice.

"And now, Lord our God, who brought your people from the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made a name for yourself that remains to this day we've sinned. We've acted wickedly.