"'My servant David will be king over them; there will be one shepherd for all of them. They will follow my regulations and carefully observe my statutes.

They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, in which your fathers lived; they will live in it -- they and their children and their grandchildren forever. David my servant will be prince over them forever.

I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be a perpetual covenant with them. I will establish them, increase their numbers, and place my sanctuary among them forever.

My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people.

You will advance against my people Israel like a cloud covering the earth. In the latter days I will bring you against my land so that the nations may acknowledge me, when before their eyes I magnify myself through you, O Gog.

In my zeal, in the fire of my fury, I declare that on that day there will be a great earthquake in the land of Israel.

"'On that day I will assign Gog a grave in Israel. It will be the valley of those who travel east of the sea; it will block the way of the travelers. There they will bury Gog and all his horde; they will call it the valley of Hamon-Gog.

They will designate men to scout continually through the land, burying those who remain on the surface of the ground, in order to cleanse it. They will search for seven full months.

(A city by the name of Hamonah will also be there.) They will cleanse the land.'

Then the house of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God, from that day forward.

The nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile due to their iniquity, for they were unfaithful to me. So I hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies; all of them died by the sword.

According to their uncleanness and rebellion I have dealt with them, and I hid my face from them.

They will bear their shame for all their unfaithful acts against me, when they live securely on their land with no one to make them afraid.

When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will magnify myself among them in the sight of many nations.

Then they will know that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them into exile among the nations, and then gathered them into their own land. I will not leave any of them in exile any longer.

In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck down, on this very day, the hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me there.

When he brought me there, I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze, with a linen cord and a measuring stick in his hand. He was standing in the gateway.

There were three alcoves on each side of the east gate; the three had the same measurement, and the jambs on either side had the same measurement.

There was a barrier in front of the alcoves, 1? feet on either side; the alcoves were 10? feet on either side.

There were closed windows toward the alcoves and toward their jambs within the gate all around, and likewise for the porches. There were windows all around the inside, and on each jamb were decorative palm trees.

Then he brought me to the outer court. I saw chambers there, and a pavement made for the court all around; thirty chambers faced the pavement.

Its alcoves, three on each side, and its jambs and porches had the same measurement as the first gate; 87? feet long and 43? feet wide.

There were windows all around it and its porches, like the windows of the others; 87? feet long and 43? feet wide.

There were seven steps going up to it; its porches were in front of them. It had decorative palm trees on its jambs, one on either side.

Its alcoves, its jambs, and its porches had the same dimensions as the others, and there were windows all around it and its porches; its length was 87? feet and its width 43? feet.

There were porches all around, 43? feet long and 8? feet wide.

Its alcoves, its jambs, and its porches had the same dimensions as the others, and there were windows all around it and its porches; its length was 87? feet and its width 43? feet.

There was a chamber with its door by the porch of the gate; there they washed the burnt offering.

There were hooks three inches long, fastened in the house all around, and on the tables was the flesh of the offering.

The length of the porch was 35 feet and the width 19? feet; steps led up to it, and there were pillars beside the jambs on either side.

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.

There were entrances from the side chambers toward the open area, one entrance toward the north, and another entrance toward the south; the width of the open area was 8? feet all around.

as well as the thresholds, narrow windows and galleries all around on three sides facing the threshold were paneled with wood all around, from the ground up to the windows (now the windows were covered),

On the doors of the outer sanctuary were carved cherubim and palm trees, like those carved on the walls, and there was a canopy of wood on the front of the outside porch.

There were narrow windows and decorative palm trees on either side of the side walls of the porch; this is what the side chambers of the temple and the canopies were like.

Opposite the 35 feet that belonged to the inner court, and opposite the pavement which belonged to the outer court, gallery faced gallery in the three stories.

In front of the chambers was a walkway on the inner side, 17? feet wide at a distance of 1? feet, and their entrances were on the north.

For they were in three stories and had no pillars like the pillars of the courts; therefore the upper chambers were set back from the ground more than the lower and upper ones.

with a passage in front of them. They looked like the chambers on the north. Of the same length and width, and all their exits according to their arrangements and entrances

were the chambers which were toward the south. There was an opening at the head of the passage, the passage in front of the corresponding wall toward the east when one enters.

Then he said to me, "The north chambers and the south chambers which face the courtyard are holy chambers where the priests who approach the Lord will eat the most holy offerings. There they will place the most holy offerings -- the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, because the place is holy.

When the priests enter, then they will not go out from the sanctuary to the outer court without taking off their garments in which they minister, for these are holy; they will put on other garments, then they will go near the places where the people are."

It was like the vision I saw when he came to destroy the city, and the vision I saw by the Kebar River. I threw myself face down.

He said to me: "Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will live among the people of Israel forever. The house of Israel will no longer profane my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their spiritual prostitution or by the pillars of their kings set up when they die.

When they placed their threshold by my threshold and their doorpost by my doorpost, with only the wall between me and them, they profaned my holy name by the abominable deeds they committed. So I consumed them in my anger.

Now they must put away their spiritual prostitution and the pillars of their kings far from me, and then I will live among them forever.

"As for you, son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, so that they will be ashamed of their sins and measure the pattern.

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.

Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. As I watched, I noticed the glory of the Lord filling the Lord's temple, and I threw myself face down.

"'But the Levites who went far from me, straying off from me after their idols when Israel went astray, will be responsible for their sin.

Because they used to minister to them before their idols, and became a sinful obstacle to the house of Israel, consequently I have made a vow concerning them, declares the sovereign Lord, that they will be responsible for their sin.

Linen turbans will be on their heads and linen undergarments will be around their waists; they must not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat.

When they go out to the outer court to the people, they must remove the garments they were ministering in, and place them in the holy chambers; they must put on other garments so that they will not transmit holiness to the people with their garments.

"'They must not shave their heads nor let their hair grow long; they must only trim their heads.

"'This will be their inheritance: I am their inheritance, and you must give them no property in Israel; I am their property.

"'When you allot the land as an inheritance, you will offer an allotment to the Lord, a holy portion from the land; the length will be eight and a quarter miles and the width three and one-third miles. This entire area will be holy.

From this measured area you will measure a length of eight and a quarter miles and a width of three and one-third miles; in it will be the sanctuary, the most holy place.

It will be a holy portion of the land; it will be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary who approach the Lord to minister to him. It will be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary.

An area eight and a quarter miles in length and three and one-third miles in width will be for the Levites, who minister at the temple, as the place for the cities in which they will live.

"'For the prince there will be land on both sides of the holy allotment and the allotted city, alongside the holy allotment and the allotted city, on the west side and on the east side; it will be comparable in length to one of the portions, from the west border to the east border

of the land. This will be his property in Israel. My princes will no longer oppress my people, but the land will be allotted to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

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.

"'This is what the sovereign Lord says: If the prince should give a gift to one of his sons as his inheritance, it will belong to his sons, it is their property by inheritance.

The prince will not take away any of the people's inheritance by oppressively removing them from their property. He will give his sons an inheritance from his own possessions so that my people will not be scattered, each from his own property.'"

Then he brought me through the entrance, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers for the priests which faced north. There I saw a place at the extreme western end.

Then he brought me out to the outer court and led me past the four corners of the court, and I noticed that in every corner of the court there was a court.

There was a row of masonry around each of the four courts, and places for boiling offerings were made under the rows all around.

When the man went out toward the east with a measuring line in his hand, he measured 1,750 feet, and then he led me through water, which was ankle deep.

Again he measured 1,750 feet and led me through the water, which was now knee deep. Once more he measured 1,750 feet and led me through the water, which was waist deep.

Every living creature which swarms where the river flows will live; there will be many fish, for these waters flow there. It will become fresh and everything will live where the river flows.

On both sides of the river's banks, every kind of tree will grow for food. Their leaves will not wither nor will their fruit fail, but they will bear fruit every month, because their water source flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing."

In whatever tribe the foreigner resides, there you will give him his inheritance," declares the sovereign Lord.

The allotment you set apart to the Lord will be eight and a quarter miles in length and three and one-third miles in width.

These will be the allotments for the holy portion: for the priests, toward the north eight and a quarter miles in length, toward the west three and one-third miles in width, toward the east three and one-third miles in width, and toward the south eight and a quarter miles in length; the sanctuary of the Lord will be in the middle.

It will be their portion from the allotment of the land, a most holy place, next to the border of the Levites.

"Alongside the border of the priests, the Levites will have an allotment eight and a quarter miles in length and three and one-third miles in width. The whole length will be eight and a quarter miles and the width three and one-third miles.

The city will have open spaces: On the north there will be 437? feet, on the south 437? feet, on the east 437? feet, and on the west 437? feet.

The remainder of the length alongside the holy allotment will be three and one-third miles to the east and three and one-third miles toward the west, and it will be beside the holy allotment. Its produce will be for food for the workers of the city.

This is the land which you will allot to the tribes of Israel, and these are their portions, declares the sovereign Lord.

the gates of the city will be named for the tribes of Israel; there will be three gates to the north: one gate for Reuben, one gate for Judah, and one gate for Levi.

On the east side, one and one-half miles in length, there will be three gates: one gate for Joseph, one gate for Benjamin, and one gate for Dan.

On the south side, one and one-half miles by measure, there will be three gates: one gate for Simeon, one gate for Issachar, and one gate for Zebulun.

On the west side, one and one-half miles in length, there will be three gates: one gate for Gad, one gate for Asher, and one gate for Naphtali.

The circumference of the city will be six miles. The name of the city from that day forward will be: 'The Lord Is There.'"

young men in whom there was no physical defect and who were handsome, well versed in all kinds of wisdom, well educated and having keen insight, and who were capable of entering the king's royal service -- and to teach them the literature and language of the Babylonians.

So the king assigned them a daily ration from his royal delicacies and from the wine he himself drank. They were to be trained for the next three years. At the end of that time they were to enter the king's service.

So the warden agreed to their proposal and tested them for ten days.

At the end of the ten days their appearance was better and their bodies were healthier than all the young men who had been eating the royal delicacies.

So the warden removed the delicacies and the wine from their diet and gave them a diet of vegetables instead.

If you don't inform me of the dream, there is only one thing that is going to happen to you. For you have agreed among yourselves to report to me something false and deceitful until such time as things might change. So tell me the dream, and I will have confidence that you can disclose its interpretation."

The wise men replied to the king, "There is no man on earth who is able to disclose the king's secret, for no king, regardless of his position and power, has ever requested such a thing from any magician, astrologer, or wise man.

However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the times to come. The dream and the visions you had while lying on your bed are as follows.

Then there will be a fourth kingdom, one strong like iron. Just like iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything, and as iron breaks in pieces all of these metals, so it will break in pieces and crush the others.

But there are Jewish men whom you appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon -- Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego -- and these men have not shown proper respect to you, O king. They don't serve your gods and they don't pay homage to the golden statue that you have erected."

He ordered strong soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire.

So those men were tied up while still wearing their cloaks, trousers, turbans, and other clothes, and were thrown into the furnace of blazing fire.

But those three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell into the furnace of blazing fire while still securely bound.

Then King Nebuchadnezzar was startled and quickly got up. He said to his ministers, "Wasn't it three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?" They replied to the king, "For sure, O king."

Once the satraps, prefects, governors, and ministers of the king had gathered around, they saw that those men were physically unharmed by the fire. The hair of their heads was not singed, nor were their trousers damaged. Not even the smell of fire was to be found on them!

Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, "Praised be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent forth his angel and has rescued his servants who trusted in him, ignoring the edict of the king and giving up their bodies rather than serve or pay homage to any god other than their God!