Ezek. 45

45:1 “‘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 8¼ miles and the width 3⅓ miles. This entire area will be holy. 2Of this area a square 875 feet by 875 feet will be designated for the sanctuary, with 87½ feet set aside for its open space round about. 3From this measured area you will measure a length of 8¼ miles and a width of 3⅓ miles; in it will be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. 4It 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. 5An area 8¼ miles in length and 3⅓ miles in width will be for the Levites, who minister at the temple, as the place for the cities in which they will live.

6“‘Alongside the portion set apart as the holy allotment, you will allot for the city an area 1⅔ miles wide and 8¼ miles long; it will be for the whole house of Israel.

7“‘For the prince there will be land on both sides of 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 8of 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.

9“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Enough, you princes of Israel! Put away violence and destruction and do what is just and right. Put an end to your evictions of my people, declares the Sovereign Lord. 10You must use just balances, a just dry measure (an ephah), and a just liquid measure (a bath). 11The dry and liquid measures will be the same: The bath will contain a tenth of a homer, and the ephah a tenth of a homer; the homer will be the standard measure. 12The shekel will be 20 gerahs. Sixty shekels will be a mina for you.

13“‘This is the offering you must offer: a sixth of an ephah from a homer of wheat, a sixth of an ephah from a homer of barley, 14and as the prescribed portion of olive oil, one-tenth of a bath from each cor (which is ten baths or a homer, for ten baths make a homer); 15and one sheep from each flock of 200, from the watered places of Israel, for a grain offering, burnt offering, and peace offering, to make atonement for them, declares the Sovereign Lord. 16All the people of the land will contribute to this offering for the prince of Israel. 17It 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.

18“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: In the first month, on the first day of the month, you must take an unblemished young bull and purify the sanctuary. 19The priest will take some of the blood of the sin offering and place it on the doorpost of the temple, on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the doorpost of the gate of the inner court. 20This 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.

21“‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you will celebrate the Passover, and for the seven days of the festival bread made without yeast will be eaten. 22On that day the prince will provide for himself and for all the people of the land a bull for a sin offering. 23And during the seven days of the feast he will provide as a burnt offering to the Lord seven bulls and seven rams, all without blemish, on each of the seven days, and a male goat daily for a sin offering. 24He will provide as a grain offering an ephah for each bull, an ephah for each ram, and a gallon of olive oil for each ephah of grain. 25In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, at the feast, he will make the same provisions for the sin offering, burnt offering, and grain offering, and for the olive oil, for the seven days.

Ps. 105:1–22

105:1 Give thanks to the Lord.

Call on his name.

Make known his accomplishments among the nations.

2Sing to him.

Make music to him.

Tell about all his miraculous deeds.

3Boast about his holy name.

Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

4Seek the Lord and the strength he gives.

Seek his presence continually.

5Recall the miraculous deeds he performed,

his mighty acts and the judgments he decreed,

6O children of Abraham, God’s servant,

you descendants of Jacob, God’s chosen ones.

7He is the Lord our God;

he carries out judgment throughout the earth.

8He always remembers his covenantal decree,

the promise he made to a thousand generations—

9the promise he made to Abraham,

the promise he made by oath to Isaac.

10He gave it to Jacob as a decree,

to Israel as a lasting promise,

11saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan

as the portion of your inheritance.”

12When they were few in number,

just a very few, and resident foreigners within it,

13they wandered from nation to nation,

and from one kingdom to another.

14He let no one oppress them;

he disciplined kings for their sake,

15saying, “Don’t touch my chosen ones.

Don’t harm my prophets.”

16He called down a famine upon the earth;

he cut off all the food supply.

17He sent a man ahead of them—

Joseph was sold as a servant.

18The shackles hurt his feet;

his neck was placed in an iron collar,

19until the time when his prediction came true.

The Lord’s word proved him right.

20The king authorized his release;

the ruler of nations set him free.

21He put him in charge of his palace,

and made him manager of all his property,

22giving him authority to imprison his officials

and to teach his advisers.

Heb. 11:29–40

11:29 By faith they crossed the Red Sea as if on dry ground, but when the Egyptians tried it, they were swallowed up. 30By faith the walls of Jericho fell after the people marched around them for seven days. 31By faith Rahab the prostitute escaped the destruction of the disobedient because she welcomed the spies in peace.

32And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets. 33Through faith they conquered kingdoms, administered justice, gained what was promised, shut the mouths of lions, 34quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength in weakness, became mighty in battle, put foreign armies to flight, 35and women received back their dead raised to life. But others were tortured, not accepting release, to obtain resurrection to a better life. 36And others experienced mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37They were stoned, sawed apart, murdered with the sword; they went about in sheepskins and goatskins; they were destitute, afflicted, ill-treated 38(the world was not worthy of them); they wandered in deserts and mountains and caves and openings in the earth. 39And these all were commended for their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised. 40For God had provided something better for us, so that they would be made perfect together with us.