The alcoves were 10½ feet long and 10½ feet wide; between the alcoves were 8¾ feet. ¹  The threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate facing inward was 10½ feet.

Then he said to me, “The north chambers and the south chambers which face the courtyard are holy chambers where the priests ¹  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.

They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the Lord; they will not please him with their sacrifices. Their sacrifices will be like bread eaten while in mourning; all those who eat them will make themselves ritually unclean. For their bread will be only to satisfy their appetite; it will not come into the temple of the Lord.

Get dressed ¹  and lament, you priests! Wail, you who minister at the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God, because no one brings grain offerings or drink offerings to the temple of your God anymore. ² 

‘You expected a large harvest, but instead ¹  there was little, and when you brought it home it disappeared right away. ²  Why?’ asks the Lord who rules over all. ‘Because my temple remains in ruins, thanks to each of you favoring his own house! ³ 

If his head is bare on the forehead ¹  so that he is balding in front, ²  he is clean.

You must never bring the pay of a female prostitute ¹  or the wage of a male prostitute ²  into the temple of the Lord your God in fulfillment of any vow, for both of these are abhorrent to the Lord your God.

“Go, tell my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord says: Do you really intend to build a house for me to live in?

I have not lived in a house from the time I brought the Israelites up from Egypt to the present day. Instead, I was traveling with them and living in a tent. ¹ 

The priests and Levites carried the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting, ¹  and all the holy items in the tent. ² 

for the prophecy he announced with the Lord’s authority ¹  against the altar in Bethel ²  and against all the temples on the high places in the cities of the north ³  will certainly be fulfilled.”

There were also male cultic prostitutes ¹  in the land. They committed the same horrible sins as the nations ²  that the Lord had driven out from before the Israelites.

He removed the male cultic prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the disgusting idols ¹  his ancestors ²  had made.

Another third of you will be stationed at the Foundation ¹  Gate. Still another third of you will be stationed at the gate behind the royal guard. ²  You will take turns guarding the palace. ³ 

(Now the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they did eat unleavened cakes among their fellow priests.) ¹ 

Azariah son of Hilkiah, son of Meshullam, son of Zadok, son of Meraioth, son of Ahitub the leader in God’s temple;

Their relatives, who were leaders of their families, numbered 1,760. They were capable men who were assigned to carry out the various tasks of service in God’s temple. ¹ 

They stripped his corpse, and then carried off his head and his armor. They sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines proclaiming the news to their idols and their people.

“Go, tell my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord says: “You must not build me a house in which to live.

For I have not lived in a house from the time I brought Israel up from Egypt ¹  to the present day. I have lived in a tent that has been in various places. ²