Глава 46

The gates facing the east are commanded to be left closed for six days of the week, and to be opened for the whole day on Saturday. And when, it is said, the priests offer a sacrifice for the high priest, let him himself stand at this gate, and after offering the sacrifice, standing in the vestibule, let him “bow down and go out” (Ezek. 46:3), and let all the people, standing before this gate, offer worship to God both on Saturdays and on the new moons. Let the high priest offer burnt offerings on the Sabbath, for he is called by the Prophet “elder” (Ezek. 46:4). He also tells the number of priests, and also teaches what should be brought in the new moons. He calls the sacrifice from the semidal: “manaa” - this is how the Syrian interpreter translated it. He also commands those who enter the outer court to worship God, if they entered through the northern gate, to exit through the southern gate, and if they entered last, to exit through the opposite gate, so that, entering and exiting without any confusion, they can offer worship to God. The high priest must also be present at this time so that worship can be performed with greater reverence. On Saturdays and other holidays it is commanded to open the eastern door for all the people. And if the high priest intends to make a voluntary sacrifice to God from his abundance, then, no matter what day he intends to offer the sacrifice, it is permissible for him to open this door, because, as it is said, the sacrifice he brings will be similar to the Sabbath sacrifice. If the high priest intends to give a part of the land allocated to him to one of his sons, then the one who received the right of ownership will retain the right of ownership forever, and if he gives it to a slave, then the slave will have the right of ownership only until the summer of emancipation, and in the so-called seven-year year he will return the inheritance to the high priest, because this plot is allocated to one priestly family, and it is not necessary to offend the people when the children are deprived of their parental inheritance and are left without land, in return for what was taken away again by allocating to the priest another land. Therefore, let the family be the heir of the land set aside for the priests. He showed me, says the Prophet, another place, located to the west in the vicinity of the northern churches, and said that it was set aside for the priests for cooking, “let them cook for ignorance and for sins, and let them bake there manau” (Ezek. 46:20), because, as it is said, once separated and sanctified it is not permissible to make it common, taking it out. He saw, says the Prophet, other smaller courtyards located around the large courtyard: each was thirty cubits long and forty cubits wide. Dwellings were also built with them, called barriers, in which people’s offerings were ordered to be cooked.