15. Above that, the altar hearth is four cubits high, and four horns project upwards from the hearth.
16. The altar hearth is square, twelve cubits long and twelve cubits wide.
17. The upper ledge also is square, fourteen cubits long and fourteen cubits wide. All round the altar is a gutter of one cubit with a kerb of half a cubit. The steps of the altar face east.’
18. Then he said to me, ‘Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: these will be the regulations for sacrificing burnt offerings and splashing blood against the altar when it is built:
19. you are to give a young bull as a sin offering to the Levitical priests of the family of Zadok, who come near to minister before me, declares the Sovereign Lord.
20. You are to take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar and on the four corners of the upper ledge and all round the rim, and so purify the altar and make atonement for it.
21. You are to take the bull for the sin offering and burn it in the designated part of the temple area outside the sanctuary.
22. ‘On the second day you are to offer a male goat without defect for a sin offering, and the altar is to be purified as it was purified with the bull.
23. When you have finished purifying it, you are to offer a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without defect.
24. You are to offer them before the Lord, and the priests are to sprinkle salt on them and sacrifice them as a burnt offering to the Lord.
25. ‘For seven days you are to provide a male goat daily for a sin offering; you are also to provide a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without defect.
26. For seven days they are to make atonement for the altar and cleanse it; thus they will dedicate it.
27. At the end of these days, from the eighth day on, the priests are to present your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar. Then I will accept you, declares the Sovereign Lord.’