Ezekiel 44

Then he brought me ^aback the way of ^bthe gate of the outward sanctuary ^bwhich looketh toward the east; and it was shut. ²Then said the Lord unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; ^cbecause the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut. ³It is for ^dthe prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to ^eeat bread before the Lord; ^fhe shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.

⁴Then brought he me the way of ^gthe north gate before the house: and I looked, and behold, ^hthe glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord: and ⁱI fell upon my face. ⁵And the Lord said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and ^jbehold with thine eyes, and ^jhear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning ^kall the ordinances of the house of the Lord, and ^kall the laws thereof; and mark well ^kthe entering in of the house, with every ^kgoing forth of the sanctuary. ⁶And thou shalt say to ^lthe rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; O ye house of Israel, ^mlet it suffice you of all your abominations, ⁷ⁿin that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, ^ouncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, ⁿto be in my sanctuary, ^pto pollute it, even my house, when ye offer ^qmy bread, ^rthe fat and ^rsthe blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations. ⁸And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things: but ye have ^tset keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.

⁹Thus saith the Lord God; ⁿNo stranger, ^ouncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel. ¹⁰And ^uthe Levites that are gone away far from me, ^uwhen Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols; they shall even ^vbear their iniquity. ¹¹Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having ^wcharge ^xat the gates of the house, and ^xxministering to the house: they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and ^ythey shall stand before them to minister unto them. ¹²Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity; therefore have I ^zlift up mine hand against them, saith the Lord God, and ^vthey shall bear their iniquity. ¹³And ^athey shall not come near unto me, to do the office of a priest unto me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, in ^bthe most holy place: but ^cthey shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed. ¹⁴But I will make them ^dekeepers of the charge of the house, ^efor all the service thereof, and ^efor all that shall be done therein. ¹⁵But ^eethe priests the Levites, ^efthe sons of Zadok, ^dthat kept the charge of my sanctuary ^uwhen the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me ^fto minister unto me, and ^fthey shall stand before me ^gto offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord God: ¹⁶They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to ^hmy table, ^fto minister unto me, and ^dthey shall keep my charge.

¹⁷And it shall come to pass, that ⁱwhen they enter in at the gates of ^jthe inner court, ^kthey shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within. ¹⁸They shall have ^llinen ^mbonnets upon their heads, and shall have ^llinen ⁿbreeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat. ¹⁹And when they go forth into the utter court, even into the utter court ^oto the people, ^opthey shall put off their garments wherein they ministered, and ^olay them in the holy chambers, and ^pthey shall put on other garments; and they shall not ^qsanctify the people with their garments. ^20rNeither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their ^slocks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads. ^21tNeither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into ^jthe inner court. ²²Neither shall they take for their wives ^ua widow, nor ^uher that is put away: but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that had a priest before. ²³And ^vthey shall teach my people the difference ^wxbetween the holy and profane, and ^wcause them to discern ^xbetween the unclean and the clean. ²⁴And ^yin controversy they shall stand in judgment; and they shall judge it according to my judgments: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all mine assemblies; and ^wthey shall hallow my sabbaths. ²⁵And ^zthey shall come at no dead person ^ato defile themselves: but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister that hath had no husband, ^zthey may defile themselves. ²⁶And after he is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him ^bseven days. ²⁷And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, unto ^cthe inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, ^dhe shall offer his sin offering, saith the Lord God. ²⁸And ^eit shall be unto them for an inheritance: ^eI am their inheritance: and ^eye shall give them no possession in Israel: I am their possession. ^29fThey shall eat the meat offering, and ^fthe sin offering, and ^fthe trespass offering; and ^gevery dedicate thing in Israel shall be theirs. ³⁰And ^hthe ⁱfirst of all the firstfruits of all things, and every ^koblation of all, of every sort of ^ikyour oblations, shall be the priests’: ye shall also give unto the priest ^lthe first of your dough, ^mthat he may cause ⁿthe blessing to rest in thine house. ³¹The priests shall not eat of ^oany thing that is dead of itself, or torn, whether it be fowl or beast.

XLV.