THE PRINCE’S PRIVILEGE

44 The man then brought me back toward the sanctuary’s outer gate that faced east, and it was closed. 2 The Lord said to me, “This gate will remain closed. It will not be opened, and no one will enter through it, because the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered through it.q Therefore it will remain closed. 3 The prince himself will sit in the gate to eat a meal before the Lord.r He is to enter by way of the porticos of the gate and go out the same way.”

4 Then the man brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. I looked, and the glory of the Lord filled his temple.t And I fell facedown.u 5 The Lord said to me, “Son of man, pay attention;v look with your eyes and listen with your ears to everything I tell you about all the statutes and laws of the Lord’s temple.w Take careful note of the entrance of the temple along with all the exits of the sanctuary.

THE LEVITES’ DUTIES AND PRIVILEGES

6 “Say to the rebellious people,x the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord God says: I have had enoughy of all your detestable practices, house of Israel. 7 When you brought in foreigners,z uncircumcised in both heart and flesh,aa to occupy my sanctuary, you defiled my temple while you offered my food—the fat and the blood. YouB broke my covenant by all your detestable practices. 8 You have not kept charge of my holy thingsab but have appointed others to keep charge of my sanctuary for you.’

9 “This is what the Lord God says: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, may enter my sanctuary, not even a foreigner who is among the Israelites. 10 Surely the Levites who wandered away from me when Israel went astray, and who strayed from me after their idols,ac will bear the consequences of their iniquity.ad 11 Yet they will occupy my sanctuary, serving as guards at the temple gatesae and ministering at the temple. They will slaughter the burnt offeringsaf and other sacrifices for the people and will stand before them to serve them.ag 12 Because they ministered to the house of Israel before their idols and became a sinful stumbling block to them, therefore I swore an oathC against them”ah—this is the declaration of the Lord God—“that they would bear the consequences of their iniquity. 13 They must not approach me to serve me as priestsai or come near any of my holy things or the most holy things. They will bear their disgrace and the consequences of the detestable acts they committed. 14 Yet I will make them responsible for the duties of the templeaj—for all its work and everything done in it.