Ezekiel 44:1–31
44 Then He brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary awhich faces toward the east, but it was shut. 2 And the Lord said to me, “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, bbecause the Lord God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut. 3 As for the cprince, because he is the prince, he may sit in it to deat bread before the Lord; he shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gateway, and go out the same way.”
4 Also He brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the 1temple; so I looked, and ebehold, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord; fand I fell on my face. 5 And the Lord said to me, g“Son of man, 2mark well, see with your eyes and hear with your ears, all that I say to you concerning all the hordinances of the house of the Lord and all its laws. Mark well who may enter the house and all who go out from the sanctuary.
6 “Now say to the irebellious, to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “O house of Israel, jlet Us have no more of all your abominations. 7 kWhen you brought in lforeigners, muncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to defile it—My house—and when you offered nMy food, othe fat and the blood, then they broke My covenant because of all your abominations. 8 And you have not pkept charge of My holy things, but you have set others to keep charge of My sanctuary for you.” 9 Thus says the Lord God: q“No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter My sanctuary, including any foreigner who is among the children of Israel.
10 r“And the Levites who went far from Me, when Israel went astray, who strayed away from Me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity. 11 Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, sas gatekeepers of the house and ministers of the house; tthey shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and uthey shall stand before them to minister to them. 12 Because they ministered to them before their idols and vcaused 3the house of Israel to fall into iniquity, therefore I have wraised My hand in an oath against them,” says the Lord God, “that they shall bear their iniquity. 13 xAnd they shall not come near Me to minister to Me as priest, nor come near any of My holy things, nor into the Most Holy Place; but they shall ybear their shame and their abominations which they have committed. 14 Nevertheless I will make them zkeep charge of the temple, for all its work, and for all that has to be done in it.
15 a“But the priests, the Levites, bthe sons of Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary cwhen the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near Me to minister to Me; and they dshall stand before Me to offer to Me the efat and the blood,” says the Lord God. 16 “They shall fenter My sanctuary, and they shall come near gMy table to minister to Me, and they shall keep My charge. 17 And it shall be, whenever they enter the gates of the inner court, that hthey shall put on linen garments; no wool shall come upon them while they minister within the gates of the inner court or within the house. 18 iThey shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen trousers on their bodies; they shall not clothe themselves with anything that causes sweat. 19 When they go out to the outer court, to the outer court to the people, jthey shall take off their garments in which they have ministered, leave them in the holy chambers, and put on other garments; and in their holy garments they shall knot sanctify the people.
20 l“They shall neither shave their heads, nor let their hair grow mlong, but they shall keep their hair well trimmed. 21 nNo priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court. 22 They shall not take as wife a owidow or a divorced woman, but take virgins of the descendants of the house of Israel, or widows of priests.
23 “And pthey shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to qdiscern between the unclean and the clean. 24 rIn controversy they shall stand as judges, and judge it according to My judgments. They shall keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed meetings, sand they shall hallow My Sabbaths.
25 “They shall not defile themselves by coming near a dead person. Only for father or mother, for son or daughter, for brother or unmarried sister may they defile themselves. 26 tAfter he is cleansed, they shall count seven days for him. 27 And on the day that he goes to the sanctuary to minister in the sanctuary, uhe must offer his sin offering vin the inner court,” says the Lord God.
28 “It shall be, in regard to their inheritance, that I wam their inheritance. You shall give them no xpossession in Israel, for I am their possession. 29 yThey shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering; zevery dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs. 30 The abest 4of all firstfruits of any kind, and every sacrifice of any kind from all your sacrifices, shall be the priest’s; also you bshall give to the priest the first of your ground meal, cto cause a blessing to rest on your house. 31 The priests shall not eat anything, bird or beast, that ddied naturally or was torn by wild beasts.