Ezekiel 44

1 Then the man brought me back to the outer sanctuary gate that faced east; it was closed tightly.

Then he brought me back toward the outer gate of the sanctuary, which looked toward the east, —but, it was shut.

2 Yahweh said to me, “This gate has been sealed shut; it will not be opened. No man will go through it, for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has come through it, so it has been closed tightly.

Then said Yahweh unto me This gate shut, shall remain It shall not be opened And no man shall enter thereby, Because Yahweh, God of Israel, doth enter thereby, - Therefore shall it remain—shut.

3 The ruler of Israel will sit in it to eat food before Yahweh. He will enter by way of the gate's portico and go out the same way.”

The prince! as prince, he, shall sit therein, To eat food before Yahweh, — By way of the porch of the gate, shall he go in, and By way thereof, shall he come out.

4 Then he brought me by way of the northern gate to the front of the temple, and I looked, and behold, the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh, and I fell on my face.

Then he brought me in by way of the north gate unto the front of the house, and I looked and lo! the glory of Yahweh, filled the house of Yahweh, — so I fell upon my face.

5 Then Yahweh said to me, “Son of man, set your heart and look with your eyes and listen with your ears to all that I am declaring to you, to all the statutes of the house of Yahweh and all its regulations. Think about the house's entrance and exits.

And Yahweh said unto me, Son of man Apply thy heart And see with thine eyes And with thine ears, hear thou All that I am speaking with thee, As to all the statutes of the house of Yahweh and As to all the laws thereof, - And thou shalt apply thy heart To the entering in of the house, With all the exits of the sanctuary.

6 Then say to the rebellious ones, the house of Israel, 'The Lord Yahweh says this: Let all of your disgusting actions be enough for you, house of Israel—

So then thou shalt say unto the perverse [house] unto the house of Israel, Thus saith My Lord, Yahweh: Let it more than suffice you Out of all your abominations, O house of Israel:

7 that you brought foreigners with uncircumcised hearts and uncircumcised flesh to be in my sanctuary, profaning my house, while you were offering me food, fat and blood—you have broken my covenant by all your disgusting actions.

That ye brought in the sons of the foreigner Uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, To be in my sanctuary. So that he profaned my house, - That ye brought near as my food the fat and the blood, And so they brake my covenant—Among all your abominations;

8 You have not carried out your duties regarding my holy things, but you appointed others to take up your duties, and you assigned them to care for my holy place.

Neither kept ye the charge of my holy things, - But ye did set men to be keepers of my charge in my sanctuary, for your own pleasure,

9 The Lord Yahweh says this: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, from any of those who live among the people of Israel, may enter my holy place.

Thus saith My Lord, Yahweh, No son of a foreigner Uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, —of any son of a foreigner, who is in the midst of the sons of Israel.

10 Yet the Levites went far from me—they wandered away from me, going after their idols—but they will pay for their sin.

But as for the Levites. Who went far from me, when Israel went astray. Who went astray from me, after their manufactured gods, Therefore shall they bear their iniquity,

11 They are servants in my sanctuary, watching the gates of the house and serving in the house and they slaughter the burnt offerings and the people's sacrifices, and they will stand before the people and serve them.

Yet shall they remain in my sanctuary As attendants in charge at the gates of the house, — And attending upon the house, — They shall slay the ascending-offering, and the sacrifice of the people, And they, shall stand before them to wait upon them.

12 But because they performed the sacrifices before their idols, they became stumbling blocks for sin for the house of Israel. Therefore I will lift up my hand to swear an oath against them—this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration—they will bear their punishment.

Because they used to wait upon them before their manufactured gods, and became to the house of Israel a stumbling-block of iniquity, For this cause have I lifted up my hand concerning them Declareth My Lord Yahweh, and they shall bear their iniquity;

13 They will not come near me to act as my priests or to approach any of my holy things, the most holy things. Instead, they will bear their reproach and their guilt for the disgusting actions that they have done.

So then they shall not come near unto me To minister as priests unto me, Nor come near unto any of my holy things, As regardeth things most holy, — But they shall bear their rebuke, and their abominations which they have committed;

14 But I will place them as keepers of the work in the house, for all of its duties and everything that is done in it.

Yet will I make them keepers of the charge of the house, — As to all the labour thereof, and As to all which shall be done therein.

15 Then the Levitical priests, those sons of Zadok who fulfilled the duties of my sanctuary when the people of Israel were wandering away from me—they will come near me to worship me. They will stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood—this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration.

But the priests the Levites the sons of Zadok, Who kept the charge of my sanctuary— when the sons of Israel went astray from me, They shall draw near unto me to wait upon me, And shall stand before me, to bring near unto me the fat and the blood Declareth My Lord, Yahweh:

16 They will come to my sanctuary; they will approach my table to worship me and to fulfill their duties to me.

They shall enter into my sanctuary, and They shall draw near unto my table to wait upon me, - So shall they keep my charge.

17 So it will be that when they come to the gates of the inner courtyard, they will have to dress in linen clothes, for they must not come in wool inside the gates of the courtyard and its house.

And it shall be when they shall enter into the gates of the inner court, Garments of linen, shall they put on, Yea there shall come upon them no wool, when they minister in the gates of the inner court and within:

18 There should be linen turbans on their heads and linen underclothes on their hips. They must not dress in clothes that make them sweat.

Chaplets of linen, shall be upon their head, and Breeches of linen shall be upon their loins, — They shall not gird themselves, so as to perspire,

19 When they go out to the outer courtyard, to the outer courtyard in order to go to the people, they must take off the clothes they wore when they served; they must take them off and lay them down in a holy room, so they do not make other people holy by contact with their special clothing.

And when they go forth into the outer court into the outer court unto the people, They shall put off their garments, wherein they do minister, and lay them in the chambers of the holy place, - And shall put on other garments, That they may not hallow the people by their garments.

20 Also they must neither shave their heads nor allow their hair to hang loosely, but they must trim the hair of their heads.

And their heads, shall they not shave, Nor let the hair grow long, — They shall only poll, their heads.

21 No priest may drink wine when he comes to the inner court,

And wine, shall no priest drink, —when they enter into the inner court.

22 nor take a widow or a divorced woman as a wife for himself, but only a virgin from the line of the house of Israel or a widow who was previously married to a priest.

Neither widow nor divorced woman, shall they take to them to wife, — But, virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, Or a widow who shall be the widow of a priest shall they take.

23 For they will teach my people the difference between the holy and the profane; they will make them know the unclean from the clean.

And my people, shall they instruct, between the holy and the common, — And between the unclean and the clean, shall they cause them to distinguish.

24 In a dispute they will stand to judge with my decrees; they must be just. They will keep my law and my statutes in every feast, and they will celebrate my holy Sabbaths.

And in a controversy, They shall stand up for justice, With my judgments, shall they judge it, And my laws and my statutes in all mine appointed assemblies, shall they observe, And my sabbaths, shall they hallow.

25 They will not go to a dead person so as to become unclean, unless it is their father or mother, son or daughter, brother or a sister who has not slept with a man; otherwise, they will become unclean.

And unto no dead person, shall they go in. to defile themselves, - Save that for father or for mother or for son or for daughter, for brother or for sister who hath belonged to no husband they may defile themselves.

26 After a priest has become unclean, they will count off a period of seven days for him.

Yet after he is cleansed, seven days shall they count to him.

27 On the day he enters the holy place, into the inner courtyard to serve in the holy place, he must bring a sin offering for himself—this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration.

And in the day when he entereth into the sanctuary, into the inner court to minister in the sanctuary, He shall bring near his sin-bearer, Declareth My Lord Yahweh.

28 This will be their inheritance: I am their inheritance, and you must give them no property in Israel; I will be their property!

So shall it become to them an inheritance, I, am their inheritance, - And possession, shall ye not give them in Israel, I am their possession.

29 They will eat the food offerings, the sin offerings, the guilt offerings, and everything devoted to Yahweh in Israel, will be theirs.

As for the meal-offering and the sin-bearer and the guilt-bearer, they shall eat them, —And everything devoted in Israel to them, shall belong.

30 The best of the firstfruits of all things and every contribution, anything from all of your contributions will belong to the priests, and you will give the best of your meal offerings to the priests so that blessing may rest on your house.

And the first of all the firstfruits of everything, and every heave-offering of everything, from among all your heave-offerings to the priests, shall it belong, — The first of your meal, shall ye give to the priest, To cause a blessing to rest upon by house.

31 The priests will not eat any carcass or animal torn by a beast, whether bird or beast.

Nothing that died of itself or was torn in pieces, of bird or of beast shall be eaten by the priests.