Ezekiel 44

1 And he took me back to the outer doorway of the holy place, looking to the east; and it was shut.

Then he brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary that looks eastward; and it was shut.

2 And the Lord said to me, This doorway is to be shut, it is not to be open, and no man is to go in by it, because the Lord, the God of Israel, has gone in by it; and it is to be shut.

And the Lord said to me, This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no one shall pass through it; for the Lord God of Israel shall enter by it, and it shall be shut.

3 But the ruler will be seated there to take his food before the Lord; he will go in by the covered way to the door, and will come out by the same way.

For the prince, he shall sit in it, to eat bread before the Lord; he shall go in by the way of the porch of the gate, and shall go forth by the way of the same.

4 And he took me to the north doorway in front of the house; and, looking, I saw that the house of the Lord was full of the glory of the Lord; and I went down on my face.

And he brought me in by the way of the gate that looks northward, in front of the house: and I looked, and, behold, the house was full of the glory of the Lord: and I fell upon my face.

5 And the Lord said to me, Son of man, take to heart, and let your eyes see and your ears be open to everything I say to you about all the rules of the house of the Lord and all its laws; and take note of the ways into the house and all the ways out of the holy place.

And the Lord said to me, Son of man, attend with your heart, and see with [your] eyes, and hear with your ears all that I say to you, according to all the ordinances of the house of the Lord, and all the regulations thereof; and you shall attend well to the entrance of the house, according to all its outlets, in all the holy things.

6 And say to the uncontrolled children of Israel, This is what the Lord has said: O you children of Israel, let it be enough for you, among the disgusting things which you have done,

And you shall say to the provoking house, [even] to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God; Let it suffice you [to have committed] all your iniquities, O house of Israel!

7 To have let men from strange lands, without circumcision of heart or flesh, come into my holy place, making my house unclean; and to have made the offering of my food, even the fat and the blood; and in addition to all your disgusting ways, you have let my agreement be broken.

that you have brought in aliens, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, and to profane it, when you offered bread, flesh, and blood; and you transgressed my covenant by all your iniquities;

8 And you have not taken care of my holy things; but you have put them as keepers to take care of my work in my holy place.

and you appointed [others] to keep the charges in my sanctuary.

9 For this cause the Lord has said, No man from a strange land, without circumcision of heart and flesh, of all those who are living among the children of Israel, is to come into my holy place.

Therefore thus says the Lord God; No alien, uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of all the children of strangers that are in the midst of the house of Israel.

10 But as for the Levites, who went far from me, when Israel went out of the right way, turning away from me to go after their images; their punishment will come on them.

But as for the Levites who departed far from me when Israel went astray from me after their imaginations, they shall even bear their iniquity.

11 But they may be caretakers in my holy place, and overseers at the doors of the house, doing the work of the house: they will put to death the burned offering and the beasts offered for the people, and they will take their place before them as their servants.

yet they shall minister in my sanctuary, [being] porters at the gates of the house, and serving the house: they shall kill the victims and the whole burnt offerings for the people, and they shall stand before the people to minister to them.

12 Because they did this work for them before their images, and became a cause of sin to the children of Israel; for this cause my hand has been lifted up against them, says the Lord, and their punishment will be on them.

Because they ministered to them before their idols, and it became to the house of Israel a punishment of iniquity; therefore have I lifted up my hand against them, says the Lord God.

13 And they will not come near me to do the work of priests to me, or come near any of my holy things, or the things which are most holy: but their shame will be on them, and the punishment for the disgusting things which they have done.

And they shall not draw near to me to minister to me in the priests' office, nor to approach the holy things of the children of Israel, nor [to approach] my holy of holies: but they shall bear their reproach for the error wherein they erred.

14 But I will make them responsible for the care of the house and all its work and everything which is done in it.

They shall bring them to keep the charges of the house, for all the service of it, and for all that they shall do.

15 But as for the priests, the sons of Zadok, who took care of my holy place when the children of Israel were turned away from me, they are to come near me to do my work, they will take their places before me, offering to me the fat and the blood, says the Lord;

The priests the Levites, the sons of Sadduc, who kept the charges of my sanctuary when the house of Israel went astray from me, these shall draw night to me to minister to me, and shall stand before my face, to offer sacrifice to me, the fat and the blood, says the Lord God.

16 They are to come into my holy place and they are to come near to my table, to do my work and have the care of my house.

These shall enter into my sanctuary, and these shall approach my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charges.

17 And when they come in by the doorways of the inner square, they are to be clothed in linen robes; there is to be no wool on them while they are doing my work in the doorway of the inner square and inside the house.

And it shall come to pass when they enter the gates of the inner court, [that] they shall put on linen robes; and they shall not put on woollen garments when they minister at the gate of the inner court.

18 They are to have linen head-dresses on their heads and linen trousers on their legs, and they are to have nothing round them to make their skin wet with heat.

And they shall have linen mitres upon their heads, and shall have linen drawers upon their loins; and they shall not tightly gird themselves.

19 And when they go out into the outer square to the people, they are to take off the robes in which they do the work of priests, and put them away in the holy rooms, and put on other clothing, so that the people may not be made holy by their robes.

And when they go out into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their robes, in which they minister; and they shall lay them up in the chambers of the sanctuary, and shall put on other robes, and they shall not sanctify the people with their robes.

20 They are not to have all the hair cut off their heads, and they are not to let their hair get long, but they are to have the ends of their hair cut.

And they shall not shave their heads, nor shall they pluck off their hair; they shall carefully cover their heads.

21 The priests are not to take wine when they go into the inner square.

And no priest shall drink any wine, when they go into the inner court.

22 And they are not to take as wives any widow or woman whose husband has put her away: but they may take virgins of the seed of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.

Neither shall they take to themselves to wife a widow, or one that is put away, but a virgin of the seed of Israel: but if there should happen to be a priest's widow, they shall take [her].

23 And they are to make clear to my people the division between what is holy and what is common, and to give them the knowledge of what is clean and what is unclean.

And they shall teach my people [to distinguish] between holy and profane, and they shall make known to them [the difference] between unclean and clean.

24 In any cause, they are to be in the position of judges, judging in harmony with my decisions: they are to keep my laws and my rules in all my fixed feasts; and they are to keep my Sabbaths holy.

And these shall attend at a judgement of blood to decide it: they shall rightly observe my ordinances, and judge my judgements, and keep my statutes and my commandments in all my feasts; and they shall hallow my sabbaths.

25 They are not to come near any dead person so as to become unclean: but for a father or mother or son or daughter or brother or for a sister who has no husband, they may make themselves unclean.

And they shall not go in to the dead body of a man to defile themselves: only [a priest] may defile himself for a father, or for a mother, or for a son, or for a daughter, or for a brother, or for his sister, who has not been married.

26 And after he has been made clean, seven days are to be numbered for him.

And after he has been cleansed, let him number to himself seven days.

27 And on the day when he goes into the inner square, to do the work of the holy place, he is to make his sin-offering, says the Lord.

And on whatever day they shall enter into the inner court to minister in the holy place, they shall bring a propitiation, says the Lord God.

28 And they are to have no heritage; I am their heritage: you are to give them no property in Israel; I am their property.

And it shall be to them for an inheritance: I am their inheritance: and no possession shall be given them amongst the children of Israel; for I am their possession.

29 Their food is to be the meal offering and the sin-offering and the offering for error; and everything given specially to the Lord in Israel will be theirs.

And these shall eat the meat-offerings, and the sin-offerings, and the trespass-offerings; and every special offering in Israel shall be theirs.

30 And the best of all the first-fruits of everything, and every offering which is lifted up of all your offerings, will be for the priests: and you are to give the priest the first of your bread-making, so causing a blessing to come on your house.

[And] the first fruits of all things, and the firstborn of all [animals] and all offerings, of all your first fruits there shall be [a share] for the priests; and you shall give your earliest produce to the priest, to bring your blessings upon your houses.

31 The priests may not take for food any bird or beast which has come to a natural death or whose death has been caused by another animal.

And the priests shall eat no bird or beast that dies of itself, or is taken of wild beasts.