Ezekiel 44

1 And he turned me back, toward the way of the gate of the outer sanctuary, which looked toward the east. And it was closed.

Then [in the vision] the man brought me back to the outer entryway to the temple [area], the one on the east side, but the outer entrance was shut.

2 And the Lord said to me: “This gate will be closed; it will not be opened. And man shall not cross through it. For the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered through it, and it shall be closed

Yahweh said to me, “This entrance must remain shut. It must not be opened [by anyone]; no one will be permitted to enter it. It must remain shut because [I], Yahweh, the God of Israel, have [caused it to be sacred by] entering through it.

3 to the prince. The prince himself will sit at it, so that he may eat bread before the Lord; he will enter by the way of the vestibule of the gate, and he will depart by the same way.”

Only the king [of Israel] will be permitted to sit inside this entryway to eat food in the presence of Yahweh. But he will must enter and leave [the temple area] through the entry room of this entryway.”

4 And he led me in, along the way of the north gate, in the sight of the house. And I saw, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. And I fell upon my face.

Then the man brought me through the north entryway to the front of the temple. I looked and saw that the glory of Yahweh filled his temple, and I prostrated myself on the ground.

5 And the Lord said to me: “Son of man, set within your heart, and see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I am speaking to you about all the ceremonies of the house of the Lord and about all its laws. And set your heart upon the ways of the temple, along all the exits of the sanctuary.

Yahweh said to me, “You human, look carefully, and listen carefully to everything that I tell you about all the regulations concerning the temple. Note carefully the temple entrance and all the exits.

6 And you shall say to the house of Israel, which provokes me: Thus says the Lord God: Let all your wicked deeds be sufficient for you, O house of Israel.

Say this to the rebellious Israeli people: ‘This is what [I], Yahweh the Lord, say: You Israeli people, I will no longer endure the detestable things that you do!

7 For you bring in foreign sons, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, so that they may be in my sanctuary and may defile my house. And you offer my bread, the fat, and the blood, yet you have broken my covenant by all your wicked deeds.

In addition to all the other detestable things that you do, you brought into my temple foreign men who had not been circumcised and who were godless [IDM]. By doing that, you caused my temple to be an unacceptable place to worship me, while you offered food and fat and blood, and you disobeyed my agreement with you.

8 And you have not observed the precepts of my sanctuary, yet you have stationed observers of my vigil in my sanctuary for yourselves.

Instead of doing what I commanded you to do in regard to my holy things, you appointed foreigners to be in charge of my temple.

9 Thus says the Lord God: Any foreigner, any foreign son who is in the midst of the sons of Israel, who is uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall not enter into my sanctuary.

But this is what [I], Yahweh, have said: No foreigners, no men who are not circumcised, no godless people are permitted to enter my temple, not even foreigners who live among you [Israelis permanently].

10 And as for the Levites, they have withdrawn far away from me, in the errors of the sons of Israel, and they have gone astray from me after their idols, and they have borne their iniquity.

[Most of] the descendants of Levi abandoned me along with [most of] the Israeli people, and started to worship idols. They must be punished for their sin.

11 They will be caretakers in my sanctuary, and doorkeepers at the gates of the house, and ministers to the house. They will slay the holocausts and the victims of the people. And they will stand before them, so that they may minister to them.

They are [still] permitted to work in my temple and to be in charge of the entrances of the temple, and they are permitted to slaughter the animals that will be completely burned on the altar, and [to burn other] sacrifices for the people, and they will [be able to] help the people.

12 But because they ministered to them in the sight their idols, and they became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, for this reason, I have lifted up my hand against them, says the Lord God, and they will bear their iniquity.

But because they helped the people to worship idols and caused [many of] the Israeli people [MTY] to sin [by worshiping idols], I have lifted up my arm and solemnly declared that they must be punished for their sin.

13 And they shall not draw near to me, so as to exercise the priesthood for me, and they shall not approach to any of my holy things, which are near the Holy of Holies. Instead, they will bear their shame and their wicked deeds, which they committed.

They must not come near me to serve as priests. They must not come near any sacred things or the holy offerings. They must be ashamed of the shameful things that they did.

14 And I will make them doorkeepers of the house, for all its ministries and for all that will be done within it.

But I will still put them in charge of the work in the temple and allow them to do all the work that needs to be done there.

15 But the priests and the Levites who are the sons of Zadok, who observed the ceremonies of my sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from me, these shall draw near to me, so that they may minister for me. And they shall stand in my sight, so that they may offer to me the fat and the blood, says the Lord God.

But [most of] the priests who are descendants of Levi and from the clan of Zadok worked in my temple when the [other] Israelis abandoned me. [So they] are permitted to come near to me to work for me. They will stand in my presence to offer [sacrifices of animals’] fat and blood.

16 They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall draw near to my table, so that they may minister for me, and so that they may observe my ceremonies.

They [are the only ones who] are permitted to enter my temple. They are [the only ones who are] permitted to come near my altar to serve me and do what I tell them to do.

17 And when they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments. Neither shall anything woolen be placed over them, when they minister within the gates of the inner and the outer court.

When they enter [one of] the entrances into the inner courtyard, they must wear linen clothes. They must not wear any clothes [made] of wool while they do their work at the entrances of the inner courtyard or inside [the temple].

18 They shall have linen bands on their heads, and linen undergarments over their loins, and they shall not be girded so as to sweat.

They must have linen turbans [wrapped] around their heads and wrap linen undergarments around their waists. They must not wear anything that would cause them to perspire.

19 And when they go forth to the outer court to the people, they shall strip off their vestments, in which they ministered, and they shall place them in the storeroom of the sanctuary, and they shall clothe themselves with other garments. And they shall not sanctify the people in their vestments.

Before they go out into the outer courtyard where [other] people are, they must take off the clothes that they have been wearing and leave them in the sacred rooms, and they must put on other clothes, in order that the other people are not punished because of [their touching] the sacred clothes.

20 Now they shall not shave their heads, and they shall not grow long hair. Instead, they shall trim the hair of their heads.

The priests must not shave their heads or allow their hair to become long; but they must regularly trim [the edges of] their hair.

21 And no priest shall drink wine, when he will be entering into the inner court.

Priests must not drink wine before they enter the inner courtyard.

22 And they shall not take as wife a widow or one who has been divorced. Instead, they shall take virgins from the offspring of the house of Israel. But they may also take a widow, if she is the widow of a priest.

[Also], priests must not marry widows [of men who were not priests] or women who have been divorced. [Priests are permitted to marry only] Israeli [MTY] virgins or widows of [other] priests.

23 And they shall teach my people the difference between holy and defiled, and they shall distinguish for them between clean and unclean.

Priests must teach the people the difference between things that are holy/sacred and things that are not, and they must teach them the difference between things that are acceptable to me and things that are not.

24 And when there has been a controversy, they shall stand in my judgments, and they shall judge. They shall observe my laws and my precepts, in all my solemnities, and they shall sanctify my Sabbaths.

When there are disputes [between people], the priests are the ones who must be the judges and decide according to my laws what must be done. They must obey all my laws and decrees concerning the sacred festivals, and they must keep my Sabbath days (holy/set apart).

25 And they shall not enter to a dead person, lest they be defiled, except to father or mother, or son or daughter, or brother, or to a sister who does not have another man. By these, they may become unclean.

A priest is permitted to go near the corpse of his father or his mother or his son or his daughter or his brother or his unmarried sister; but he is still defiled by doing that. But a priest must not defile himself by going near a corpse of anyone else.

26 And after he will have been cleansed, they shall number for him seven days.

But [even] if a priest touches the corpse [of a close relative, he must perform the rituals to become acceptable to serve me again]. After he performs those rituals, he must wait seven days.

27 And on the day when he enters into the sanctuary, to the inner court, so that he may minister to me in the sanctuary, he shall make an offering because of his offense, says the Lord God.

Then, on the day that he enters the inner courtyard [again] to serve me in the temple, he must give an offering to remove his guilt for his sin. [That is what I], Yahweh the Lord, declare.

28 And there shall be no inheritance for them. I am their inheritance. And you shall not give them any possession in Israel. For I am their possession.

The priests are not permitted to own any property. They will have only what I [provide for them].

29 They shall eat the victim both for sin and for offenses. And every vowed offering in Israel shall be theirs.

They will eat the offerings [other people make] from grain, offerings to remove people’s guilt for having sinned, and offerings made when people fail to give to Yahweh the things that they are required to give. Everything [else] in Israel that is completely dedicated to [me], Yahweh, will belong to the priests.

30 And the first-fruits of all the firstborn, and all the libations out of all that is offered, shall belong to the priests. And you shall give the first-fruits of your foods to the priest, so that he may return a blessing to your house.

The best fruits of the first part of each harvest and all the [other] special gifts that are given to me will belong to the priests. You must give them the first part of your finely-ground flour, in order that I will bless [the people who live in] [MTY] your houses.

31 The priests shall not consume anything which has died on its own, or which was seized by a beast, whether from the fowl or the cattle.”

Priests must not eat the flesh of any bird or animal that was found dead or that has been killed by wild animals.’”