Ezekiel 44

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

And he brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary which looked toward the east: and it was locked.

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.

Then said the Lord unto me, This gate shall remain locked, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore shall it remain locked.

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.

As for the prince, being the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the Lord: by the way of the porch of that gate shall he enter, and by the way of the same shall he go out.

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.

Then brought he me by the way of the north gate before the house; and I looked, and, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house 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 unto me, Son of man, direct thy mind, and see with thy eyes, and hear with thy ears all that I am speaking with thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the Lord, and of all its laws; and direct thy mind to the entrance of the house, with every place of egress of the sanctuary.

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 thou shalt say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel, Thus hath said the Lord Eternal, Ye have done enough with all your abominations, 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.

In your having brought the sons of the stranger, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, while you were offering my food, the fat and the blood: so that they broke my covenant because of all your abominations.

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 [because] ye have not kept the charge of my holy things; but ye have set [those unworthy ones] as keepers of my charge in my sanctuary at your own pleasure.

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.

Thus hath said the Lord Eternal, No son of the stranger, uncircumcised in heart, or uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of all the sons of the stranger that are in the midst of the children 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 respecteth the Levites that were gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, who went astray away from me, after their idols, they shall surely 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.

And they shall be in my sanctuary, servants, appointed to watch at the gates of the house, and to be servants for the house: these are they that shall slay the burnt-offerings and the sacrifices for the people, and they shall stand before them to do the service for 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 that they used to serve them before their idols, and have been unto the house of Israel as a stumbling-block of iniquity; therefore have I lifted up my hand against them, saith the Lord Eternal, and they shall bear their iniquity;

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 come near unto me, to officiate as priests unto me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, to the most holy things; but they shall bear their shame, yea, for their abominations which they have committed.

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

And I will appoint them to be keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein.

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;

But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, —these are they that shall come near unto me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord Eternal:

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 are they that shall enter into my sanctuary, and these shall come near to my table, to minister unto me; and they shall keep my charge.

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, that, when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall clothe themselves with linen garments; and there shall no wool come upon them, when they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within the house.

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.

Linen bonnets shall be upon their heads, and linen breeches shall be upon their loins: they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat.

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 forth into the outer court, into the outer court to the people: then shall they put off their garments wherein they have ministered, and they shall lay them down in the holy chambers; and they shall put on other garments, and they shall not mingle among the people with their garments.

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 their heads shall they not shave close, nor suffer their hair to grow long: they shall only crop [the hair of] their heads.

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

And wine shall none of the priests drink when they enter 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.

And a widow, or one that is divorced from her husband shall they not take to themselves as wives; but only virgins of the seed of the house of Israel; but whatever widow it may be, the [common] priests may take.

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 my people shall they teach the difference between the holy and profane, and that between the unclean and the clean shall they make known unto them.

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 in a controversy shall they stand up to judge, according to my ordinances shall they decide it: and my laws and my statutes at all my festivals shall they observe, and my sabbaths shall they sanctify.

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 to a dead person shall they not come to defile themselves; but on father, or on mother, or on son, or on daughter, on brother, or on sister that hath had no husband, may they defile themselves.

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

And after he is become clean, —they shall reckon unto him 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.

Then shall he on the day that he cometh into the sanctuary, into the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, offer his sin-offering, saith the Lord Eternal.

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 unto them as an inheritance, I am their inheritance: and any possession shall you not give them in Israel, 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.

The meat-offering, and the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering—these shall they eat; and every devoted thing in Israel shall belong to them.

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 of all kinds of first-fruits of all, and every kind of heave-offering of every thing of all your heave-offerings, shall belong to the priests; and the first of your dough shall you give to the priest, to cause a blessing to rest on thy house.

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.

Any thing that hath died of itself, or that is torn, whether it be fowl or beast, shall the priests not eat.