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 to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which looketh toward the east; 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.

Then said Jehovah to me: This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because Jehovah, the God of Israel, entered in by it, therefore 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.

The prince, because he is prince, shall sit in it, to eat food before Jehovah; he shall enter through the porch of that gate, and by the same way 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 he brought me to the north gate before the house; and I looked, and behold, the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah. 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 Jehovah said to me: Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say to thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of Jehovah, and all the laws thereof; and mark well all the entrances of the house, and all the outward passages 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 say to the rebellious house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Let it suffice you of 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 that ye brought strangers, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, so that ye polluted my house when ye offered my food, the fat and the blood, and broke my covenant by 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 ye kept not the charge of my holy place, but appointed for yourselves such keepers of my charge 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.

Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: No stranger, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of all the strangers that are among the sons 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 even the Levites, who departed from me when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, shall 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 be ministers in my sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house, and ministering at the house; they shall slay the burnt-offering and sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them 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 caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity, therefore have I lifted up my hand against them, saith the Lord Jehovah, that 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 to me to do the office of a priest to me, and to come near to any of my holy things in the most holy place, but they shall bear their shame, and 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.

But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all which is to 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 sons of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister to me, and they shall stand before me to offer to me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord Jehovah.

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.

They shall come into my sanctuary, and they shall draw near to my table to minister to me, and 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 when they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments, and no wool shall come upon them while 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.

They shall have linen coverings upon their heads, and linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything 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, even into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments in which they ministered, and lay them in the holy rooms, and shall clothe themselves with other garments, that they may not sanctify 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.

They shall neither shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall shear their heads.

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

And no priest shall drink wine 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.

Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, or her that is put away; but they shall take virgins of the race of the house of Israel, or a widow that is the widow of a priest.

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 the difference between the holy and unholy, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the 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 in controversy they shall stand to judge; according to my statutes shall they judge. And they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my festivals, 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 come to no dead person to defile themselves; but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister that hath had no husband, they may defile themselves.

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

And after his cleansing they shall reckon to 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.

And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, into the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin-offering, saith the Lord Jehovah.

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, that I am their inheritance. And ye shall give them no possession 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.

They shall eat the flour-offering, and the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering; and every dedicated thing 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 of all the first-fruits, and every oblation of all your oblations, shall belong to the priests. Ye shall also give to the priest the first of your meal, that he may cause a blessing to rest on thine 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.

The priests shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself, or that is torn, whether it be fowl or beast.