Jezekiel 44

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

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

2 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.

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.

3 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.

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.”

4 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.

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.

5 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.

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.

6 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!

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—

7 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;

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.

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

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.

9 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.

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.

10 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.

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

11 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.

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.

12 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.

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.

13 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.

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.

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

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.

15 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.

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.

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

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

17 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.

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.

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

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

19 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.

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.

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

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

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

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

22 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].

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.

23 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.

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

24 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.

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.

25 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.

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.

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

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

27 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.

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.

28 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.

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

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

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

30 [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.

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.

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

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