Ezekiel 44
1 And he brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary which looked toward the east: and it was locked.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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!
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 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.
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 [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.
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 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.
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 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;
[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 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.
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 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;
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 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.
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 appoint them to be keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein.
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 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:
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 And their heads shall they not shave close, nor suffer their hair to grow long: they shall only crop [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 wine shall none of the priests drink when they enter into the inner court.
Priests must not drink wine before they enter the inner courtyard.
22 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.
[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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 is become clean, —they shall reckon unto 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 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.
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 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.
The priests are not permitted to own any property. They will have only what I [provide for them].
29 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.
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 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.
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 Any thing that hath died of itself, or that is torn, whether it be fowl or beast, shall the priests not eat.
Priests must not eat the flesh of any bird or animal that was found dead or that has been killed by wild animals.’”
