Ezekiel 44

1 Then he brought me back the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which looketh toward the east; and it was shut.

The man took me back to the outside gate of the sanctuary that faced to the east, but it was shut.

2 And the LORD said unto me, This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, neither shall any man enter in by it, for the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it; therefore it shall be shut.

The Lord told me, “This gate will stay shut. It is not be opened. No one is allowed to come in through it, because the Lord, the God of Israel, has passed through it. So it will stay shut.

3 As for the prince, he shall sit therein as prince to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.

The prince himself is permitted to come and sit inside the gateway to eat in the presence of the Lord. He is to come in through the gateway's porch and leave the same way.”

4 Then he brought me 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.

The man took me to the front of the Temple through the north gate. As I looked, I saw the glory of the Lord filling his Temple, and I fell with my face to the ground.

5 And the LORD said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD, and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the sanctuary.

The Lord told me, “Son of man, concentrate! Keep your eyes open! Listen carefully to everything I tell you about all the regulations and laws of the Lord's Temple. Pay close attention to the Temple entrance and all the exits of the sanctuary.

6 And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD: O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations,

Tell those rebels, the people of Israel, that this is what the Lord God says: I've had more than enough of all your disgusting sins, people of Israel!

7 in that ye have brought in aliens, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, [to add] unto all your abominations.

As well as all your other offensive practices, you invited unconverted, pagan foreigners to come into my sanctuary. You made my Temple unclean even while you offered food to me, the fat and the blood. You broke my agreement.

8 And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things: but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.

In addition you have not taken care of my sanctuary as you were required to, but instead you employed others to look after my sanctuary for you.

9 Thus saith the Lord GOD, No alien, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any alien that is among the children of Israel.

This is what the Lord God says: No unconverted, pagan foreigners are allowed to enter my sanctuary—not even a foreigner who lives with the Israelites.

10 But the Levites that went far from me, when Israel went astray, which went astray from me after their idols; they shall bear their iniquity.

The Levites who abandoned me when Israel turned from worshiping me and went off to follow their idols will experience the consequences of their sins.

11 Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house, and ministering in the house: they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them.

However, they will serve in my sanctuary, supervising the Temple gates and working in the Temple. They will slaughter the burnt offerings and sacrifices brought by the people and be there to serve them.

12 Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and became a stumblingblock of iniquity unto the house of Israel; therefore have I lifted up mine hand against them, saith the Lord GOD, and they shall bear their iniquity.

But because they served the people in front of their idols and encouraged the people of Israel to sin, I held up my hand to promise on oath that they would experience the consequences of their sin, declares the Lord God.

13 And they shall not come near unto me, to execute the office of priest unto me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, unto the things that are most holy: but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed.

They are not allowed to come near me to serve me as priests, and they are not to touch anything I regard as holy or most holy. They will have to experience the shame of the disgusting sins they committed.

14 Yet will I make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein.

However, I will put them in charge of all Temple work and everything 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, they shall come near to me to minister unto me; and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD:

It is the Levitical priests, descended from Zadok and who took care of my sanctuary when the Israelites abandoned me, are the ones to come near to me and minister before me. They will stand in my presence to offer me fat and blood, declares the Lord God.

16 they shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge.

Only they are allowed to enter my sanctuary and approach my table to minister before me. They will do what I say.

17 And it shall be that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within.

When they come in through the entrances of the inner courtyard, they shall wear linen garments. They must not wear any woolen clothes when they serve at the entrances of the inner courtyard or inside the Temple.

18 They shall have linen tires upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with [any thing that causeth] sweat.

They shall wear linen turbans on their heads and linen underwear. They are not to wear anything that makes them sweat.

19 And when they go forth into the outer court, even into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they minister, and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments, that they sanctify not the people with their garments.

When they go to the outer court where the people are, they must take off their priestly clothes they wore when they were serving, and leave them in the holy rooms. They are to put on other clothes so that they don't carry holiness to the people with their clothing.

20 Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads.

They are not permitted to shave their heads or let their hair grow long; they must have a proper haircut.

21 Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.

No priest shall drink wine before he enters the inner courtyard.

22 Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away: but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that is the widow of a priest.

They are not to marry a woman who is a widow or divorced; they can only marry a virgin of Israelite descent, or a widow of a priest.

23 And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

They are to teach my people the difference between what is holy and what is common, and explain to them how to distinguish between what is clean and what is unclean.

24 And in a controversy they shall stand to judge; according to my judgments shall they judge it: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts; and they shall hallow my sabbaths.

They are to serve as judges in legal cases, and base their decisions on my laws. They are to follow my instructions and regulations regarding all my regular religious festivals, and they are to keep my Sabbaths holy.

25 And they shall come at 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.

A priest must not make himself unclean by going near a dead body. However, if it's his father, mother, son, daughter, brother, or a sister that's not married, then he may do so.

26 And after he is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven days.

Afterwards, once he is purified, he must wait for seven days.

27 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 GOD.

Then when he enters the sanctuary, going into the inner courtyard and ministering there in the sanctuary, he has to present his sin offering, declares the Lord God.

28 And they shall have an inheritance; I am their inheritance: and ye shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession.

Regarding their share of the land, I will take care of them. You are not to give them any property in Israel, because I will provide for them.

29 They shall eat the meal offering, and the sin offering, and the guilt offering; and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs.

They are to eat the grain offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings. Everything brought by the people of Israel and dedicated to the Lord will be theirs.

30 And the first of all the firstfruits of every thing, and every oblation of every thing, of all your oblations, shall be for the priests: ye shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough, to cause a blessing to rest on thine house.

The best of all the firstfruits and all your offerings are for the priests. You shall give the first loaf you bake to the priest, so that your home may be blessed.

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

The priests are not permitted to eat any bird or animal found dead or killed by wild beasts.”