Ezekiel 44
1 Then he brought me back toward the outer gate of the sanctuary, which looked toward the east, —but, it was shut.
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 Yahweh unto me This gate shut, shall remain It shall not be opened And no man shall enter thereby, Because Yahweh, God of Israel, doth enter thereby, - Therefore shall it remain—shut.
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 The prince! as prince, he, shall sit therein, To eat food before Yahweh, — By way of the porch of the gate, shall he go in, and By way thereof, shall he come 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 he brought me in by way of the north gate unto the front of the house, and I looked and lo! the glory of Yahweh, filled the house of Yahweh, — so 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 Yahweh said unto me, Son of man Apply thy heart And see with thine eyes And with thine ears, hear thou All that I am speaking with thee, As to all the statutes of the house of Yahweh and As to all the laws thereof, - And thou shalt apply thy heart To the entering in of the house, With all the exits 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 So then thou shalt say unto the perverse [house] unto the house of Israel, Thus saith My Lord, Yahweh: Let it more than suffice you Out of 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 That ye brought in the sons of the foreigner Uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, To be in my sanctuary. So that he profaned my house, - That ye brought near as my food the fat and the blood, And so they brake my covenant—Among 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 Neither kept ye the charge of my holy things, - But ye did set men to be keepers of my charge in my sanctuary, for 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 saith My Lord, Yahweh, No son of a foreigner Uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, —of any son of a foreigner, who is in the midst of the sons 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 for the Levites. Who went far from me, when Israel went astray. Who went astray from me, after their manufactured gods, Therefore shall they 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 Yet shall they remain in my sanctuary As attendants in charge at the gates of the house, — And attending upon the house, — They shall slay the ascending-offering, and the sacrifice of the people, And they, shall stand before them to wait upon 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 they used to wait upon them before their manufactured gods, and became to the house of Israel a stumbling-block of iniquity, For this cause have I lifted up my hand concerning them Declareth My Lord Yahweh, 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 So then they shall not come near unto me To minister as priests unto me, Nor come near unto any of my holy things, As regardeth things most holy, — But they shall bear their rebuke, and 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 Yet will I make them keepers of the charge of the house, — As to all the labour thereof, and As to all which 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, Who kept the charge of my sanctuary— when the sons of Israel went astray from me, They shall draw near unto me to wait upon me, And shall stand before me, to bring near unto me the fat and the blood Declareth My Lord, Yahweh:
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 They shall enter into my sanctuary, and They shall draw near unto my table to wait upon me, - So shall they 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 be when they shall enter into the gates of the inner court, Garments of linen, shall they put on, Yea there shall come upon them no wool, when they minister in the gates of the inner court and within:
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 Chaplets of linen, shall be upon their head, and Breeches of linen shall be upon their loins, — They shall not gird themselves, so as to perspire,
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 unto the people, They shall put off their garments, wherein they do minister, and lay them in the chambers of the holy place, - And shall put on other garments, That they may not hallow the people by 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, Nor let the hair grow long, — They shall only poll, 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 no priest drink, —when they enter into the inner court.
Priests must not drink wine before they enter the inner courtyard.
22 Neither widow nor divorced woman, shall they take to them to wife, — But, virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, Or a widow who shall be the widow of a priest shall they 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 instruct, between the holy and the common, — And between the unclean and the clean, shall they cause them to distinguish.
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, They shall stand up for justice, With my judgments, shall they judge it, And my laws and my statutes in all mine appointed assemblies, shall they observe, And my sabbaths, shall they hallow.
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 unto no dead person, shall they go in. to defile themselves, - Save that for father or for mother or for son or for daughter, for brother or for sister who hath belonged to no husband they may 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 Yet after he is cleansed, seven days shall they count to him.
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 And in the day when he entereth into the sanctuary, into the inner court to minister in the sanctuary, He shall bring near his sin-bearer, Declareth My Lord Yahweh.
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 So shall it become to them an inheritance, I, am their inheritance, - And possession, shall ye 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 As for the meal-offering and the sin-bearer and the guilt-bearer, they shall eat them, —And everything devoted in Israel to them, shall belong.
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 the firstfruits of everything, and every heave-offering of everything, from among all your heave-offerings to the priests, shall it belong, — The first of your meal, shall ye give to the priest, To cause a blessing to rest upon by 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 Nothing that died of itself or was torn in pieces, of bird or of beast shall be eaten by the priests.
Priests must not eat the flesh of any bird or animal that was found dead or that has been killed by wild animals.’”
