Ezekiel 44

1 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.

And he took me back to the outer doorway of the holy place, looking to the east; and it was shut.

2 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.

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.

3 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.”

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.

4 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.

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.

5 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.

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.

6 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!

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,

7 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.

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.

8 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.

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.

9 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].

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.

10 [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.

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.

11 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.

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.

12 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.

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.

13 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.

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.

14 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.

But I will make them responsible for the care of the house and all its work and everything which is done in it.

15 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.

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;

16 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.

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.

17 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].

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.

18 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.

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.

19 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.

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.

20 The priests must not shave their heads or allow their hair to become long; but they must regularly trim [the edges of] their hair.

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.

21 Priests must not drink wine before they enter the inner courtyard.

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

22 [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.

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.

23 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.

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.

24 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).

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.

25 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.

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.

26 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.

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

27 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.

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.

28 The priests are not permitted to own any property. They will have only what I [provide for them].

And they are to have no heritage; I am their heritage: you are to give them no property in Israel; I am their property.

29 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.

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.

30 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.

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.

31 Priests must not eat the flesh of any bird or animal that was found dead or that has been killed by wild animals.’”

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.