Ezekiel 44

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

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 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.

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 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.”

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 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.

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 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.

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 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—

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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

[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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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

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 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.

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

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 Also they must neither shave their heads nor allow their hair to hang loosely, but they must trim 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 No priest may drink wine when he comes to the inner court,

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

22 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.

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

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 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.

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 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.

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

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

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

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

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 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.

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

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