Ezekiel 44

1Then he brought me back by way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, the one facing east, and it was shut.

2And Yahweh said to me, “This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter through it, because Yahweh, the God of Israel, has entered through it. Therefore it shall remain shut.”

3As for the prince, because he is the prince, he may sit in it to eat bread before Yahweh. He shall enter by way of the porch of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.

4Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the house, and I looked, and behold, the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh; and I fell on my face.

5And Yahweh said to me, “Son of man, set your heart, and see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I am speaking to you concerning all the statutes of the house of Yahweh and all its laws. Set your heart on the entrance of the temple and on all the exits of the sanctuary.”

6And say to the rebellious house, to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: Enough of all your abominations, O house of Israel.’

7when you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it—my house—when you presented my food, the fat and the blood, and they broke my covenant, along with all your abominations.

8You have not kept charge of my holy things, but have appointed others to keep charge in my sanctuary for you.

9Thus says the Lord GOD: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter my sanctuary, of any foreigner who is among the sons of Israel.

10But the Levites who went far from me when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, shall bear their iniquity.

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

12Because they ministered to them before their idols and became a stumbling block of iniquity for the house of Israel, therefore I have raised my hand against them, declares the Lord GOD, and they will bear their iniquity.

13They shall not come near to me to serve as priests for me, nor to come near any of my holy things, the most holy things; but they shall bear their shame and the abominations that they have done.

14Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the house, for all its service and for all that is done in it.

15But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from me—they shall come near to me to minister to me, and they shall stand before me to offer to me fat and blood, declares the Lord GOD.

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

17And when they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen garments; no wool shall come upon them while they minister in the gates of the inner court and in the house.

18Linen turbans shall be on their heads, and linen undergarments shall be on their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything that causes sweat.

19When they go out to the outer court, to the outer court where the people are, they shall take off their garments in which they minister and leave them in the holy chambers. Then they shall put on other garments, so that they may not make the people holy with their garments.

20They shall not shave their heads, nor let their hair grow long; they shall surely trim the hair of their heads.

21No priest shall drink wine when entering the inner court.

22They shall not take for themselves as wives a widow or a divorced woman, but only virgins from the offspring of the house of Israel; however, they may take a widow who is the widow of a priest.

23They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and make them know the difference between the unclean and the clean.

24In a dispute, they shall stand to judge; they shall judge it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes at all my appointed times, and they shall keep my Sabbaths holy.

25And they shall not go near a dead person to make themselves unclean; but for father or mother, for son or daughter, for brother, or for a sister who has not belonged to a man, they may make themselves unclean.

26And after his cleansing, they shall count seven days for him.

27And on the day he enters the sanctuary, into the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall present his sin offering, declares the Lord GOD.

28And this shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance. And you shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession.

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

30And the first of all the firstfruits of everything, and every contribution from all your contributions, shall belong to the priests. You shall give the first of your dough to the priest, to cause a blessing to rest on your house.

31The priests shall not eat any carcass or animal torn by beasts, whether from birds or from livestock.