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Ezekiel

Temple Gates, Priestly Roles, and Exclusions

44
Chapter 44
1 Then he returned with me by way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east, and it was closed. 2 And the LORD said to me, "This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, for the LORD God of Israel has entered by it; and it shall be shut." 3 As for the prince, he is the one. He shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD. He shall come by way of the gate of the mute gate, and he shall go out by his way. 4 And he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the house, and I looked, and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD, and I fell on my face. 5 And the LORD said to me, "Son of Adam, set your heart and see with your eyes and hear with your ears all that I am saying to you, for all the statutes of the house of the LORD and for all his Torahs, and set your heart to the entrance of the house with all the exits of the high place." 6 And you shall say to the rebellious ones, to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Enough for you from all your abominations, house of Israel. 7 In your bringing sons of foreignness, uncircumcised of heart and uncircumcised of flesh, to be in my sanctuary to profane my house, in your offering my bread, fat portions and blood, and they profaned my covenant with all your abominations. 8 And you did not keep the charge of my holy things, but you put keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves. 9 Thus says the Lord GOD: Every son of a foreigner, uncircumcised of heart and uncircumcised of flesh, shall not enter my sanctuary—for every son of a foreigner who is in the midst of the sons of Israel. 10 For only the Levites who distanced themselves from me in the strayings of Israel, who strayed from me after their idols—they bore their iniquity. 11 They will be in my sanctuaries, serving divine visitations at the gates of the house and serving the house. They will slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they will stand before them to serve them. 12 Because they served them before their idols and became to the house of Israel a stumbling block of iniquity, therefore I lifted my hand against them, utterance of the Lord GOD, and they shall bear their iniquity. 13 And they shall not approach me to serve as priests for me or to approach my holy things, the holy things of holy things, and they shall bear their disgrace and the abominations which they have done. 14 And I will give them as keepers of the charge of the house for all its service and for all that is done in it. 15 And the priests the Levites sons of Zadok who kept the charge of my sanctuaries in the straying of the sons of Israel from me—they shall draw near to me to serve me, and they shall stand before my face to offer to me fat portions and blood, utterance of the Lord GOD. 16 They will enter my sanctuary, and they will present themselves near my table to serve me, and they will keep my charge. 17 And when they come to the gates of the inner Tabernacle courtyard, they shall wear linen garments, and no wool shall come upon them while they perform their priestly service at the gates of the inner Tabernacle courtyard and toward the house. 18 They shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen breeches on their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything that causes sweat. 19 And when they go out to the outer court, to the people, they shall strip off their garments in which they are ministering and place them in the chambers of the holy things. And they shall put on other garments and not consecrate the people in their garments. 20 They shall not shave their heads, nor let their hair hang loose; they shall cover their heads with a covering. 21 No priest shall drink wine when they enter the inner court. 22 And they shall not take for themselves a widow or a divorced woman as wives, but rather a virgin from the seed of the house of Israel, and the widow who is a widow from a priest they shall take. 23 They will teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and they will make them know the difference between the unclean and the clean. 24 And in a dispute, they shall stand for judgment. They shall judge it according to my judgments, and they shall keep my Torah and my statutes in all my appointed times, and they shall sanctify my Sabbaths. 25 They shall not go near a dead person among the people to defile themselves, except for a father, mother, son, daughter, brother, or unmarried sister; they may defile themselves for these. 26 And after his purification they shall count seven days for him. 27 And on the day they come to the holy place, to the inner court, to serve in the holy place, he shall present his sin offering, says the Lord GOD. 28 And it will be to them as an inheritance—I am their inheritance—and you shall not give them any held possession in Israel; I am their held possession. 29 They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and every herem in Israel shall be theirs. 30 The firstfruits of all firstborn of all, and every contribution of all from all your contributions, shall belong to the priests. And you shall give the firstfruits of your threshing floors to the priest, so that he may lay blessing upon your house. 31 Every impure carcass and every torn prey from the birds and from the beasts the priests shall not eat.