The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Ezekiel 44
1 Then he brought me back by the way
of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which
looks toward the east; and it was shut.
2 Yahweh said to me, “This gate shall be
shut. It shall not be opened, no man shall
enter in by it;for Yahweh,the God ofIsrael,
has entered in by it. Therefore it shall be
shut.
3 As for the prince, he shall sit in it as
prince to eat bread before Yahweh. He
shall enter by the way of the porch of the
gate, and shall go out the same way.”
4 Then he brought me by the way of
the north gate before the house; and I
looked, and behold, Yahweh’s glory filled
Yahweh’s house; so I fell on my face.
5 Yahweh said to me, “Son of man, mark
well, and see with your eyes, and hear with
your ears all that I tell you concerning all
the ordinances of Yahweh’s house and all
its laws; and mark well the entrance of the
house, with every exit of the sanctuary.
6 You shall tell the rebellious, even the
house of Israel, ‘The Lord Yahweh says:
“You house of Israel, let that be enough of
all your abominations,
7 in that you have brought in foreigners,
uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised
in flesh, to be in my sanctuary,
to profane it, even my house, when you offer
my bread, the fat and the blood; and they
have broken my covenant, to add to all
your abominations.
8 You have not performed the duty of my
holy things; but you have set performers of
my duty in my sanctuary for yourselves.”
9 The Lord Yahweh says, “No foreigner,
uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised
in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary,
of any foreigners who are among the
children of Israel.
10 But the Levites who went far from
me when Israel went astray, who went
astray from me after their idols, they will
bear their iniquity.
11 Yet they shall be ministers in my
sanctuary, having oversight at the
gates of the house, and ministering
in the house. They shall kill the burnt
offering and the sacrifice for the people,
and they shall stand before them to minister to them.
12 Because they ministered to them before their
idols, and became a stumbling
block of iniquity to the house of Israel,
therefore I have lifted up my hand against
them,” says the Lord Yahweh, “and they
will bear their iniquity.
13 They shall not come near to me, to
execute the office of priest to me, nor to
come near to any of my holy things, to the
things that are most holy; but they will
bear their shame and their abominations
which they have committed.
14 Yet I will make them performers of the
duty of the house, for all its service and for
all that will be done therein.
15 But the Levitical priests, the sons
of Zadok, who performed the duty of my
sanctuary whenthe childrenofIsrael went
astray from me, shall come near to me to
minister to me. They shall stand before me
to offer to me the fat and the blood,” says
the Lord Yahweh.
16 “They shall enter into my sanctuary,
and they shall come near to my table, to
minister to me, and they shall keep my
instruction.
17 It will be that when they enter in
at the gates of the inner court, they shall
be clothed with linen garments. No wool
shall come on them while they minister in
the gates of the inner court, and within.
18 They shall have linen turbans on their
heads, and shall have linen trousers on
their waists. They shall not clothe themselves
with anything that makes them sweat.
19 When they go out into the outer court,
even into the outer court to the people,
they shall put off their garments in which
they minister and lay them in the holy
rooms. They shall put on other garments,
that they not sanctify the people with their
garments.
20 They shallnot shave theirheads, or
allow their locks to grow long. They shall
only cut off the hair of their heads.
21 None of the priests shall drink wine
when they enter into the inner court.
22 They shall not take for their wives a
widow, or her who is put away; but they
shall take virgins of the offspring of the
house of Israel, or a widow who is the
widow of a priest.
23 They shall teach my people the difference
between the holy and the common,
and cause them to discern between the
unclean and the clean.
24 In a controversy they shall stand
to judge. They shall judge it according to
my ordinances. They shall keep my laws
and my statutes in all my appointed feasts.
They shall make my Sabbaths holy.
25 They shall go in to no dead person
to defile themselves; but for father, or for
mother, or for son, or for daughter, for
brother, or for sister who has had no husband,
they may defile themselves.
26 After he is cleansed, they shall reckon
to him seven days.
27 In the day that he goes into the sanctuary,
into the inner court, to minister in the
sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering,”
says the Lord Yahweh.
28 They shall have an inheritance: I
am their inheritance; and you shall give
them no possession in Israel. I am their
possession.
29 They shall eat the meal offering, and
the sin offering, and the trespass offering;
and every devoted thing in Israel shall be
theirs.
30 The first of all the first fruits of every
thing, and every offering of everything, of
all your offerings, shall be for the priest.
You shall also give to the priests the first of
your dough, to cause a blessing to rest on
your house.
31 The priests shall not eat of anything
that dies of itself or is torn, whether it is
bird or animal.