EzekielChapter 44

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¹Then the man brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary that faced east. But it was shut. ²The LORD said to me, "This gate must stay shut. It must not be opened. No man may go in through it, because the LORD, the God of Israel, has gone in through it. So it must stay shut. ³Only the prince himself may sit inside the gateway to eat in the presence of the LORD. He must come in through the porch of the gateway. He must go out the same way." ⁴Then the man brought me through the north gate to the front of the temple. I looked and saw the glory of the LORD filling his temple. I fell with my face to the ground. ⁵The LORD said to me, "Son of man, pay attention. Look closely with your eyes. Listen carefully with your ears to everything I tell you. It is about all the rules and laws of the house of the LORD. Take careful note of the entrance to the temple and all the exits of the sanctuary. ⁶Say to the rebellious people of Israel that this is what the Lord GOD says: 'I have had enough of all your disgusting practices, people of Israel. ⁷On top of all your other disgusting practices, you brought foreigners into my sanctuary. They were uncircumcised in heart and in body. You made my temple unclean when you offered me my food, the fat and the blood. You broke my covenant. ⁸You have not taken care of my holy things yourselves. Instead, you put others in charge of my sanctuary for you.' ⁹This is what the Lord GOD says: No foreigner who is uncircumcised in heart and body may enter my sanctuary. Not even a foreigner who lives among the Israelites may enter. ¹⁰The Levites wandered away from me when Israel went astray. They wandered away from me to follow their idols. They will surely suffer for their sin. ¹¹Yet they will serve in my sanctuary. They will guard the gates of the temple and serve there. They will kill the burnt offerings and other sacrifices for the people. They will stand before the people to serve them. ¹²They served the people in front of their idols. They made the people of Israel trip and fall into sin. So I have raised my hand and made a promise about them. They will suffer for their sin, declares the Lord GOD. ¹³They must not come near me to serve me as priests. They must not come near any of my holy things or my most holy things. They will carry the shame of the disgusting things they have done. ¹⁴Yet I will put them in charge of all the work of the temple and everything that must be done in it. ¹⁵But the Levitical priests who come from Zadok's family took care of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me. They are the ones who may come near me to serve me. They will stand before me to offer me fat and blood, declares the Lord GOD. ¹⁶Only they may enter my sanctuary. Only they may come near my table to serve me. They will do the work I give them. ¹⁷When they go through the gates of the inner court, they must wear linen clothes. They must not wear anything made of wool while they serve at the gates of the inner court or inside the temple. ¹⁸They must wear linen turbans on their heads and linen underwear around their waists. They must not wear anything that makes them sweat. ¹⁹When they go out to the people in the outer court, they must take off the clothes they wore while serving. They must leave them in the holy rooms and put on other clothes. That way they will not pass holiness to the people through their clothes. ²⁰They must not shave their heads. They must not let their hair grow long. They must keep their hair carefully trimmed. ²¹No priest may drink wine before he goes into the inner court. ²²They must not marry a widow or a divorced woman. They must marry a virgin from the families of Israel, or the widow of a priest. ²³They must teach my people the difference between what is holy and what is common. They must show them how to tell the clean from the unclean. ²⁴When people disagree, the priests must act as judges. They must judge by my rules. They must keep my laws and rules about all my appointed feasts. They must keep my Sabbaths holy. ²⁵A priest must not make himself unclean by going near a dead body. But he may do so if the dead person is his father or mother, his son or daughter, his brother, or his sister who was not married. ²⁶After he is made clean, he must wait seven more days. ²⁷Then on the day he goes into the sanctuary, into the inner court, to serve in the sanctuary, he must offer his sin offering, declares the Lord GOD. ²⁸The priests are to have no land of their own as an inheritance. I am their inheritance. You must give them no property in Israel. I am their property. ²⁹They will eat the grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings. Everything in Israel that is given over to the LORD will belong to them. ³⁰The best of all the firstfruits will belong to the priests. So will the best of every gift from all your offerings. You must give the priest the first part of your dough. Then a blessing will rest on your homes. ³¹The priests must not eat any bird or animal that was found dead or was torn apart by wild animals.