Ezekiel 44

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

2Yahweh said to me, “This gate is to remain shut. It must not be opened, and no one may enter by it, because Yahweh, the God of Israel, has entered by it. So it is to remain shut.

3Only the prince, because he is the prince, may sit in it to eat food before Yahweh. He is to enter by way of the vestibule of the gate and go out the same way.”

4Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. I looked, and the glory of Yahweh filled the temple of Yahweh, and I fell facedown.

5Yahweh said to me, “Son of man, pay close attention, look with your eyes, and listen with your ears to everything I tell you about all the statutes of the temple of Yahweh and all its laws. Pay close attention to the entrance of the temple and all the exits of the sanctuary.

6Say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel, ‘This is what Lord Yahweh says: Enough of all your abominations, house of Israel!

7You brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, profaning my temple, when you offered my food, the fat and the blood. They broke my covenant, on top of all your abominations.

8You have not kept charge of my holy things; instead you have put others in charge of my sanctuary for you.’

9This is what Lord Yahweh says: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, is to enter my sanctuary, not even any foreigner who lives among the Israelites.

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

11They may serve in my sanctuary, having charge of the gates of the temple and serving in the temple. They are to slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they are to stand before the people to serve them.

12Because they served the people before their idols and became a stumbling block of iniquity for the house of Israel, I have raised my hand in an oath against them, declares Lord Yahweh, that they will bear their iniquity.

13They are not to come near me to serve me as priests or come near any of my holy things, the most holy things. They will bear their shame and the abominations they committed.

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

15But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me, are to come near me to minister to me. They are to stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares Lord Yahweh.

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

17When they enter the gates of the inner court, they are to wear linen garments. They must have nothing woolen on them while they minister at the gates of the inner court and inside the temple.

18They are to have linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments around their waists. They must not wear anything that makes them sweat.

19When they go out into the outer court, to the people in the outer court, they are to take off the garments in which they have been ministering and leave them in the holy chambers, and they are to put on other garments, so that they do not make the people holy by means of their garments.

20They must not shave their heads or let their hair grow long; they are to keep the hair of their heads trimmed.

21No priest is to drink wine when he enters the inner court.

22They must not marry a widow or a divorced woman. They may marry only virgins from the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.

23They are to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.

24In a dispute they are to act as judges, and they are to judge it according to my ordinances. They are to keep my laws and my statutes at all my appointed festivals, and they are to keep my Sabbaths holy.

25A priest must not defile himself by going near a dead person. But for a father or mother, a son or daughter, a brother, or a sister who has had no husband, they may defile themselves.

26After he has been cleansed, seven days are to be counted for him.

27On the day he goes into the holy place, into the inner court, to minister in the holy place, he is to offer his sin offering, declares Lord Yahweh.

28This is to be their inheritance: I am their inheritance. You are to give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession.

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

30The first of all the firstfruits of every kind, and every contribution of every kind from all your contributions, will belong to the priests. You are also to give the priest the first of your dough, so that a blessing may rest on your household.

31The priests must not eat anything, whether bird or animal, that has died of itself or been torn by wild animals.