Shared Word Translation
Ezekiel 44
Then he brought me back by way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, the one facing east; and it was shut.
And the LORD said to me, “This gate shall remain shut. It shall not be opened, and no one shall enter through it, because the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered through it. Therefore it shall remain shut.
As for the prince, the prince himself may sit in it to eat bread before the LORD. He shall enter by way of the gate’s vestibule, and by the same way he shall go out.”
Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the house. I looked, and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD; and I fell on my face.
The LORD said to me, “Mortal, set your heart on this. See with your eyes and hear with your ears all that I speak to you concerning all the statutes of the house of the LORD and all its instructions. Set your heart on the entrance of the house and on every exit of the sanctuary.
Say to the rebellious house, to the house of Israel: Thus says the LORD GOD: Enough of all your abominations, house of Israel,
when you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, profaning my house, when you offered my food—the fat and the blood. They broke my covenant along with all your abominations.
You have not kept charge of my holy things, but you appointed others to keep charge of my sanctuary for you.
Thus says the LORD GOD: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter my sanctuary—no foreigner who is among the people of Israel.
But the Levites who went far from me when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, shall bear their iniquity.
Yet they shall serve in my sanctuary, having charge of the gates of the house and serving in the house. They shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to serve them.
Because they served them before their idols and became for the house of Israel a stumbling block of iniquity, therefore I have raised my hand against them, declares the LORD GOD, and they shall bear their iniquity.
They shall not draw near to me to serve as priests for me, nor to draw near to any of my holy things, to the most holy things. They shall bear their disgrace and the abominations that they have done.
But I will appoint them to keep charge of the house, for all its service and for all that is to be done in it.
“But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me—they shall draw near to me to serve me. They shall stand before me to offer me fat and blood, declares the LORD GOD.
They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall draw near to my table to serve me, and they shall keep my charge.
When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen garments. No wool shall come upon them while they serve at the gates of the inner court and within.
They shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments on their bodies. They shall not gird themselves with anything that causes sweat.
When they go out to the outer court, to the outer court where the people are, they shall take off the garments in which they minister and leave them in the holy chambers. They shall put on other garments, so that they do not communicate holiness to the people by their garments.
They shall not shave their heads or let their hair grow long; they shall keep the hair of their heads trimmed.
No priest shall drink wine when they enter the inner court.
They shall not take a widow or a divorced woman as wives, but only virgins from the offspring of the house of Israel; or they may take a widow who is the widow of a priest.
They shall teach my people the difference between holy and common, and make known to them the difference between unclean and clean.
In a dispute they shall stand to judge; they shall judge it according to my judgments. They shall keep my instructions and my statutes at all my appointed times, and they shall keep my Sabbaths holy.
They shall not go near a dead person to defile themselves, except for a father or mother, son or daughter, brother, or sister who has not belonged to a man; for these they may defile themselves.
After the priest’s purification, they shall count seven days for him.
On the day he enters the holy place, into the inner court, to serve in the holy place, he shall offer his sin offering, declares the LORD GOD.
“This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance. You shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession.
They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering. Everything devoted to destruction in Israel shall be theirs.
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, so that a blessing may rest on your house.
The priests shall not eat anything, bird or animal, that dies of itself or is torn by beasts.