Ezekiel

44 Then he brought me back toward the outer gate of the sanctuary, which looked toward the east,—but it was shut.

2 Then said Yahweh unto me, This gate shut shall remain, It shall not be opened And no man shall enter thereby, Because Yahweh God of Israel doth enter thereby,—Therefore shall it remain—shut.

3 The prince! as prince he shall sit therein, To eat food before Yahweh,—By way of the porch of the gate shall he go in, and By way thereof shall he come out.

4 Then he brought me in by way of the north gate unto the front of the house, and I looked and lo! the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh,—so I fell upon my face.

5 And Yahweh said unto me, Son of man, Apply thy heart And see with thine eyes And with thine ears hear thou All that I am speaking with thee, As to all the statutes of the house of Yahweh and As to all the laws thereof,—And thou shalt apply thy heart To the entering in of the house, With all the exits of the sanctuary.

6 So then thou shalt say unto the perverse [house], unto the house of Israel, Thus saith My Lord Yahweh: Let it more than suffice you, Out of all your abominations, O house of Israel:

7 That ye brought in the sons of the foreigner, Uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, To be in my sanctuary So that he profaned my house,—That ye brought near as my food the fat and the blood, And so they brake my covenant—Among all your abominations;

8 Neither kept ye the charge of my holy things,—But ye did set [men] to be keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for your own pleasure.

9 Thus saith My Lord Yahweh, No son of a foreigner, Uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary,—of any son of a foreigner, who is in the midst of the sons of Israel.

10 But as for the Levites Who went far from me, when Israel went astray, Who went astray from me after their manufactured gods Therefore shall they bear their iniquity.

11 Yet shall they remain in my sanctuary As attendants in charge at the gates of the house,—And attending upon the house,—They shall slay the ascending-offering and the sacrifice of the people, And they shall stand before them to wait upon them.

12 Because they used to wait upon them before their manufactured gods, and became to the house of Israel a stumbling-block of iniquity For this cause have I lifted up my hand concerning them, Declareth My Lord Yahweh, and they shall bear their iniquity;

13 So then they shall not come near unto me To minister as priests unto me, Nor come near unto any of my holy things, As regardeth things most holy,—But they shall bear their rebuke, and their abominations which they have committed;

14 Yet will I make them keepers of the charge of the house,—As to all the labour thereof, and As to all which shall be done therein.

15 But the priests the Levites the sons of Zadok Who kept the charge of my sanctuary—when the sons of Israel went astray from me They shall draw near unto me to wait upon me,—And shall stand before me to bring near unto me the fat and the blood, Declareth My Lord Yahweh:

16 They shall enter into my sanctuary and They shall draw near unto my table to wait upon me,—So shall they keep my charge.

17 And it shall be when they shall enter into the gates of the inner court Garments of linen shall they put on,—Yea there shall come upon them no wool, when they minister in the gates of the inner court and within:

18 Chaplets of linen shall be upon their head, and Breeches of linen shall be upon their loins,—They shall not gird themselves so as to perspire.

19 And when they go forth into the outer court, into the outer court unto the people They shall put off their garments wherein they do minister, and lay them in the chambers of the holy place,—And shall put on other garments, That they may not hallow the people by their garments.

20 And their heads shall they not shave, Nor let the hair grow long,—They shall only poll their heads.

21 And wine shall no priest drink,—when they enter into the inner court.

22 Neither widow nor divorced woman shall they take to them to wife,—But virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, Or a widow who shall be the widow of a priest shall they take.

23 And my people shall they instruct, between the holy and the common,—And between the unclean and the clean shall they cause them to distinguish.

24 And in a controversy They shall stand up for justice, With my judgments shall they judge it,—And my laws and my statutes in all mine appointed assemblies shall they observe, And my sabbaths shall they hallow.

25 And unto no dead person shall they go in to defile themselves,—Save that for father or for mother or for son or for daughter, for brother or for sister who hath belonged to no husband they may defile themselves.

26 Yet after he is cleansed seven days shall they count to him.

27 And in the day when he entereth into the sanctuary, into the inner court to minister in the sanctuary He shall bring near his sin-bearer, Declareth My Lord Yahweh.

28 So shall it become to them an inheritance, I am their inheritance,—And possession shall ye not give them in Israel, I am their possession.

29 As for the meal-offering and the sin-bearer and the guilt-bearer they shall eat them,—And everything devoted in Israel to them shall belong.

30 And the first of all the firstfruits of everything and every heave-offering of everything from among all your heave-offerings to the priests shall it belong,—The first of your meal shall ye give to the priest, To cause a blessing to rest upon thy house.

31 Nothing that died of itself or was torn in pieces, of bird or of beast shall be eaten by the priests.