Ezekiel 44:1-13 ▼

1 THEN he brought me back by way of the gate of the outer sanctuary which looks toward the east; and behold, it was shut.

2 Then the LORD said to me, This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it because the LORD, the God of Israel, will enter in by it; therefore it shall be shut.

3 Only the high priest shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD; but he shall enter by way of the portico of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.

4 Then he brought me by the way of the north gate before the house: and I looked, and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD; and I fell upon my face.

5 And the LORD said to me. Son of man, mark in your heart and see with your eyes and hear with your ears all that I say to you concerning all the ordinances of the temple and all its patterns; and remember well the entrances of the house and the exits of the sanctuary.

6 Then say to the rebellious house of Israel, Thus says the LORD God: Have you not committed abominations enough, O house of Israel?

7 But you are also bringing strangers, who are uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute my house; when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and you nullified my covenant with all your abominations.

8 And you have not had charge of my sanctuary; but you have made the keepers of my sanctuary guards for yourselves.

9 Thus says the LORD God: No foreigner, uncircumcised in his heart and uncircumcised in his flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, nor any strangers who are among the children of Israel.

10 Neither shall the Levites who went away far from me when Israel went astray from me after their idols, and who have borne their iniquity.

11 For these Levites once served in my sanctuary and ministered at the gates of the temple; and they slaughtered burnt offerings and sacrifices for the people, and stood before the people and ministered to them.

12 But 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 God, and they have borne their iniquity.

13 And they shall not come near to me, to minister to me, nor to come near to any of my holy things in the Holy of Holies; but they shall bear all their shame and all their abominations which they have committed.