Ezekiel 44:1-18 ▼

1 And He brought me back the way of the gate of the outer sanctuary that faced east, and it was shut.

2 And YHWH said to me: “This gate will be kept shut; it shall not be opened, and no man will enter by it, because YHWH, God of Israel has entered by it; and it will be kept shut.

3 The prince—the prince himself—he may sit in it to eat bread before YHWH; by way of the portico of the gateway he will enter, and by its way he will go out.”

4 And He brought me by way of the north gate toward the face of the temple. And I looked, and behold, the glory of YHWH filled the house of YHWH, and I fell on my face.

5 And YHWH said to me: “Son of man, set your heart, and see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I am saying to you concerning all the statutes of the house of YHWH, and concerning all its laws; and set your heart concerning those entering the house and all those going out of the sanctuary.

6 And say to the rebellious one, to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord YHWH: ‘Enough for you⁺ from all your⁺ abominations, O house of Israel—

7 your⁺ bringing in the sons of a foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary, to defile My house in your⁺ offering My food, the fat and the blood. And they have broken My covenant because of all your⁺ abominations.

8 And you⁺ have not kept guard over My holy things, and you⁺ set them to keep guard over My sanctuary for you⁺!’

9 Thus says the Lord YHWH: Any son of a foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, will not come into My sanctuary—any son of a foreigner who is in the midst of the sons of Israel.

10 Oh how the Levites who went far from Me in the straying of Israel, who went astray from Me after their idols, will indeed bear their iniquity!

11 And they shall be in My sanctuary, ministering as attendants at the gates of the house, and ministering in the house; they shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them.

12 Because that they ministered to them before their idols, and they became for the house of Israel a stumbling block of iniquity, upon thus I have lifted My hand concerning them, a declaration of the Lord YHWH, that they shall bear their iniquity.

13 And they will not come near to Me to minister as priest to Me, or come near to any of My holy things, to the holies of the holies, and they shall bear their shame and their abominations which they have done.

14 And I will give them to keep charge of the temple, for all its service and for all that is done in it.

15 And the Levite priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept guard over My sanctuary in the wandering away of the sons of Israel from Me, they will come near to Me to minister to Me, and they will stand before Me to offer to Me the fat and the blood, a declaration of the Lord YHWH.

16 They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to My table to minister to Me, and they shall keep My charge.

17 And it will come to pass, in their going into the gates of the inner court, that they will put on garments of linen and no wool will come up upon them in their ministering within the gates of the inner court, and within it.

18 Turbans of linen will be on their heads, and undergarments of linen will be on their bodies; they will not gird themselves with sweat.