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Ezekiel 44

The Gate for the Prince

1 Then he brought me ^aback to the outer gate of the sanctuary, ^bwhich faces east. And it was shut. 2 And the Lord said to me, “This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for ^cthe Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut. 3 Only ^dthe prince may sit in it ^eto eat bread before the Lord. He ^fshall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.”

4 Then he brought me by way of ^gthe north gate to the front of the temple, and I looked, and behold, ^hthe glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord. And ⁱI fell on my face. 5 And the Lord said to me, ^j“Son of man, mark well, ^ksee with your eyes, ^land hear with your ears all that I shall tell you concerning ^mall the statutes of the temple of the Lord and all its laws. And mark well ⁿthe entrance to the temple and all the exits from the sanctuary. 6 And say to ^othe rebellious house, ^{▼

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Septuagint; Hebrew lacks house} to the ^qhouse of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: O house of Israel, ^renough of all your abominations, 7 in ^sadmitting foreigners, ^tuncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary, ^uprofaning my temple, when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. You ^{▼

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Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew They} have broken my covenant, in addition to all your abominations. 8 And ^wyou have not kept charge of my holy things, but you have set others to keep my charge for you in my sanctuary.

9 “Thus says the Lord God: ^xNo foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, shall enter my sanctuary. 10 But ^ythe Levites who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols ^zwhen Israel went astray ^aashall bear their punishment. ^{▼

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Or iniquity; also verse 12} 11 They shall be ^acministers in my sanctuary, having oversight ^adat the gates of the temple and ministering in the temple. They shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and ^aethey shall stand before the people, to minister to them. 12 Because they ministered to them before their idols and became ^afa stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have ^agsworn concerning them, declares the Lord God, and they shall bear their punishment. 13 They ^ahshall not come near to me, to serve me as priest, nor come near any of my holy things and the things that are most holy, but ^aithey shall bear their shame and the abominations that they have committed. 14 Yet I will appoint them to keep ^ajcharge of the temple, ^akto do all its service and all that is to be done in it.

Rules for Levitical Priests

15 “But ^althe Levitical priests ^amthe sons of Zadok, who kept ^anthe charge of my sanctuary ^aowhen the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me ^apto minister to me. And they shall stand before me to offer me ^aqthe fat and the blood, declares the Lord God. 16 They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall approach ^army table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge. 17 When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear ^aslinen garments. They shall have nothing of wool on them, while they minister at the gates of the inner court, and within. 18 They shall have linen turbans on their heads, and linen undergarments around their waists. They shall not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat. 19 And when they go out into the outer court to the people, they shall put off the garments in which they have been ministering ^atand lay them in the holy chambers. And ^authey shall put on other garments, ^avlest they transmit holiness to the people with their garments. 20 ^awThey shall not shave their heads or ^axlet their locks grow long; they shall surely trim the hair of their heads. 21 ^ayNo priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court. 22 ^azThey shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but only virgins of the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest. 23 ^baThey shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and ^bbshow them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. 24 ^bcIn a dispute, they shall act as judges, and they shall judge it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts, and ^bdthey shall keep my Sabbaths holy. 25 ^beThey shall not defile themselves by going near to a dead person. However, for father or mother, for son or daughter, for brother or unmarried sister they may defile themselves. 26 ^bfAfter he ^{▼

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That is, a priest} has become clean, they shall count seven days for him. 27 And on the day that he goes into the Holy Place, ^bhinto the inner court, to minister in the Holy Place, ^bihe shall offer his sin offering, declares the Lord God.

28 ^bj“This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance: and ^bkyou shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession. 29 ^blThey shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and ^bmevery devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. 30 ^bnAnd the first of all the firstfruits of all kinds, and every offering of all kinds from all your offerings, shall belong to the priests. ^boYou shall also give to the priests the first of your dough ^bpthat a blessing may rest on your house. 31 ^bqThe priests shall not eat of ^branything, whether bird or beast, that has died of itself or is torn by wild animals.