Ezequiel 44

The shut east gate

¹Then the man brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, the one facing east, and it was shut. ²The LORD said to me, “This gate is to stay shut. It must not be opened, and no one may come in through it, because the LORD, the God of Israel, has come in through it. Therefore it is to stay shut.^{a 3}Only the prince, because he is the prince, may sit in the gateway to eat a meal in the presence of the LORD. He is to come in by way of the porch of the gate and go out the same way.” ⁴Then the man brought me through the north gate to the front of the temple. I looked, and the glory of the LORD filled the LORD’s house, and I fell face down. ⁵The LORD said to me, “Son of man, pay close attention. Look carefully and listen closely to everything I tell you about all the statutes and laws of the LORD’s house. Note carefully who may enter the temple and who must be kept out of the sanctuary. ⁶Say to the rebellious house of Israel, the Lord GOD says this: Enough of all your detestable practices, house of Israel! ⁷You brought foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, into my sanctuary, defiling my temple while you offered me my food, the fat and the blood. You broke my covenant with all your detestable practices.^{b 8}You have not carried out your duty with my holy things yourselves, but you have put others in charge of my sanctuary for you. ⁹the Lord GOD says this: No foreigner who is uncircumcised in heart and flesh may enter my sanctuary, not even one of the foreigners who live among the Israelites. ¹⁰But the Levites who moved far from me when Israel went astray and who strayed from me after their idols, must bear the consequences of their sin. ¹¹They may serve in my sanctuary as guards at the gates of the temple and as its servants. They may slaughter the burnt offerings and the sacrifices for the people and stand before the people to serve them. ¹²Because they served the people in front of their idols and made the house of Israel stumble into sin, I have raised my hand in an oath against them, declares the Lord GOD, and they must bear the consequences of their sin. ¹³They are not to approach me to serve me as priests, nor to approach any of my holy things or the most holy offerings. They must bear their disgrace for the detestable practices they committed. ¹⁴Yet I will put them in charge of the duties of the temple, all its work and everything that has to be done in it.

The priests descended from Zadok

¹⁵But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok, who carried out the duties of my sanctuary when the Israelites strayed from me, are to come near me to serve me. They are to stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the Lord GOD. ¹⁶They alone are to enter my sanctuary and come near my table to serve me and carry out my service. ¹⁷When they enter the gates of the inner court, they must wear linen clothes. They must have nothing made of wool on them while they serve at the gates of the inner court or inside the temple. ¹⁸Linen turbans are to be on their heads and linen undergarments on their hips; they must not put on anything that makes them sweat. ¹⁹When they go out to the people in the outer court, they must take off the clothes they wore while they served and leave them in the holy rooms. They must put on other clothes, so that they do not pass on holiness to the people through their clothes. ²⁰They must neither shave their heads nor let their hair grow long; they must keep their hair trimmed. ²¹No priest may drink wine when he is to enter the inner court. ²²They must not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but only virgins of Israelite descent, or a widow whose husband was a priest. ²³They are to teach my people the difference between what is holy and what is common, and show them how to tell the unclean from the clean. ²⁴In a dispute they are to act as judges and decide it according to my rulings. They are to keep my laws and my statutes at all my appointed festivals, and they are to keep my Sabbaths holy. ²⁵A priest must not make himself unclean by going near a dead body. But he may make himself unclean for his father or mother, son or daughter, brother, or a sister who had no husband. ²⁶After he has been cleansed, he must wait seven more days. ²⁷When he enters the sanctuary again, into the inner court, to serve in the sanctuary, he must offer a sin offering for himself, declares the Lord GOD. ²⁸Their inheritance is to be this: I am their inheritance. You are not to give them property in Israel; I am their property.^{c 29}They are to eat the grain offering, the sin offering and the guilt offering, and everything in Israel devoted to the LORD is to be theirs. ³⁰The best of all the firstfruits of every kind and every special gift of every kind from all your gifts will belong to the priests. You are also to give the priest the first portion of your dough, so that a blessing may rest on your household. ³¹The priests must not eat anything, whether bird or animal, that has died of itself or been killed by wild animals.