Ezekiel 44 - English Standard Version (ESV)

The Gate for the Prince

44 Then he brought me ^(A)back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, ^(B)which 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 ^(C)the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut. ³ Only ^(D)the prince may sit in it ^(E)to eat bread before the Lord. He ^(F)shall 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 ^(G)the north gate to the front of the temple, and I looked, and behold, ^(H)the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord. And ^(I)I fell on my face. ⁵ And the Lord said to me, ^(J)“Son of man, mark well, ^(K)see with your eyes, ^(L)and hear with your ears all that I shall tell you concerning ^(M)all the statutes of the temple of the Lord and all its laws. And mark well ^(N)the entrance to the temple and all the exits from the sanctuary. ⁶ And say to ^(O)the rebellious house,^[a] to the ^(P)house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: O house of Israel, ^(Q)enough of all your abominations, ⁷ in ^(R)admitting foreigners, ^(S)uncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary, ^(T)profaning my temple, when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. You^[b] have broken my covenant, in addition to all your abominations. ⁸ And ^(U)you 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: ^(V)No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, shall enter my sanctuary. ¹⁰ But ^(W)the Levites who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols ^(X)when Israel went astray, ^(Y)shall bear their punishment.^{[c] 11} They shall be ^(Z)ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight ^(AA)at the gates of the temple and ministering in the temple. They shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and ^(AB)they shall stand before the people, to minister to them. ¹² Because they ministered to them before their idols and became ^(AC)a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have ^(AD)sworn concerning them, declares the Lord God, and they shall bear their punishment. ¹³ They ^(AE)shall 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 ^(AF)they shall bear their shame and the abominations that they have committed. ¹⁴ Yet I will appoint them to keep ^(AG)charge of the temple, ^(AH)to do all its service and all that is to be done in it.

Rules for Levitical Priests

¹⁵ “But ^(AI)the Levitical priests, ^(AJ)the sons of Zadok, who kept ^(AK)the charge of my sanctuary ^(AL)when the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me ^(AM)to minister to me. And they shall stand before me to offer me ^(AN)the fat and the blood, declares the Lord God. ¹⁶ They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall approach ^(AO)my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge. ¹⁷ When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear ^(AP)linen 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 ^(AQ)and lay them in the holy chambers. And ^(AR)they shall put on other garments, ^(AS)lest they transmit holiness to the people with their garments. ^{20 (AT)}They shall not shave their heads or ^(AU)let their locks grow long; they shall surely trim the hair of their heads. ^{21 (AV)}No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court. ^{22 (AW)}They 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 (AX)}They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and ^(AY)show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. ^{24 (AZ)}In 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 ^(BA)they shall keep my Sabbaths holy. ^{25 (BB)}They 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 (BC)}After he^[d] has become clean, they shall count seven days for him. ²⁷ And on the day that he goes into the Holy Place, ^(BD)into the inner court, to minister in the Holy Place, ^(BE)he shall offer his sin offering, declares the Lord God.

^{28 (BF)}“This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance: and ^(BG)you shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession. ^{29 (BH)}They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and ^(BI)every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. ^{30 (BJ)}And the first of all the firstfruits of all kinds, and every offering of all kinds from all your offerings, shall belong to the priests. ^(BK)You shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, ^(BL)that a blessing may rest on your house. ^{31 (BM)}The priests shall not eat of ^(BN)anything, whether bird or beast, that has died of itself or is torn by wild animals.

Footnotes

1. Ezekiel 44:6 Septuagint; Hebrew lacks house
2. Ezekiel 44:7 Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew They
3. Ezekiel 44:10 Or iniquity; also verse 12
4. Ezekiel 44:26 That is, a priest

Cross references

1. Ezekiel 44:1 : [ch. 43:5]
2. Ezekiel 44:1 : See ch. 43:1
3. Ezekiel 44:2 : [ch. 43:4]
4. Ezekiel 44:3 : ch. 34:24; 37:25; 45:7; 46:2
5. Ezekiel 44:3 : [Gen. 31:54]
6. Ezekiel 44:3 : ch. 46:2, 12
7. Ezekiel 44:4 : ch. 40:20
8. Ezekiel 44:4 : See ch. 43:5
9. Ezekiel 44:4 : See ch. 1:28
10. Ezekiel 44:5 : See ch. 2:1
11. Ezekiel 44:5 : ch. 40:4
12. Ezekiel 44:5 : ch. 40:4
13. Ezekiel 44:5 : [ch. 43:11]
14. Ezekiel 44:5 : [ch. 43:11]
15. Ezekiel 44:6 : See ch. 2:3
16. Ezekiel 44:6 : ch. 40:4
17. Ezekiel 44:6 : ch. 45:9; [1 Pet. 4:3]
18. Ezekiel 44:7 : [ver. 9; Neh. 7:64, 65; Acts 21:28]
19. Ezekiel 44:7 : [Jer. 9:26; Acts 7:51]
20. Ezekiel 44:7 : ch. 23:39
21. Ezekiel 44:8 : [ch. 22:26]
22. Ezekiel 44:9 : [ver. 7]
23. Ezekiel 44:10 : [ver. 15; ch. 48:11]
24. Ezekiel 44:10 : ch. 48:11
25. Ezekiel 44:10 : See ch. 4:4
26. Ezekiel 44:11 : ch. 46:24
27. Ezekiel 44:11 : [1 Chr. 26:1]
28. Ezekiel 44:11 : Num. 16:9
29. Ezekiel 44:12 : ch. 7:19; 14:3, 4, 7; [Mal. 2:8]
30. Ezekiel 44:12 : Ps. 106:26
31. Ezekiel 44:13 : Num. 18:3; 2 Kgs. 23:9
32. Ezekiel 44:13 : See ch. 32:24
33. Ezekiel 44:14 : See ch. 40:45
34. Ezekiel 44:14 : 1 Chr. 23:28, 32
35. Ezekiel 44:15 : See ch. 43:19
36. Ezekiel 44:15 : See ch. 43:19
37. Ezekiel 44:15 : [See ver. 14 above]; See ch. 40:45
38. Ezekiel 44:15 : [See ver. 10 above]; ch. 48:11
39. Ezekiel 44:15 : [ver. 11; Deut. 10:8]
40. Ezekiel 44:15 : [ver. 7]
41. Ezekiel 44:16 : See ch. 41:22
42. Ezekiel 44:17 : Ex. 28:39; 39:27
43. Ezekiel 44:19 : ch. 42:14
44. Ezekiel 44:19 : Lev. 6:11
45. Ezekiel 44:19 : [ch. 46:20; Ex. 29:37; 30:29; Lev. 6:27]
46. Ezekiel 44:20 : Lev. 21:5; [ch. 5:1]
47. Ezekiel 44:20 : [Num. 6:5]
48. Ezekiel 44:21 : Lev. 10:9
49. Ezekiel 44:22 : Lev. 21:7, 13, 14
50. Ezekiel 44:23 : [ch. 22:26]; See Lev. 10:10, 11
51. Ezekiel 44:23 : [ch. 22:26]; See Lev. 10:10, 11
52. Ezekiel 44:24 : Deut. 17:8, 9; [2 Chr. 19:8]
53. Ezekiel 44:24 : [ch. 22:26]
54. Ezekiel 44:25 : See Lev. 21:1-3
55. Ezekiel 44:26 : Num. 19:11, 12
56. Ezekiel 44:27 : ver. 17, 21
57. Ezekiel 44:27 : ch. 40:39; 42:13; Lev. 4:2, 3
58. Ezekiel 44:28 : See Num. 18:20
59. Ezekiel 44:28 : [ch. 45:4, 5]
60. Ezekiel 44:29 : See Lev. 6:14-18, 25-29; 7:1-6
61. Ezekiel 44:29 : Lev. 27:21, 28; Num. 18:14
62. Ezekiel 44:30 : See Ex. 23:19
63. Ezekiel 44:30 : See Num. 15:20
64. Ezekiel 44:30 : Mal. 3:10
65. Ezekiel 44:31 : Lev. 22:8; [Ex. 22:31]; See Lev. 7:24
66. Ezekiel 44:31 : ch. 4:14