Ezekiel 44
The Gate for the Prince
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 athe Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut. 3 Only athe prince may sit in it bto eat bread before the Lord. He cshall 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 athe north gate to the front of the temple, and I looked, and behold, bthe glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord. And cI fell on my face. 5 And the Lord said to me, a“Son of man, mark well, bsee with your eyes, band hear with your ears all that I shall tell you concerning call the statutes of the temple of the Lord and all its laws. And mark well cthe entrance to the temple and all the exits from the sanctuary. 6 And say to athe rebellious house, to the bhouse of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: O house of Israel, cenough of all your abominations, 7 in aadmitting foreigners, buncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary, cprofaning my temple, when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. You have broken my covenant, in addition to all your abominations. 8 And ayou 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: aNo foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, shall enter my sanctuary. 10 But athe Levites who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols bwhen Israel went astray, cshall bear their punishment. 11 They shall be aministers in my sanctuary, having oversight bat the gates of the temple and ministering in the temple. They shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and cthey shall stand before the people, to minister to them. 12 Because they ministered to them before their idols and became aa stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have bsworn concerning them, declares the Lord God, and they shall bear their punishment. 13 They ashall 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 bthey shall bear their shame and the abominations that they have committed. 14 Yet I will appoint them to keep acharge of the temple, bto do all its service and all that is to be done in it.
Rules for Levitical Priests
15 “But athe Levitical priests, athe sons of Zadok, who kept bthe charge of my sanctuary cwhen the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me dto minister to me. And they shall stand before me to offer me ethe fat and the blood, declares the Lord God. 16 They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall approach amy table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge. 17 When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear alinen 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 aand lay them in the holy chambers. And bthey shall put on other garments, clest they transmit holiness to the people with their garments. 20 aThey shall not shave their heads or blet their locks grow long; they shall surely trim the hair of their heads. 21 aNo priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court. 22 aThey 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 aThey shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and ashow them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. 24 aIn 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 bthey shall keep my Sabbaths holy. 25 aThey 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 aAfter he has become clean, they shall count seven days for him. 27 And on the day that he goes into the Holy Place, ainto the inner court, to minister in the Holy Place, bhe shall offer his sin offering, declares the Lord God.
28 a“This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance: and byou shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession. 29 aThey shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and bevery devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. 30 aAnd the first of all the firstfruits of all kinds, and every offering of all kinds from all your offerings, shall belong to the priests. bYou shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, cthat a blessing may rest on your house. 31 aThe priests shall not eat of banything, whether bird or beast, that has died of itself or is torn by wild animals.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway,
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.