Ezekiel 44

¹ He brought me back to the outer east gate of the sanctuary. It was shut.

² Yahweh said to me, 'This gate will be kept shut. No one may open it or go through it, since Yahweh,God of Israel, has been through it. And so it must be kept shut.

³ The prince himself, however, may sit there to take his meal in the presence of Yahweh. He must enterand leave through the porch of the gate.'

⁴ He led me through the north gate to the front of the Temple. And then I looked; I saw the glory ofYahweh filling the Temple of Yahweh; and I fel to the ground.

⁵ Yahweh said to me, 'Son of man, pay attention, look careful y and listen closely to everything I explain;these are all the arrangements of the Temple of Yahweh and al its laws. Be careful about who is admitted to theTemple and who is excluded from the sanctuary.

⁶ And say to the rebels of the House of Israel, "The Lord Yahweh says this: You have gone beyond albounds with al your loathsome practices, House of Israel,

⁷ by admitting aliens, uncircumcised in heart and body, to frequent my sanctuary and profane myTemple, while offering my food, the fat and the blood, and breaking my covenant with all your loathsomepractices.

⁸ Instead of maintaining the service of my holy things, you have deputed someone else to maintain myservice in my sanctuary.

⁹ The Lord Yahweh says this: No alien, uncircumcised in heart and body, may enter my sanctuary, noneof the aliens living among the Israelites.

¹⁰ "As regards the Levites who abandoned me when Israel strayed far from me by fol owing its idols,they must bear the weight of their own sin.

¹¹ They must be servants in my sanctuary, responsible for guarding the Temple gates and serving theTemple. They wil kil the burnt offerings and the sacrifice for the people, and hold themselves at the service ofthe people.

¹² Since they used to be at their service in front of their idols and were an occasion of guilt for theHouse of Israel, very wel , I stretch out my hand against them -- declares the Lord Yahweh -- they wil bear theweight of their guilt.

¹³ They may never approach me again to perform the priestly office in my presence, nor touch my holythings and my most holy things; they must bear the disgrace of their loathsome practices.

¹⁴ I shal give them the responsibility of serving the Temple; I shal make them responsible for serving itand for everything to be done in it.

¹⁵ "As regards the levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who maintained the service of my sanctuarywhen the Israelites strayed far from me, they wil approach me to serve me; they will stand in my presence tooffer me the fat and blood -- declares the Lord Yahweh.

¹⁶ They will enter my sanctuary and approach my table to serve me; they wil maintain my service.

¹⁷ Once they enter the gates of the inner court, they must wear linen vestments; they must wear nowool when they serve inside the gates of the inner court and in the Temple.

¹⁸ They must wear linen caps on their heads and linen breeches on their loins; they may not wearanything round their waists that makes them sweat.

¹⁹ When they go out to the people in the outer court, they must remove the vestments in which theyhave performed the liturgy and leave them in the rooms of the Holy Place, and put on other clothes, so as not tohallow the people with their vestments.

²⁰ They may neither shave their heads nor let their hair grow long, but must cut their hair careful y.

²¹ No priest may drink wine on the day he enters the inner court.

²² They may not marry widows or divorced women, but only virgins of the race of Israel; they may,however, marry a widow, if she is the widow of a priest.

²³ They must teach my people the difference between what is sacred and what is profane and makethem understand the difference between what is clean and what is unclean.

²⁴ They must be judges in law-suits; they must judge in the spirit of my judgements; they must fol ow mylaws and ordinances at al my feasts and keep my Sabbaths holy.

²⁵ They may not go near a dead person, in case they become unclean, except in these permissiblecases, that is, for father, mother, daughter, son, brother or unmarried sister.

²⁶ After one of them has been purified, seven days must elapse;

²⁷ then, the day he enters the Holy Place in the inner court to minister in the Holy Place, he must offerhis sacrifice for sin -- declares the Lord Yahweh.

²⁸ They may have no heritage; I myself shal be their heritage. You may give them no patrimony inIsrael; I myself shal be their patrimony.

²⁹ Their food must be the oblation, the sacrifice for sin and the sacrifice of reparation. Everythingdedicated by vow in Israel shall be for them.

³⁰ The best of al your first-fruits and of al the dues and of everything you offer, must go to the priests;and the best of your dough you must also give to the priests, so that a blessing may rest on your house.

³¹ Priests must not eat the flesh of anything that has died a natural death or been savaged, be it bird oranimal." '