Ezekiel 44

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 He brought me back to the outer east gate of the sanctuary. It was shut.	1 And he turned me back, toward the way of the gate of the outer sanctuary, which looked toward the east. And it was closed.
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.	2 And the Lord said to me: “This gate will be closed; it will not be opened. And man shall not cross through it. For the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered through it, and it shall be closed
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.'	3 to the prince. The prince himself will sit at it, so that he may eat bread before the Lord; he will enter by the way of the vestibule of the gate, and he will depart by the same way.”
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.	4 And he led me in, along the way of the north gate, in the sight of the house. And I saw, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. And I fell upon my face.
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.	5 And the Lord said to me: “Son of man, set within your heart, and see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I am speaking to you about all the ceremonies of the house of the Lord and about all its laws. And set your heart upon the ways of the temple, along all the exits of 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,	6 And you shall say to the house of Israel, which provokes me: Thus says the Lord God: Let all your wicked deeds be sufficient for you, O 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.	7 For you bring in foreign sons, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, so that they may be in my sanctuary and may defile my house. And you offer my bread, the fat, and the blood, yet you have broken my covenant by all your wicked deeds.
8 Instead of maintaining the service of my holy things, you have deputed someone else to maintain myservice in my sanctuary.	8 And you have not observed the precepts of my sanctuary, yet you have stationed observers of my vigil in my sanctuary for yourselves.
9 The Lord Yahweh says this: No alien, uncircumcised in heart and body, may enter my sanctuary, noneof the aliens living among the Israelites.	9 Thus says the Lord God: Any foreigner, any foreign son who is in the midst of the sons of Israel, who is uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall not enter into my sanctuary.
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.	10 And as for the Levites, they have withdrawn far away from me, in the errors of the sons of Israel, and they have gone astray from me after their idols, and they have borne their iniquity.
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.	11 They will be caretakers in my sanctuary, and doorkeepers at the gates of the house, and ministers to the house. They will slay the holocausts and the victims of the people. And they will stand before them, so that they may minister to them.
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.	12 But because they ministered to them in the sight their idols, and they became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, for this reason, I have lifted up my hand against them, says the Lord God, and they will bear their iniquity.
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.	13 And they shall not draw near to me, so as to exercise the priesthood for me, and they shall not approach to any of my holy things, which are near the Holy of Holies. Instead, they will bear their shame and their wicked deeds, which they committed.
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.	14 And I will make them doorkeepers of the house, for all its ministries and for all that will be done within 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.	15 But the priests and the Levites who are the sons of Zadok, who observed the ceremonies of my sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from me, these shall draw near to me, so that they may minister for me. And they shall stand in my sight, so that they may offer to me the fat and the blood, says the Lord God.
16 They will enter my sanctuary and approach my table to serve me; they wil maintain my service.	16 They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall draw near to my table, so that they may minister for me, and so that they may observe my ceremonies.
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.	17 And when they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments. Neither shall anything woolen be placed over them, when they minister within the gates of the inner and the outer court.
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.	18 They shall have linen bands on their heads, and linen undergarments over their loins, and they shall not be girded so as to 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.	19 And when they go forth to the outer court to the people, they shall strip off their vestments, in which they ministered, and they shall place them in the storeroom of the sanctuary, and they shall clothe themselves with other garments. And they shall not sanctify the people in their vestments.
20 They may neither shave their heads nor let their hair grow long, but must cut their hair careful y.	20 Now they shall not shave their heads, and they shall not grow long hair. Instead, they shall trim the hair of their heads.
21 No priest may drink wine on the day he enters the inner court.	21 And no priest shall drink wine, when he will be entering into 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.	22 And they shall not take as wife a widow or one who has been divorced. Instead, they shall take virgins from the offspring of the house of Israel. But they may also take 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.	23 And they shall teach my people the difference between holy and defiled, and they shall distinguish for them between clean and 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.	24 And when there has been a controversy, they shall stand in my judgments, and they shall judge. They shall observe my laws and my precepts, in all my solemnities, and they shall sanctify my Sabbaths.
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.	25 And they shall not enter to a dead person, lest they be defiled, except to father or mother, or son or daughter, or brother, or to a sister who does not have another man. By these, they may become unclean.
26 After one of them has been purified, seven days must elapse;	26 And after he will have been cleansed, they shall number for him seven days.
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.	27 And on the day when he enters into the sanctuary, to the inner court, so that he may minister to me in the sanctuary, he shall make an offering because of his offense, says the Lord God.
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.	28 And there shall be no inheritance for them. I am their inheritance. And you shall not give them any possession in Israel. For I am their possession.
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.	29 They shall eat the victim both for sin and for offenses. And every vowed offering in Israel shall be theirs.
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.	30 And the first-fruits of all the firstborn, and all the libations out of all that is offered, shall belong to the priests. And you shall give the first-fruits of your foods to the priest, so that he may return a blessing to your house.
31 Priests must not eat the flesh of anything that has died a natural death or been savaged, be it bird oranimal." '	31 The priests shall not consume anything which has died on its own, or which was seized by a beast, whether from the fowl or the cattle.”