Ezekiel 44
44
The Prince’s Privilege
1The man then brought me back toward the sanctuary’s outer gate that faced east, and it was closed. 2The Lord said to me, “This gate will remain closed. It will not be opened, and no one will enter through it, because the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered through it. # 44:2 Ezk 43:2–4 Therefore it will remain closed. 3The prince himself will sit in the gate to eat a meal before the Lord. # 44:3 Gn 31:54; Ex 24:9–11 He is to enter by way of the portico # 44:3 Ezk 46:2,8–10 of the gate and go out the same way.”
4Then the man brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. I looked, and the glory of the Lord filled his temple. # 44:4 Is 6:3; Ezk 3:23; 43:5 And I fell facedown. # 44:4 Ezk 1:28; 43:3 5The Lord said to me, “Son of man, pay attention; # 44:5 Dt 32:46; Ezk 40:4 look with your eyes and listen with your ears to everything I tell you about all the statutes and laws of the Lord’s temple. # 44:5 Dt 12:32; Ezk 43:10–11 Take careful note of the entrance of the temple along with all the exits of the sanctuary.
The Levites’ Duties and Privileges
6“Say to the rebellious people, # 44:6 Ezk 2:5–7; 3:9 the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord God says: I have had enough # 44:6 Ezk 45:9; 1Pt 4:3 of all your detestable practices, house of Israel. 7When you brought in foreigners, # 44:7 Lv 22:25 uncircumcised in both heart and flesh, # 44:7 Lv 26:41; Dt 10:16; Jr 4:4; 9:26 to occupy my sanctuary, you defiled my temple while you offered my food — the fat and the blood. You # 44:7 LXX, Syr, Vg; MT reads They broke my covenant by all your detestable practices. 8You have not kept charge of my holy things # 44:8 Lv 22:2; Nm 18:7 but have appointed others to keep charge of my sanctuary for you.’
9“This is what the Lord God says: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, may enter my sanctuary, not even a foreigner who is among the Israelites. 10Surely the Levites who wandered away from me when Israel went astray, and who strayed from me after their idols, # 44:10 2Kg 23:8–9 will bear the consequences of their iniquity. # 44:10 Nm 18:23 11Yet they will occupy my sanctuary, serving as guards at the temple gates # 44:11 1Ch 26:1–19 and ministering at the temple. They will slaughter the burnt offerings # 44:11 2Ch 29:34; 30:17 and other sacrifices for the people and will stand before them to serve them. # 44:11 Nm 16:9 12Because they ministered to the house of Israel before their idols and became a sinful stumbling block to them, therefore I swore an oath # 44:12 Lit I lifted my hand against them” # 44:12 Ps 106:26 — this is the declaration of the Lord God — “that they would bear the consequences of their iniquity. 13They must not approach me to serve me as priests # 44:13 2Kg 23:9 or come near any of my holy things or the most holy things. They will bear their disgrace and the consequences of the detestable acts they committed. 14Yet I will make them responsible for the duties of the temple # 44:14 Nm 18:4; 1Ch 23:28–32 — for all its work and everything done in it.
The Priests’ Duties and Privileges
15“But the Levitical priests descended from Zadok, # 44:15 Ezk 40:46 who kept charge of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me, will approach me to serve me. They will stand before me to offer me fat and blood.” This is the declaration of the Lord God. 16“They are the ones who may enter my sanctuary # 44:16 Nm 18:5,7–8 and approach my table to serve me. # 44:16 Ezk 41:22 They will keep my mandate. 17When they enter the gates of the inner court they are to wear linen garments; # 44:17 Ex 28:42–43; 39:27–29 they must not have on them anything made of wool when they minister at the gates of the inner court and within it. 18They are to wear linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments around their waists. # 44:18 Ex 28:40 They are not to put on anything that makes them sweat. 19Before they go out to the outer court, # 44:19 Some Hb mss, LXX, Syr, Vg; other Hb mss read court, to the outer court to the people, they must take off the clothes they have been ministering in, leave them in the holy chambers, and dress in other clothes # 44:19 Ezk 42:14 so that they do not transmit holiness to the people through their clothes. # 44:19 Lv 6:27
20“They may not shave their heads # 44:20 Lv 21:5 or let their hair grow long, # 44:20 Nm 6:5 but are to carefully trim their hair. 21No priest may drink wine before he enters the inner court. # 44:21 Lv 10:9 22He is not to marry a widow or a divorced woman, but may marry only a virgin from the offspring of the house of Israel, # 44:22 Lv 21:7,13–14 or a widow who is the widow of a priest. 23They are to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and explain to them the difference between the clean and the unclean. # 44:23 Lv 10:10; Ezk 22:26
24“In a dispute, they will officiate as judges and decide the case according to my ordinances. # 44:24 Dt 17:8–9; 2Ch 19:8 They are to observe my laws and statutes regarding all my appointed festivals, and keep my Sabbaths holy. # 44:24 Ezk 20:20; 22:26 25A priest may not come near a dead person so that he becomes defiled. # 44:25 Lv 21:1–4 However, he may defile himself for a father, a mother, a son, a daughter, a brother, or an unmarried sister. 26After he is cleansed, he is to count off seven days for himself. # 44:26 Nm 19:11–19 27On the day he goes into the sanctuary, into the inner court # 44:27 Lv 5:3,6 to minister in the sanctuary, he is to present his sin offering.” This is the declaration of the Lord God.
28“This will be their inheritance: I am their inheritance. # 44:28 Nm 18:20; Dt 18:2; Jos 13:33 You are to give them no possession in Israel: I am their possession. 29They will eat the grain offering, the sin offering, # 44:29 Nm 18:9,14; Jos 13:14 and the guilt offering. Everything in Israel that is permanently dedicated to the Lord will belong to them. # 44:29 Lv 27:21,28 30The best of all the firstfruits of every kind and contribution of every kind from all your gifts will belong to the priests. # 44:30 Nm 18:8–13; Neh 10:35–37 You are to give your first batch of dough to the priest # 44:30 Nm 15:20–21 so that a blessing may rest on your homes. # 44:30 Mal 3:10 31The priests may not eat any bird or animal that died naturally or was mauled by wild beasts. # 44:31 Lv 22:8
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Ezekiel 44: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Yechezkel 44
44
1Then he#44:1 the angelic being brought me back to the derech sha'ar HaMikdash HaKhitzon, which looketh toward the east; and it was shut. 2Then said Hashem unto me: This sha'ar shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no ish shall enter in by it; because Hashem Elohei Yisroel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut. 3It is for the Nasi; the Nasi,#44:3 see 34:23-24; 37:24-25, a “Dovid” or Messianic figure he only shall sit in it to eat lechem before Hashem; he shall enter by the derech ulam hasha'ar, and shall exit by its derech.
4Then he#44:4 the angelic being brought me the derech sha'ar hatzafon to the front of the Beis;#44:4 HaMikdash and I looked, and, hinei, the Kavod Hashem filled the Beis Hashem; and I fell upon my face. 5And Hashem said unto me, Ben Adam, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the chukkot Beis Hashem, and all the torot thereof; and mark well the entrances of the Beis,#44:5 HaMikdash with every exit of the Mikdash. 6And thou shalt say to the meri (rebellious), even to the Bais Yisroel, Thus saith Adonoi Hashem; O ye Bais Yisroel, let it suffice you of all your to'avot (abominations), 7In that ye have admitted into My Mikdash bnei nechor (foreigners), arelim in lev, and arelim in basar, to be in My Mikdash, to defile it, even My Beis, when ye offer My lechem, the chelev and the dahm, and they have broken My Brit (Covenant) because of all your to'avot (abominations). 8And ye have not been shomer over the mishmeret of Mine Kadashim; but ye have set as shomrim of My mishmeret in My Mikdash any for yourselves.
9Thus saith Adonoi Hashem: No ben nechor, arel lev, nor arel basar, shall enter into My Mikdash, of any ben nechor that is among the Bnei Yisroel. 10And the Levi'im that went far away from Me, when Yisroel went astray, which went astray away from Me after their gillulim (idols); they shall even bear their avon. 11Yet they shall be mesharetim (ministers) in My Mikdash, pekuddot (the ones who have charge) at the Sha'arei HaBeis#44:11 HaMikdash and mesharetim in HaBeis;#44:11 HaMikdash they shall do the shochet slaughter of the olah (burnt offering) and the zevach for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them. 12Because they ministered unto them before their gillulim, and caused Bais Yisroel a michshol avon; therefore have I lifted up Mine Yad against them, saith Adonoi Hashem, and nas'u (they shall bear) their avon. 13And they shall not come near unto Me, to do the office of a Kohen unto Me, nor to come near to any of My kadashim, in the Kodesh HaKodashim; but nas'u their shame, and their to'avot which they have committed. 14But I will make them Shomrei Meshmeret HaBeis,#44:14 HaMikdash for all the avodah thereof, and for all that shall be done therein.
15But the Kohanim the Levi'im, the Bnei Tzadok, that were shomer over the Mishmeret of My Mikdash when the Bnei Yisroel went astray from Me, they shall come near to Me to minister unto Me, and they shall stand before Me to offer unto Me the chelev and the dahm, saith Adonoi Hashem; 16They shall enter into My Mikdash, and they shall come near to My Shulchan, to minister unto Me, and they shall be shomer over My mishmeret. 17And it shall come to pass, when they enter in at the Sha'arei HeKhatzer HaPenimit, they shall be clothed with linen; and no tzemer shall come upon them, while they minister at the Sha'arei HeKhatzer HaPenimit, within. 18They shall have linen turbans upon their rosh, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with that#44:18 clothing with which one perspires. 19And when they go forth into HaKhatzer HaKhitzonah, even into the Khatzer HaKhitzonah to HaAm, they shall take off their garments wherein they ministered, and lay them in the lishkhot hakodesh (holy chambers) and they shall put on begadim acharim; and they shall not set apart as kodesh HaAm with their begadim. 20Neither shall they shave their rosh, nor allow their hair to grow long; they shall keep trimmed their rosh. 21Neither shall any Kohen drink yayin, when they enter into the Khatzer HaPenimit. 22Neither shall they take for their nashim an almanah, nor a gerushah; but they shall take betulot of the zera Bais Yisroel, or an almanah who was almanah of a Kohen. 23And they shall teach My people the difference between the kodesh and chol, and cause them to discern between the tameh and the tahor. 24And in a riv they shall stand as shofet; and they shall judge it according to My mishpatim; and they shall adjudicate them in accordance with My torot and My chukkot in all Mine mo'adim; and they shall be shomer to keep My Shabbatot kodesh. 25And they shall come near no met adam to make themselves tameh; but for av, or for em, or for ben, or for bat, for ach, or for achot that hath had no ish, they may make themselves tameh. 26And after he is made tahor, they shall reckon unto him shivat yamim. 27And in the yom that he goeth into the Kodesh, unto the Khatzer HaPenimit, to minister in the Kodesh, he shall offer his chattat, saith Adonoi Hashem.
28And it shall be unto them for a nachalah; I am their nachalah; and ye shall give them no achuzzah in Yisroel; I am their achuzzah. 29They shall eat the minchah, and the chattat, and the asham; and kol cherem in Yisroel shall be theirs. 30And the reshit kol bikkurim of all things, and every terumah of all, of every sort of your terumot, shall belong to the Kohanim; ye shall also give unto the Kohen the reshit of your dough, that he may cause the brocha to rest on thine bais. 31The Kohanim shall not eat of any thing nevelah, or terefah, whether it be oph or behemah.
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