Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which
faces east. And it was shut. And the LORD said to me, “This gate
shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter
by it, for the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered by it.
Therefore it shall remain shut. Only the prince may sit in it to
eat bread before the LORD. He shall enter by way of the vestibule
of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.”
Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the
temple, and I looked, and behold, the glory of the LORD filled the
temple of the LORD. And I fell on my face. And the LORD said to me,
“Son of man, mark well, see with your eyes, and hear with your ears
all that I shall tell you concerning all the statutes of the temple
of the LORD and all its laws. And mark well the entrance to the
temple and all the exits from the sanctuary. And say to the
rebellious house, to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: O
house of Israel, enough of all your abominations, in admitting
foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in my
sanctuary, profaning 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. And you have not kept charge of my holy things,
but you have set others to keep my charge for you in my sanctuary.
“Thus says the Lord GOD: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and
flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel,
shall enter my sanctuary. But the Levites who went far from me,
going astray from me after their idols when Israel went astray,
shall bear their punishment. They shall be ministers in my
sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple and
ministering in the temple. They shall slaughter the burnt offering
and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before the
people, to minister to them. Because they ministered to them before
their idols and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house
of Israel, therefore I have sworn concerning them, declares the
Lord GOD, and they shall bear their punishment. They 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 they shall bear their
shame and the abominations that they have committed. Yet I will
appoint them to keep charge of the temple, to do all its service
and all that is to be done in it.
“But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept the
charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from
me, shall come near to me to minister to me. And they shall stand
before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the Lord GOD.
They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall approach my table, to
minister to me, and they shall keep my charge. When they enter the
gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen garments. They
shall have nothing of wool on them, while they minister at the
gates of the inner court, and within. They shall have linen turbans
on their heads, and linen undergarments around their waists. They
shall not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat. And when
they go out into the outer court to the people, they shall put off
the garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in
the holy chambers. And they shall put on other garments, lest they
transmit holiness to the people with their garments. They shall not
shave their heads or let their locks grow long; they shall surely
trim the hair of their heads. No priest shall drink wine when he
enters the inner court. 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. They shall teach my people
the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how
to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. 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 they shall keep my Sabbaths holy. 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. After he has become clean, they
shall count seven days for him. And on the day that he goes into
the Holy Place, into the inner court, to minister in the Holy
Place, he shall offer his sin offering, declares the Lord GOD.
“This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance: and you
shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession.
They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt
offering, and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. 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.
You shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, that a
blessing may rest on your house. The priests shall not eat of
anything, whether bird or beast, that has died of itself or is torn
by wild animals.
