Chapter 44
The Shut Gate. 1 Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary that faces east, but it was shut. 2 The Lord said to me: This gate will remain closed. It shall not be opened, and no one may enter through it. 3 Only the prince himself may sit inside the gate to eat his meal in the presence of the Lord. He must enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and he must depart by the same way.
The New Law
Admittance to the Temple. 4 Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. And when I looked, I beheld the glory of the Lord filling the Lord’s temple, and I fell upon my face. 5 Then he said to me: Son of man, pay attention, look carefully, and listen closely to everything that I will tell you in regard to all the ordinances of the temple of the Lord and all its laws. Also, mark carefully those who are admitted to the temple and those who are to be excluded from the sanctuary.
6 Say to the rebels of the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: I have endured enough of these abominable practices in which you engage, O house of Israel. 7 You have allowed foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and body, to enter my sanctuary and profane it when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. Thus, you have broken my covenant with all of your loathsome practices.
8 Instead of taking charge of my sacred offerings, you have assigned foreigners to serve me in my sanctuary in your place. 9 Thus says the Lord God: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, shall be permitted to enter my sanctuary, not even those foreigners who dwell among the Israelites.
10 Levites. But as for the Levites who abandoned me when Israel strayed far from me by following its idols, they must suffer the consequences for their iniquity. 11 They may be permitted to serve as ministers in my sanctuary, with the responsibility of guarding the gates of the temple and serving in the temple. They may be allowed to slaughter the burnt offerings and the sacrifices for the people as well as attending to the needs of the people and serving them.
12 However, because they used to minister to them in front of their idols and thereby caused the house of Israel to fall into a state of sin, therefore, I have sworn an oath against them, says the Lord God, that they shall be punished for their iniquity. 13 They may never again be permitted to approach me in order to serve as priests, nor will they be allowed to come near any of my holy things or my most sacred offerings. Rather, they must bear the shame of their abominable deeds. 14 However, I will assign them the responsibility of service to the temple and for all the work that has to be done in it.
15 Priests. As for the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok, who continued to fulfill faithfully their responsibility for caring for my sanctuary when the Israelites strayed far from me, they shall draw near me in order to minister to me, and they will stand in my presence to offer me the fat and the blood, says the Lord God. 16 They are the ones who will enter my sanctuary, the ones who will approach my table to minister to me and serve me.
17 Whenever they approach the gates of the inner court, the priests are to wear linen vestments. They must not wear any garment of wool when they minister at the gates of the inner court or inside the temple. 18 They are to have linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments on their loins, and they may not wear anything that might cause them to perspire.
19 Before they go out to the people in the outer court, they are to remove the clothes in which they have been performing their ministry, and they are then to put on other garments so that they will not communicate holiness to the people with their garments.
20 Priests are not permitted to shave their heads or to let their hair grow long. Rather, they must keep their hair carefully trimmed, 21 nor are they allowed to drink wine on the day they are to enter the inner court.
22 Priests may not marry either widows or divorced women, but only virgins of the race of Israel. However, they may marry women who are the widows of priests. 23 They shall teach my people to distinguish between the sacred and the profane, and they shall make known to them the difference between what is clean and what is unclean.
24 In any dispute, the priests are to serve as judges, and they shall render their decisions according to my decrees. They must observe my laws and my statutes for all of my appointed feasts, and they shall keep my Sabbaths holy.
25 Priests may not make themselves unclean by coming near a dead person. However, if the deceased is a father or mother, son or daughter, brother or unmarried sister, then they are permitted to defile themselves. 26 After such a priest has been purified, he must wait a further seven days. 27 On the day that he enters the inner court of the sanctuary to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer a sin offering for himself, says the Lord God.
28 Priests will have no inheritance. I, myself, will be their inheritance. You will not give them any possession in Israel. I, myself, am their possession. 29 They will eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering. Everything in Israel that is dedicated by vow to God will be theirs.
30 The best of all the firstfruits of every kind and the best of all your offerings of every kind shall belong to the priests. Likewise, you shall give to the priests the best of your dough so that a blessing may rest upon your house. 31 In addition, the priests must not eat the flesh of a bird or animal that has died a natural death or been killed by a wild animal.
