Ezekiel 44:1-12

New King James Version

The East Gate and the Prince

44 Then He brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary ^(A)which faces toward the east, but it was shut. ² And the Lord said to me, “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, ^(B)because the Lord God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut. ³ As for the ^(C)prince, because he is the prince, he may sit in it to ^(D)eat bread before the Lord; he shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gateway, and go out the same way.”

Those Admitted to the Temple

⁴ Also He brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the ^[a]temple; so I looked, and ^(E)behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord; ^(F)and I fell on my face. ⁵ And the Lord said to me, ^(G)“Son of man, ^[b]mark well, see with your eyes and hear with your ears, all that I say to you concerning all the ^(H)ordinances of the house of the Lord and all its laws. Mark well who may enter the house and all who go out from the sanctuary.

⁶ “Now say to the ^(I)rebellious, to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “O house of Israel, ^(J)let Us have no more of all your abominations. ^7 (K)When you brought in ^(L)foreigners, ^(M)uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to defile it—My house—and when you offered ^(N)My food, ^(O)the fat and the blood, then they broke My covenant because of all your abominations. ⁸ And you have not ^(P)kept charge of My holy things, but you have set others to keep charge of My sanctuary for you.” ⁹ Thus says the Lord God: ^(Q)“No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter My sanctuary, including any foreigner who is among the children of Israel.

Laws Governing Priests

^10 (R)“And the Levites who went far from Me, when Israel went astray, who strayed away from Me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity. ¹¹ Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, ^(S)as gatekeepers of the house and ministers of the house; ^(T)they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and ^(U)they shall stand before them to minister to them. ¹² Because they ministered to them before their idols and ^(V)caused^[c] the house of Israel to fall into iniquity, therefore I have ^(W)raised My hand in an oath against them,” says the Lord God, “that they shall bear their iniquity.