Ezekiel 44:1-45:12
New American Standard Bible
Gate for the Prince
44 Then He brought me back by way of the (A)outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east; and it was shut. 2 And the Lord said to me, “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the (B)Lord God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut. 3 As for the (C)prince, he shall sit in it as prince to (D)eat bread before the Lord; he shall (E)enter by way of the (F)porch of the gate and shall go out [a]by the same way.”
4 Then He brought me by way of the (G)north gate to the front of the house; and I looked, and behold, the (H)glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord, and I (I)fell on my face. 5 And the Lord said to me, “Son of man, [b](J)pay attention, see with your eyes and hear with your ears everything that I say to you concerning all the (K)statutes of the house of the Lord and all its laws; and [c]pay attention to the entrance of the house, with all the exits of the sanctuary. 6 You shall say to the [d](L)rebellious ones, to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord [e]God says: “(M)Enough of all your abominations, house of Israel, 7 when you brought in (N)foreigners, (O)uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to profane it, My house, when you (P)offered My food, the fat, and the blood and they (Q)broke My covenant—this in addition to all your abominations. 8 And you have not [f](R)taken responsibility for My holy things yourselves, but you have appointed foreigners [g]to take responsibility for My sanctuary.”
9 ‘This is what the Lord God says: “(S)No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the sons of Israel, shall enter My sanctuary. 10 But the Levites who went far from Me when Israel went astray, who (T)went astray from Me [h]following their idols, shall (U)suffer the punishment for their wrongdoing. 11 Yet they shall be (V)ministers in My sanctuary, having (W)oversight at the gates of the house and (X)ministering in the house; they shall (Y)slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall (Z)stand before them to minister to them. 12 Since they ministered to them (AA)before their idols and became a (AB)stumbling block of wrongdoing to the house of Israel, for that reason I have [i](AC)sworn against them,” declares the Lord God, “that they shall (AD)suffer the punishment for their wrongdoing. 13 And they shall (AE)not approach Me to serve as priests for Me, nor approach any of My holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they will (AF)bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed. 14 Nevertheless I will [j]appoint them [k]to (AG)take responsibility for the house, of all its service and of everything that shall be done in it.
Ordinances for the Levites
15 “But the (AH)Levitical priests, the sons of (AI)Zadok, who [l](AJ)took responsibility for My sanctuary when the sons of Israel (AK)went astray from Me, shall come near to Me to serve Me; and they shall (AL)stand before Me to offer Me the (AM)fat and the blood,” declares the Lord God. 16 “They shall (AN)enter My sanctuary; they shall come near to My (AO)table to serve Me and [m]assume the responsibility I give them. 17 And it shall be that when they enter at the gates of the inner courtyard, they shall be clothed with (AP)linen garments; and wool shall not [n]be worn by them while they are ministering in the gates of the inner courtyard or in the house. 18 Linen (AQ)turbans shall be on their heads and (AR)linen undergarments shall be around their waists; they shall not put on anything that makes them sweat. 19 And when they go out into the outer courtyard, into the outer courtyard to the people, they shall (AS)take off their garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers; then they shall put on other garments, so that they will (AT)not transfer holiness to the people with their garments. 20 Also they shall (AU)not shave their heads, yet they shall not (AV)let their locks [o]grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads. 21 (AW)Nor shall any of the priests drink wine when they enter the inner courtyard. 22 And they shall not [p]marry a widow or a (AX)divorced woman, but shall (AY)take virgins from the descendants of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest. 23 Moreover, they shall teach My people the (AZ)difference between the holy and the [q]common, and teach them to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. 24 In a dispute (BA)they shall take their stand to judge; they shall judge it according to My ordinances. They shall also keep My laws and My statutes in all My (BB)appointed feasts, and (BC)sanctify My Sabbaths. 25 [r](BD)They shall not go to a dead person to defile themselves; however, for father, for mother, for son, for daughter, for brother, or for a sister who has not had a husband, they may defile themselves. 26 And after he is (BE)cleansed, seven days [s]shall elapse for him. 27 On the day that he goes into the sanctuary, to the (BF)inner courtyard to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his (BG)sin offering,” declares the Lord God.
28 “And it shall be regarding an inheritance for them, that (BH)I am their inheritance; and you shall give them no property in Israel—I am their property. 29 They shall (BI)eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering; and everything (BJ)banned from secular use in Israel shall be theirs. 30 And the first of all the (BK)first fruits of every kind and every [t]contribution of every kind, from all your [u]contributions, shall be for the priests; you shall also give to the priest the (BL)first of your [v]dough, to make a (BM)blessing rest on your house. 31 The priests shall not eat any bird or animal that has (BN)died a natural death or has been torn to pieces by animals.
The Lord’s Portion of the Land
45 “Now when you (BO)divide the land by lot for inheritance, you shall offer [w]an (BP)allotment to the Lord, a (BQ)holy portion of the land; the length shall be a length of twenty-five thousand [x](BR)cubits, and the width shall be [y]twenty thousand. It shall be holy within its entire surrounding boundary. 2 Out of this there shall be for the sanctuary a square encompassing (BS)five hundred by five hundred cubits, and fifty cubits for its [z](BT)open space round about. 3 From this [aa]area you shall measure a length of twenty-five thousand cubits and a width of ten thousand cubits; and in it shall be the sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. 4 It shall be the holy portion of the land; it shall be for the (BU)priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who (BV)come near to serve the Lord, and it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. 5 An area (BW)twenty-five thousand cubits in length and ten thousand in width shall be for the Levites, the ministers of the house, and for their possession [ab]cities in which to live.
6 “And you shall give the (BX)city possession of an area five thousand cubits wide and twenty-five thousand cubits long, alongside the [ac]allotment of the holy portion; it shall be for the entire house of Israel.
Portion for the Prince
7 “And the (BY)prince shall have land on either side of the holy [ad]allotment and the [ae]property of the city, adjacent to the holy [af]allotment and the [ag]property of the city, on the west side toward the west and on the east side toward the east, and in length comparable to one of the portions, from the west border to the east border. 8 This shall be his land as a possession in Israel; so My princes shall no longer (BZ)oppress My people, but they shall give the rest of the land to the house of Israel (CA)according to their tribes.”
9 ‘This is what the Lord [ah]God says: “(CB)Enough, you princes of Israel; get rid of (CC)violence and destruction, and (CD)practice justice and righteousness. Revoke your (CE)evictions of My people,” declares the Lord God.
10 “You shall have (CF)accurate balances, an accurate [ai](CG)ephah, and an accurate [aj](CH)bath. 11 The ephah and the bath shall be [ak]the same quantity, so that the bath will contain a tenth of a (CI)homer, and the ephah a tenth of a [al]homer; [am]their standard shall be according to the homer. 12 And the (CJ)shekel shall be twenty (CK)gerahs; twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels shall be your mina.
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 44:3 Lit its way
- Ezekiel 44:5 Lit set your heart
- Ezekiel 44:5 Lit set your heart
- Ezekiel 44:6 Lit rebellion
- Ezekiel 44:6 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord, and so throughout the ch
- Ezekiel 44:8 Lit kept charge of
- Ezekiel 44:8 Lit as keepers of duty to Me in My
- Ezekiel 44:10 Lit after
- Ezekiel 44:12 Lit lifted up My hand
- Ezekiel 44:14 Lit give
- Ezekiel 44:14 Lit keepers of the charge of
- Ezekiel 44:15 Lit kept charge of
- Ezekiel 44:16 Lit keep the duty to Me
- Ezekiel 44:17 Lit go up on
- Ezekiel 44:20 Or hang loose
- Ezekiel 44:22 Lit take as wives for themselves
- Ezekiel 44:23 Lit profane
- Ezekiel 44:25 Lit He
- Ezekiel 44:26 Lit they shall count
- Ezekiel 44:30 Or uplifted offering(s)
- Ezekiel 44:30 Or uplifted offering(s)
- Ezekiel 44:30 Or coarse meal
- Ezekiel 45:1 Or a contribution
- Ezekiel 45:1 Each of these cubits equals about 21 in. or 53 cm
- Ezekiel 45:1 As in LXX; MT 10,000
- Ezekiel 45:2 Or pasture land
- Ezekiel 45:3 Lit measure
- Ezekiel 45:5 As in LXX; MT twenty chambers
- Ezekiel 45:6 Or contribution
- Ezekiel 45:7 Or contribution
- Ezekiel 45:7 Lit possession
- Ezekiel 45:7 Or contribution
- Ezekiel 45:7 Lit possession
- Ezekiel 45:9 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord, and so throughout the ch
- Ezekiel 45:10 I.e., a dry measure, about 1 cubic foot or 0.03 cubic meters
- Ezekiel 45:10 I.e., a liquid measure, about 6 gallons or 23 liters
- Ezekiel 45:11 Lit one
- Ezekiel 45:11 About 7.7 cubic feet or 0.22 cubic meters
- Ezekiel 45:11 Lit its measure
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