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. ^13 (X)And they shall not come near Me to minister to Me as priest, nor come near any of My holy things, nor into the Most Holy Place; but they shall ^(Y)bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed. ¹⁴ Nevertheless I will make them ^(Z)keep charge of the temple, for all its work, and for all that has to be done in it.

^15 (AA)“But the priests, the Levites, ^(AB)the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary ^(AC)when the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near Me to minister to Me; and they ^(AD)shall stand before Me to offer to Me the ^(AE)fat and the blood,” says the Lord God. ¹⁶ “They shall ^(AF)enter My sanctuary, and they shall come near ^(AG)My table to minister to Me, and they shall keep My charge. ¹⁷ And it shall be, whenever they enter the gates of the inner court, that ^(AH)they shall put on linen garments; no wool shall come upon them while they minister within the gates of the inner court or within the house. ^18 (AI)They shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen trousers on their bodies; they shall not clothe themselves with anything that causes sweat. ¹⁹ When they go out to the outer court, to the outer court to the people, ^(AJ)they shall take off their garments in which they have ministered, leave them in the holy chambers, and put on other garments; and in their holy garments they shall ^(AK)not sanctify the people.

^20 (AL)“They shall neither shave their heads nor let their hair grow ^(AM)long, but they shall keep their hair well trimmed. ^21 (AN)No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court. ²² They shall not take as wife a ^(AO)widow or a divorced woman, but take virgins of the descendants of the house of Israel, or widows of priests.

²³ “And ^(AP)they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to ^(AQ)discern between the unclean and the clean. ^24 (AR)In controversy they shall stand as judges, and judge it according to My judgments. They shall keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed meetings, ^(AS)and they shall hallow My Sabbaths.

²⁵ “They shall not defile themselves by coming near a dead person. Only for father or mother, for son or daughter, for brother or unmarried sister may they defile themselves. ^26 (AT)After he is cleansed, they shall count seven days for him. ²⁷ And on the day that he goes to the sanctuary to minister in the sanctuary, ^(AU)he must offer his sin offering ^(AV)in the inner court,” says the Lord God.

²⁸ “It shall be, in regard to their inheritance, that I ^(AW)am their inheritance. You shall give them no ^(AX)possession in Israel, for I am their possession. ^29 (AY)They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering; ^(AZ)every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs. ³⁰ The ^(BA)best^[d] of all firstfruits of any kind, and every sacrifice of any kind from all your sacrifices, shall be the priest’s; also you ^(BB)shall give to the priest the first of your ground meal, ^(BC)to cause a blessing to rest on your house. ³¹ The priests shall not eat anything, bird or beast, that ^(BD)died naturally or was torn by wild beasts.