The Gate of the Prince

44 Then He brought me back by the way of the ^(A)outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces the east; and it was shut. ² Yahweh said to me, “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for ^(B)Yahweh, the 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 Yahweh; 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 Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh, and I ^(I)fell on my face. ⁵ Then Yahweh said to me, “Son of man, ^(J)set your heart on and see with your eyes and hear with your ears all that I say to you concerning all the ^(K)statutes of the house of Yahweh and concerning all its laws; and set your heart on the entrance of the house, with all exits of the sanctuary. ⁶ And you shall say to the ^[b](L)rebellious ones, to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “^(M)Enough of all your abominations, O 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, even My house, when you ^(P)brought near My food, the fat and the blood. So they ^(Q)made My covenant void—this in addition to all your abominations. ⁸ And you have not ^(R)kept the responsibility of My holy things yourselves, but you have set foreigners as keepers of the responsibility given by Me for My sanctuary.”

⁹ ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “^(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 after their idols, shall ^(U)bear the punishment for their iniquity. 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 Because they ministered to them ^(AA)before their idols and became a ^(AB)stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have ^[c](AC)sworn against them,” declares Lord Yahweh, “that they shall ^(AD)bear the punishment for their iniquity. ¹³ And they shall ^(AE)not approach Me to minister as a priest to Me, nor approach any of My holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they will ^(AF)bear their dishonor and their abominations which they have done. ¹⁴ Yet I will ^[d]appoint them as ^(AG)keepers of the responsibility for the house, of all its service and of all that shall be done in it.

The Levitical Responsibilities

¹⁵ “But the ^(AH)Levitical priests, the sons of ^(AI)Zadok, who ^(AJ)kept the responsibility of My sanctuary when the sons of Israel ^(AK)went astray from Me, shall come near to Me to minister to Me; and they shall ^(AL)stand before Me to bring near to Me the ^(AM)fat and the blood,” declares Lord Yahweh. ¹⁶ “They shall ^(AN)enter My sanctuary; they shall come near to My ^(AO)table to minister to Me and keep the responsibility given by Me. ¹⁷ And it will be that when they enter at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with ^(AP)linen garments; and wool shall not ^[e]be on them while they are ministering in the gates of the inner court and in the house. ¹⁸ Linen ^(AQ)headdresses shall be on their heads, and ^(AR)linen undergarments shall be on their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything which makes them sweat. ¹⁹ And when they go out into the outer court, into the outer court to the people, they shall ^(AS)put 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 transmit holiness to the people with their garments. ²⁰ Also they shall ^(AU)not shave their heads, yet they shall not ^(AV)let their locks ^[f]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 court. ²² And they shall not ^[g]take a widow or a ^(AX)divorced woman as a wife but shall ^(AY)take virgins from the seed of the house of Israel or a widow who is the widow of a priest. ²³ Moreover, they shall instruct My people about the ^(AZ)difference between the holy and the profane, and make them know the difference between the unclean and the clean. ²⁴ And in a dispute, ^(BA)they shall take their stand to judge; they shall judge it according to My judgments. They shall also keep My laws and My statutes in all My ^(BB)appointed times and ^(BC)keep My sabbaths holy. ²⁵ But ^[h](BD)they shall not go to a dead person to make themselves unclean; however, for father, for mother, for son, for daughter, for brother, or for a sister who has not had a husband, they may make themselves unclean. ²⁶ And after he is ^(BE)cleansed, seven days shall be counted for him. ²⁷ And on the day that he goes into the sanctuary, into the ^(BF)inner court to minister in the sanctuary, he shall bring near his ^(BG)sin offering,” declares Lord Yahweh.

²⁸ “And it shall be with regard to an inheritance for them, that ^(BH)I am their inheritance; and you shall give them no possession in Israel—I am their possession. ²⁹ They shall ^(BI)eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering; and every ^[i](BJ)devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. ³⁰ And the first of all the ^(BK)first fruits of every kind and every ^[j]contribution of every kind, from all your ^[k]contributions, shall be for the priests; you shall also give to the priest the ^(BL)first of your ^[l]dough to cause a ^(BM)blessing to rest on your house. ³¹ The priests shall not eat any bird or beast that has ^(BN)died of itself or has been torn to pieces.