Ezekiel 44:15-31

Wycliffe Bible

¹⁵ Forsooth priests and deacons, the sons of Zadok, that kept the ceremonies of my saintuary, when the sons of Israel erred from me, they shall nigh to me, for to minister to me; and they shall stand in my sight, that they offer to me inner fatness and blood, saith the Lord God. (But the levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept, or continued, the ceremonies of my sanctuary, when the Israelites went astray from me, they shall come near me to minister to me; and they shall stand before me, to offer me the inner fatness and the blood, saith the Lord God.)

¹⁶ They shall enter into my saintuary, and they shall nigh to my board, that they minister to me, and keep my ceremonies. (They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, so that they can minister to me, and keep, or conduct, my ceremonies.)

¹⁷ And when they shall enter into the gates of the inner foreyard, they shall be clothed with linen clothes, neither any woolen thing shall go on them, when they minister in the gates of the inner foreyard, and within; (And when they shall enter into the gates of the inner courtyard, they shall be clothed with linen clothes, yea, no woolen thing shall be upon them, when they serve me at the gates of the inner courtyard, and within;)

¹⁸ linen caps, either mitres, shall be in the heads of them, and linen breeches shall be in the loins of them, and they shall not be gird in sweat. (linen caps, or linen mitres, shall be upon their heads, and linen breeches, or linen pants, shall be upon their loins, and so they shall not be covered in sweat.)

¹⁹ And when they shall go out at the outermore foreyard to the people, they shall despoil them(selves) of their clothes in which they ministered, and they shall lay those up in the chamber(s) of the saintuary; and they shall clothe themselves in other clothes, and they shall not hallow my people in their clothes (And when they shall go out to the outer courtyard to the people, they shall remove the clothes in which they ministered, and they shall put them away, or shall leave them, in the rooms of the sanctuary; and so they shall not hallow, or shall not sanctify, my people/and so they shall not harm my people with the clothes in which they ministered.)

²⁰ Forsooth they shall not shave their head[s], neither they shall nurse long hair, but they clipping shall clip their heads.

²¹ And each priest shall not drink wine, when he shall enter into the inner foreyard. (And no priest shall drink wine, before that he shall go into the inner courtyard.)

²² And priests shall not take (for) wives a widow, and a forsaken woman, but virgins of the seed of the house of Israel; but also they shall take a widow, which is the widow of a priest. (And priests shall not take for wives a widow, or an abandoned, or a divorced, woman, but only virgins of the descendants of the house of Israel; and they may also take in marriage a widow, who is the widow of a priest.)

²³ And they shall teach my people, what is betwixt holy thing and defouled; and they shall show to them, what is betwixt clean thing and unclean.

²⁴ And when debate is, they shall stand in my dooms, and shall deem (by) my laws; and they shall keep my commandments in all my solemnities, and they shall hallow my sabbaths. (And when there is debate, or a dispute, they shall stand in my judgements, and shall judge by my laws; and they shall keep my commands for all my solemn feasts, and they shall hallow my sabbaths/and they shall keep my sabbaths holy.)

²⁵ And they shall not enter to a dead man, lest they be defouled; no but to father, and mother, and to son, and daughter, and to brother, and sister that had not an husband, in which they shall be defouled. (And they shall not go to a dead person, lest they be defiled; except for their father, or their mother, or their son, or their daughter, or their brother, or their sister who did not have a husband, only for them shall they be defiled.)

²⁶ And after that he is cleansed, seven days shall be numbered to him. (And then after that he is cleansed, or is purified, he shall count, or shall wait, seven days.)

²⁷ And in the day of his entering into the saintuary, to the inner foreyard, that he minister to me in the saintuary, he shall offer for his sin, saith the Lord God. (And on the day of his entrance into the sanctuary, into the inner courtyard, so that he minister to me in the sanctuary/so that he serve me in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, saith the Lord God.)

²⁸ Forsooth none heritage shall be to them, (for) I am the heritage of them; and ye shall not give to them (a) possession in Israel, for I am the possession of them. (And no inheritance shall be for them, for I am their inheritance; and ye shall not give them a possession, or any parcel of land, in Israel, for I am their possession, or their portion.)

²⁹ They shall eat (the) sacrifice, and (that) for sin, and (that) for trespass, and each avow of Israel shall be theirs.

³⁰ And the first things of all first engendered things, and all moist sacrifices, of all things that be offered, shall be the priests’ part; and ye shall give the first things of your meats to the priest, that he lay up blessing to his house. (And the first things of all the first begotten things, and of all the other things that be offered, shall be the portion for the priests; and ye shall give the first things of your food to the priest, so that a blessing may rest upon thy house.)

³¹ Priests shall not eat anything dead by itself, and taken of a beast, of fowls, and of sheep. (Priests shall not eat anything that dieth naturally, or is killed by a wild beast, neither bird, nor beast.)