The Closed Gate

44 Then he brought me back by way of the outer gate of the sanctuary that faces east, but it was shut. ² The Lord said to me: “This gate will be shut; it will not be opened, and no one will enter by it. For the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it will remain shut. ³ Only the prince may sit in it to eat a sacrificial meal^[a] before the Lord; he will enter by way of the porch of the gate and will go out by the same way.”