Ezequiel 44

¹ Then he brought me towarde the gate of the outwarde Sanctuarie, which turneth towarde the East, and it was shut.

² Then said the LORD to me; This gate shall beMeaning, from the common people, but not from the priests nor the prince, read (Eze_46:8-9).shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.

³ It appertaineth to the Prince: the Prince himselfe shall sit in it to eate bread before the Lorde: he shall enter by the way of the porche of that gate, & shal go out by the way of the same.

⁴ Then brought he mee toward the North gate before the House: and when I looked, beholde, the glorie of the Lorde filled the house of the Lorde, and I fell vpon my face.

⁵ And the Lord sayd vnto me, Sonne of man, marke wel, & behold with thine eyes, & heare with thine eares, all that I say vnto thee, concerning al the ordinances of the house of the Lord, & al the lawes thereof, & marke well the entring in of the house with euery going forth of the Sanctuarie,

⁶ And thou shalt say to the rebellious, euen to ye house of Israel, Thus saith ye Lord God, O house of Israel, ye haue ynough of al your abominatios,

⁷ In that ye have brought [into my sanctuary]For they had brought idolaters who were from other countries, to teach them their idolatry, (Eze_23:40).strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, [even] my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations.

⁸ And ye have not kept theYou have not offered to me according to my Law.charge of my holy things: but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.

⁹ Thus saieth the Lord God, No stranger vncircumcised in heart, nor vncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my Sanctuarie, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel,

¹⁰ And theThe Levites who had committed idolatry were put from their dignity and could not be received into the priests office although they had been of the house of Aaron, but must serve in the inferior offices as to watch and to keep the doors, read (2Ki_23:9).Levites that have gone away far from me, when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols; they shall even bear their iniquity.

¹¹ And they shall serue in my Sanctuarie, and keepe the gates of the House, and minister in the House: they shall slay the burnt offring and the sacrifice for the people: and they shall stand before them to serue them.

¹² Because they serued before their idoles, & caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquitie, therfore haue I lift vp mine had against the, saith the Lord God, and they shal beare their iniquity,

¹³ And they shal not come neere vnto me to do ye office of ye Priest vnto me, neyther shal they come neere vnto any of mine holy things in the most holy place, but they shall beare their shame & their abominatios, which they haue comitted.

¹⁴ And I will make them keepers of ye watch of the House, for all the seruice thereof, and for all that shalbe done therein.

¹⁵ But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, thatWho observed the law of God and did not fall to idolatry.kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister to me, and they shall stand before me to offer to me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD:

¹⁶ They shall enter into my Sanctuarie, and shall come neere to my table, to serue me, and they shall keepe my charge.

¹⁷ And whe they shal enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments, & no wool shall come vpon the while they serue in ye gates of the inner court, & within.

¹⁸ They shall haue linnen bonets vpon their heades, and shall haue linnen breeches vpon their loynes: they shall not girde them selues in the sweating places.

¹⁹ But when they goe foorth into the vtter court, euen to the vtter court to the people, they shall put off their garments, wherein they ministred, and lay them in the holy chambers, & they shall put on other garments: for they shall not sanctifie the people with their garments.

²⁰ Neither shall theyAs did the infidels and heathen.shave their heads, nor allow their locks to grow long; they shall only cut [the hair of] their heads.

²¹ Neither shall any Priest drinke wine when they enter into the inner court.

²² Neither shall they take for their wiues a widowe, or her that is diuorced: but they shall take maidens of the seede of the house of Israel, or a widow that hath bene the widow of a Priest.

²³ And they shal teach my people the differece betweene the holy and prophane, & cause them to discerne betweene the vncleane & the cleane.

²⁴ And in controuersie they shall stande to iudge, and they shall iudge it according to my iudgements: and they shall keepe my lawes and my statutes in all mine assemblies, and they shall sanctifie my Sabbaths.

²⁵ And they shall come near no dead person to defile themselves: but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister that hath had no husband, they mayThey may be at their burial which was a defiling.defile themselves.

²⁶ And when he is clensed, they shall reckon vnto him seuen dayes.

²⁷ And when he goeth into ye Sanctuarie vnto the inner court to minister in the Sanctuarie, he shall offer his sinne offring, saith ye Lord God.

²⁸ And the Priesthood shall bee their inheritance, yea, I am their inheritance: therefore shall ye giue them no possessio in Israel, for I am their possession.

²⁹ They shall eate the meat offring, and the sinne offring, and the trespas offring, and euery dedicate thing in Israel shal be theirs.

³⁰ And all the first of all the first borne, & euery oblation, euen all of euery sort of your oblations shall be the Priestes. Ye shal also giue vnto the Priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine house.

³¹ The Priests shal not eate of any thing, that is dead, or torne, whether it be foule or beast.