以西結書 第 44 章

And he brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary that looks eastward; and it was shut.

And the Lord said to me: This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall pass through it, because the Lord God of Israel shall enter by it; and it shall be shut.

For the ruler, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the Lord; he shall enter by the way of the ailam of the gate, and by the same way he shall go out.

And he brought me by the way of the gate toward the north, over against the house; and I looked, and behold, the house of the Lord was full of glory. And I fall upon my face.

And the Lord said to me: Son of man, set it in your heart and see with your eyes and hear with your ears all that I speak with you, according to all the ordinances of the house of the Lord and according to all its statutes; and set your heart upon the entrance of the house, according to all its exits, in all the holy places.

And you shall say to the rebellious house, to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: Let it suffice you, of all your lawless deeds, O house of Israel,

in that you brought in sons of foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary; and they profaned it when you offered bread, fat and blood; and you transgressed my covenant by all your lawless deeds.

And you appointed people to keep the charges in my sanctuary.

Therefore thus says the Lord God: No son of a foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, among all the sons of foreigners who are in the midst of the house of Israel,

but only the Levites, who departed from me when Israel went astray from me after their own devices; and they shall bear their iniquity.

And they shall be in my sanctuary, ministering as gatekeepers at the gates of the house and ministering to the house; these shall slay the whole burnt offerings and the sacrifices for the people, and these shall stand before the people to minister to them.

Because they ministered to them before their idols, and it became to the house of Israel a punishment of iniquity; therefore I lifted up my hand against them, says the Lord God.

And they shall not draw near to me to serve me as priests, nor come near to the holy things of the sons of Israel, nor to my most holy things; and they shall bear their dishonour, in the error by which they went astray.

And they shall appoint them to keep the charges of the house, for all its service and for all that is to be done in it.

But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Sadduk, who kept the charges of my sanctuary when the house of Israel went astray from me, these shall draw near to me to minister to me, and they shall stand before me to offer me sacrifice, fat and blood, says the Lord God.

These shall enter into my sanctuary, and these shall come near to my table to minister to me, and they shall keep my charges.

And it shall be, when they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall put on linen robes; and they shall not put on wool when they minister from the gate of the inner court.

And they shall have linen turbans upon their heads, and they shall have linen breeches upon their loins; and they shall not gird themselves with force.

And when they go out into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their robes in which they minister, and lay them in the chambers of the sanctuary, and put on other robes; and they shall not sanctify the people with their robes.

And they shall not shave their heads, nor shall they make their locks bare; they shall surely cover their heads.

And no priest shall drink wine when they enter the inner court.

And they shall not take for themselves as a wife a widow or a woman that has been put away, but only a virgin of the seed of Israel; and if there be a widow of a priest, they may take her.

And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the profane, and shall make known to them the difference between the unclean and the clean.

And in a judgment of blood these shall stand to judge; they shall give judgment by my ordinances, and shall judge my judgments; and they shall keep my statutes and my ordinances in all my feasts, and they shall sanctify my sabbaths.

And they shall not go in to a dead person, to be defiled; but only for a father or for a mother or for a son or for a daughter or for a brother, or for his sister who has not belonged to a man; for her he may be defiled.

And after he has been cleansed, he shall count for himself seven days.

And on the day when they enter the inner court to minister in the sanctuary, they shall offer a propitiation, says the Lord God.

And it shall be to them for an inheritance: I am their inheritance; and no possession shall be given them among the sons of Israel, for I am their possession.

The offerings and the offerings for sin and the offerings for ignorance, these they shall eat; and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs.

The firstfruits of all things and the firstborn of all things and all the separated portions, out of all your firstfruits, shall be the priests'; and you shall give your first produce to the priest, that he may lay a blessing upon your houses.

And the priests shall not eat anything that dies of itself or is torn by beasts, whether of birds or of cattle.