The East Gate and the Prince
1 Then He brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuarywhich faces toward the east, but itwasshut.
2 And theLordsaid to me, “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it,because theLordGod of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut.
3 Asfortheprince,becauseheisthe prince, he may sit in it toeat bread before theLord; he shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gateway, and go out the same way.”
Those Admitted to the Temple
4 Also He brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple; so I looked, andbehold, the glory of theLordfilled the house of theLord;and I fell on my face.
5 And theLordsaid to me,“Son of man, mark well, see with your eyes and hear with your ears, all that I say to you concerning all theordinances of the house of theLordand all its laws. Mark well who may enter the house and all who go out from the sanctuary.
6 “Now say to therebellious, to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the LordGod: “O house of Israel,let Us have no more of all your abominations.
7 When you brought inforeigners,uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to defile it—My house—and when you offeredMy food,the fat and the blood, then they broke My covenant because of all your abominations.
8 And you have notkept charge of My holy things, but you have setothersto keep charge of My sanctuary for you.”
9 Thus says the LordGod:“No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter My sanctuary, including any foreigner whoisamong the children of Israel.
Laws Governing Priests
10 “And the Levites who went far from Me, when Israel went astray, who strayed away from Me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity.
11 Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary,asgatekeepers of the house and ministers of the house;they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, andthey shall stand before them to minister to them.
12 Because they ministered to them before their idols andcaused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity, therefore I haveraised My hand in an oath against them,” says the LordGod, “that they shall bear their iniquity.
13 And they shall not come near Me to minister to Me as priest, nor come near any of My holy things, nor into the Most HolyPlace;but they shallbear their shame and their abominations which they have committed.
14 Nevertheless I will make themkeep charge of the temple, for all its work, and for all that has to be done in it.
15 “But the priests, the Levites,the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuarywhen the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near Me to minister to Me; and theyshall stand before Me to offer to Me thefat and the blood,” says the LordGod.
16 “They shallenter My sanctuary, and they shall come nearMy table to minister to Me, and they shall keep My charge.
17 And it shall be, whenever they enter the gates of the inner court, thatthey shall put on linen garments; no wool shall come upon them while they minister within the gates of the inner court or within the house.
18 They shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen trousers on their bodies; they shall not clothe themselves withanythingthatcausessweat.
19 When they go out to the outer court, to the outer court to the people,they shall take off their garments in which they have ministered, leave them in the holy chambers, and put on other garments; and in their holy garments they shallnot sanctify the people.
20 “They shall neither shave their heads nor let their hair growlong, but they shall keep their hair well trimmed.
21 No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court.
22 They shall not take as wife awidow or a divorced woman, but take virgins of the descendants of the house of Israel, or widows of priests.
23 “Andthey shall teach My peoplethedifferencebetween the holy and the unholy, and cause them todiscern between the unclean and the clean.
24 In controversy they shall stand as judges,andjudge it according to My judgments. They shall keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed meetings,and they shall hallow My Sabbaths.
25 “They shall not defilethemselvesby coming near a dead person. Only for father or mother, for son or daughter, for brother or unmarried sister may they defile themselves.
26 After he is cleansed, they shall count seven days for him.
27 And on the day that he goes to the sanctuary to minister in the sanctuary,he must offer his sin offeringin the inner court,” says the LordGod.
28 “It shall be, in regard to their inheritance,thatIamtheir inheritance. You shall give them nopossession in Israel, for Iamtheir possession.
29 They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering;every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs.
30 Thebest of all firstfruits of any kind, and every sacrifice of any kind from all your sacrifices, shall be the priest’s; also youshall give to the priest the first of your ground meal,to cause a blessing to rest on your house.
31 The priests shall not eat anything, bird or beast, thatdied naturally or was tornbywildbeasts.