Ezekiel:44

---

Seeker Overlay ON

* Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary , which looketh toward the east ; and it was shut . * Then said Jehovah to me : This gate shall be shut ; it shall not be opened , and no man shall enter in by it ; because Jehovah , the God of Israel , entered in by it , therefore it shall be shut . * The prince , because he is prince , shall sit in it , to eat food before Jehovah ; he shall enter through the porch of that gate , and by the same way shall he go out . * Then he brought me to the north gate before the house ; and I looked , and behold , the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah . And I fell upon my face . * And Jehovah said to me : Son of man , mark well , and behold with thine eyes , and hear with thine ears all that I say to thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of Jehovah , and all the laws thereof ; and mark well all the entrances of the house , and all the outward passages of the sanctuary . * And say to the rebellious house of Israel , Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : Let it suffice you of all your abominations , O house of Israel , * in that ye brought strangers , uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh , to be in my sanctuary , so that ye polluted my house when ye offered my food , the fat and the blood , and broke my covenant by all your abominations . * And ye kept not the charge of my holy place , but appointed for yourselves such keepers of my charge in my sanctuary . * Thus saith the Lord Jehovah : No stranger , uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh , shall enter into my sanctuary , of all the strangers that are among the sons of Israel . * But even the Levites , who departed from me when Israel went astray , who went astray from me after their idols , shall bear their iniquity . * Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary , having charge at the gates of the house , and ministering at the house ; they shall slay the burnt –offering and sacrifice for the people , and they shall stand before them to minister to them . * Because they ministered to them before their idols , and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity , therefore have I lifted up my hand against them , saith the Lord Jehovah , that they shall bear their iniquity . * And they shall not come near to me to do the office of a priest to me , and to come near to any of my holy things in the most holy place , but they shall bear their shame , and their abominations which they have committed . * But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house , for all the service thereof , and for all which is to be done therein . * But the priests , the Levites , the sons of Zadok , that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the sons 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 Jehovah . * They shall come into my sanctuary , and they shall draw near to my table to minister to me , and shall keep my charge . * And when they enter the gates of the inner court , they shall be clothed with linen garments , and no wool shall come upon them while they minister in the gates of the inner court , and within the house . * They shall have linen coverings upon their heads , and linen breeches upon their loins ; they shall not gird themselves with anything that causeth sweat . * And when they go forth into the outer court , even into the outer court to the people , they shall put off their garments in which they ministered , and lay them in the holy rooms , and shall clothe themselves with other garments , that they may not sanctify the people with their garments . * They shall neither shave their heads , nor suffer their locks to grow long ; they shall shear their heads . * And no priest shall drink wine when they enter into the inner court . * Neither shall they take for their wives a widow , or her that is put away ; but they shall take virgins of the race of the house of Israel , or a widow that is the widow of a priest . * And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and unholy , and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean . * And in controversy they shall stand to judge ; according to my statutes shall they judge . And they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my festivals , and they shall hallow my sabbaths . * And they shall come to 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 may defile themselves . * And after his cleansing they shall reckon to him seven days . * And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary , into the inner court , to minister in the sanctuary , he shall offer his sin –offering , saith the Lord Jehovah . * And it shall be to them for an inheritance , that I am their inheritance . And ye shall give them no possession in Israel ; I am their possession . * They shall eat the flour –offering , and the sin –offering , and the trespass –offering ; and every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs . * And the first of all the first –fruits , and every oblation of all your oblations , shall belong to the priests . Ye shall also give to the priest the first of your meal , that he may cause a blessing to rest on thine house . * The priests shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself , or that is torn , whether it be fowl or beast .

---