The Gate for the Prince

44 Then he brought me ^(A)back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, ^(B)which faces east. And it was shut. ² And the Lord said to me, “This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for ^(C)the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut. ³ Only ^(D)the prince may sit in it ^(E)to eat bread before the Lord. He ^(F)shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.”

⁴ Then he brought me by way of ^(G)the north gate to the front of the temple, and I looked, and behold, ^(H)the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord. And ^(I)I fell on my face. ⁵ And the Lord said to me, ^(J)“Son of man, mark well, ^(K)see with your eyes, ^(L)and hear with your ears all that I shall tell you concerning ^(M)all the statutes of the temple of the Lord and all its laws. And mark well ^(N)the entrance to the temple and all the exits from the sanctuary. ⁶ And say to ^(O)the rebellious house,^[a] to the ^(P)house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: O house of Israel, ^(Q)enough of all your abominations, ⁷ in ^(R)admitting foreigners, ^(S)uncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary, ^(T)profaning my temple, when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. You^[b] have broken my covenant, in addition to all your abominations. ⁸ And ^(U)you have not kept charge of my holy things, but you have set others to keep my charge for you in my sanctuary.

⁹ “Thus says the Lord God: ^(V)No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, shall enter my sanctuary. ¹⁰ But ^(W)the Levites who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols ^(X)when Israel went astray, ^(Y)shall bear their punishment.^{[c] 11} They shall be ^(Z)ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight ^(AA)at the gates of the temple and ministering in the temple. They shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and ^(AB)they shall stand before the people, to minister to them. ¹² Because they ministered to them before their idols and became ^(AC)a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have ^(AD)sworn concerning them, declares the Lord God, and they shall bear their punishment. ¹³ They ^(AE)shall not come near to me, to serve me as priest, nor come near any of my holy things and the things that are most holy, but ^(AF)they shall bear their shame and the abominations that they have committed. ¹⁴ Yet I will appoint them to keep ^(AG)charge of the temple, ^(AH)to do all its service and all that is to be done in it.

Rules for Levitical Priests

¹⁵ “But ^(AI)the Levitical priests, ^(AJ)the sons of Zadok, who kept ^(AK)the charge of my sanctuary ^(AL)when the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me ^(AM)to minister to me. And they shall stand before me to offer me ^(AN)the fat and the blood, declares the Lord God. ¹⁶ They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall approach ^(AO)my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge.

^23 (A)They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and ^(B)show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. ^24 (C)In a dispute, they shall act as judges, and they shall judge it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts, and ^(D)they shall keep my Sabbaths holy. ^25 (E)They shall not defile themselves by going near to a dead person. However, for father or mother, for son or daughter, for brother or unmarried sister they may defile themselves. ^26 (F)After he^[a] has become clean, they shall count seven days for him. ²⁷ And on the day that he goes into the Holy Place, ^(G)into the inner court, to minister in the Holy Place, ^(H)he shall offer his sin offering, declares the Lord God.

^28 (I)“This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance: and ^(J)you shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession. ^29 (K)They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and ^(L)every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs.