The East Gate Assigned to the Prince

1And He brought me back the way of the gate of the outer sanctuary that faced east, and it was shut. 2And YHWH said to me: “This gate will be kept shut; it shall not be opened, and no man will enter by it, because YHWH, God of Israel has entered by it; and it will be kept shut. 3The prince—the prince himself—he may sit in it to eat bread before YHWH; by way of the portico of the gateway he will enter, and by its way he will go out.”

4And He brought me by way of the north gate toward the face of the temple. And I looked, and behold, the glory of YHWH filled the house of YHWH, and I fell on my face. 5And YHWH said to me: “Son of man, set your heart, and see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I am saying to you concerning all the statutes of the house of YHWH, and concerning all its laws; and set your heart concerning those entering the house and all those going out of the sanctuary.

Reproof of the Levites

6And say to the rebellious one, to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord YHWH: ‘Enough for you⁺ from all your⁺ abominations, O house of Israel— 7your⁺ bringing in the sons of a foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary, to defile My house in your⁺ offering My food, the fat and the blood. And they have broken My covenant because of all your⁺ abominations. 8And you⁺ have not kept guard over My holy things, and you⁺ set them to keep guard over My sanctuary for you⁺!’

9Thus says the Lord YHWH: Any son of a foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, will not come into My sanctuary—any son of a foreigner who is among the sons of Israel.

10Oh how the Levites who went far from Me in the straying of Israel, who went astray from Me after their idols, will indeed bear their iniquity! 11And they shall be in My sanctuary, ministering as attendants at the gates of the house, and ministering in the house; they shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them.

12Because that they ministered to them before their idols, and they became for the house of Israel a stumbling block of iniquity, upon thus I have lifted My hand concerning them, a declaration of the Lord YHWH, that they shall bear their iniquity. 13And they will not come near to Me to minister as priest to Me, or come near to any of My holy things, to the holies of the holies,† and they shall bear their shame and their abominations which they have done. 14And I will give them to keep charge of the temple, for all its service and for all that is done in it.

The Duties of the Priests

15And the Levite priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept guard over My sanctuary in the wandering away of the sons of Israel from Me, they will come near to Me to minister to Me, and they will stand before Me to offer to Me the fat and the blood, a declaration of the Lord YHWH. 16They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to My table to minister to Me, and they shall keep My charge.

17And it will come to pass, in their going into the gates of the inner court, that they will put on garments of linen and no wool will come up upon them in their ministering within the gates of the inner court, and within it. 18Turbans of linen will be on their heads, and undergarments of linen will be on their bodies; they will not gird themselves with sweat.

19And in their going out to the outer court, to the outer court unto the people, they shall take off their garments which they have ministered in them, and they shall leave them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments, so that they do not sanctify the people with their garments.

20And their head, they shall not shave it; their hair they shall not grow long; they must carefully trim their heads. 21And no priest shall drink any wine in their coming into the inner court. 22And a widow or a divorced woman they shall not take to themselves as wife, but only virgins from the seed of the house of Israel, or the widow who is a widow of a priest, they may take. 23And they will teach My people between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean they shall make them know.

24And in a dispute they will stand in judgment; according to My ordinances they shall judge it, and My laws and My statutes in all My appointed feasts they shall keep, and My Sabbaths they shall sanctify.

25And unto a dead person they shall not come to defile themselves, but only for a father or for a mother, for a son or for a daughter, or for a brother or for a sister who has not been unto a man, may they defile themselves. 26And after he is cleansed, they shall count for him seven days. 27And on the day of his coming into the sanctuary, into the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he must offer his sin offering, a declaration of the Lord YHWH.

28And it shall be unto them for an inheritance: I am their inheritance. You⁺ shall give to them no possession in Israel; I am their possession.

29The grain offering, and the sin offering, and the guilt offering they shall eat, and every devoted thing in Israel shall be unto them. 30And the first of all the firstfruits of all things, and every sacrifice of all things from all your⁺ sacrifices, it will be unto the priests. And the first of your⁺ dough you⁺ shall give to the priest, to cause to rest a blessing on your house. 31Every carcass and torn thing from the bird or from the beast, the priests shall not eat.