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Chapter 44 |
| 1 | Then he
brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh
toward the east; and it was shut. |
| 2 | Then said the LORD unto me;
This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by
it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it
shall be shut. |
|
3 | It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it
to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that
gate, and shall go out by the way of the same. |
| 4 | Then brought
he me the way of the north gate before the house: and I looked, and, behold,
the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD: and I fell upon my
face. |
| 5 |
And the LORD said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold
with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning
all the ordinances of the house of the LORD, and all the laws thereof; and mark
well the entering in of the house, with every going forth of the
sanctuary. |
| 6
| And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house
of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of
all your abominations, |
| 7 | In that ye have brought into my sanctuary
strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my
sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and
the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your
abominations. |
|
8 | And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things:
but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves. |
| 9 |
Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised
in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the
children of Israel. |
| 10 | And the Levites that are gone away far from
me, when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols;
they shall even bear their iniquity. |
| 11 | Yet they shall be ministers
in my sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house, and ministering to
the house: they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people,
and they shall stand before them to minister unto them. |
| 12 | Because they
ministered unto them before their idols, and caused the house of Israel to fall
into iniquity; therefore have I lifted up mine hand against them, saith the
Lord GOD, and they shall bear their iniquity. |
| 13 | And they
shall not come near unto me, to do the office of a priest unto me, nor 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. |
| 14 | But
I will make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service
thereof, and for all that shall be done therein. |
| 15 | But the
priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary
when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to
minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and
the blood, saith the Lord GOD: |
| 16 | They shall enter into my
sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they
shall keep my charge. |
| 17 | And it shall come to pass, that when they
enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen
garments; and no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the gates
of the inner court, and within. |
| 18 | They shall have linen bonnets
upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall
not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat. |
| 19 | And when
they go forth into the utter court, even into the utter court to the people,
they shall put off their garments wherein they ministered, and lay them in the
holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments; and they shall not
sanctify the people with their garments. |
|
20 | Neither shall they shave
their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their
heads. |
| 21
| Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into
the inner court. |
|
22 | Neither shall they take for their wives a widow,
nor her that is put away: but they shall take maidens of the seed of the house
of Israel, or a widow that had a priest before. |
| 23 | And they
shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause
them to discern between the unclean and the clean. |
| 24 | And in
controversy they shall stand in judgment; and they shall judge it according to
my judgments: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all mine
assemblies; and they shall hallow my sabbaths. |
| 25 | And they
shall come at 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. |
|
26 | And after he is cleansed,
they shall reckon unto him seven days. |
| 27 | And in the day that he goeth
into the sanctuary, unto the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he
shall offer his sin offering, saith the Lord GOD. |
| 28 | And it shall
be unto them for an inheritance: I am their inheritance: and ye shall give them
no possession in Israel: I am their possession. |
| 29 | They shall
eat the meat offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering: and
every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs. |
| 30 | And the
first of all the firstfruits of all things, and every oblation of all, of every
sort of your oblations, shall be the priest's: ye shall also give unto the
priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine
house. |
| 31
| The priests shall not eat of any thing that is dead of
itself, or torn, whether it be fowl or beast. |
