| 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. |
