 1 He brought me back by the way of the gate of the outer sanctuary that looks eastward and it was shut. 2 The Lord said to me, This gate shall be shut. It shall not be opened and no one shall enter in by it. Because the Lord the God of Israel has entered in by it. Therefore it shall be shut. 3 It is for the ruler. The ruler will sit in it to eat bread before the Lord. He will enter by the way of the porch of that gate and go out by the same way. 4 He brought me by the way of the north gate before the house. I looked and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. Then I fell on my face. 5 The Lord said to me, Son of man, note carefully: see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I say to you concerning all the ordinances of the house of the Lord, and all its laws. And set your heart to the entrance of the house, with all the exits of the sanctuary. 6 You shall say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: O house of Israel, let it be more than enough for you, of all your hateful deeds. 7 You have brought strangers, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh to be in my sanctuary to profane it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat, and the blood. They have broken my covenant because of all your abominations. 8 You have not kept the charge of my holy things, but you have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for themselves. 9 Thus says the Lord God: No son of an alien, uncircumcised of heart and uncircumcised of flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, or any son of an alien among the children of Israel. 10 But the Levites who have gone far away from me, when Israel went astray. Those who went astray from me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity. 11 Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, overseers at the gates of the house and ministering to the house. They shall kill the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people and they shall stand before them to minister to them. 12 Because they ministered to them before their idols, and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity, therefore I have lifted up my hand against them, says the Lord God, and they shall bear their iniquity. 13 They shall not come near me, to do the office of a priest to me, nor to come near any of my holy things, in the most holy place. But they shall bear their shame and their abominations that they have committed. 14 But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house for all its service and for all that shall be done in it. 15 But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near me to minister to me, and they shall stand before me to offer to me the fat and the blood, says the Lord God. 16 They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall come near my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge. 17 When they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with bleached linen clothing. And no wool shall come on them while they serve in the gates of the inner court, and inside. 18 They shall have linen headbands on their heads and linen pants+. They shall not wear anything that causes sweat. 19 When they go out into the outer court, even into the outer court of the people, they shall put off their clothes in which they ministered and lay them in the holy chambers. They shall put on other clothes so that they shall not sanctify the people with their own clothes. 20 Nor shall they shave their heads or allow their hair to grow long. They shall only trim their heads. 21 Every priest shall not drink wine when they enter the inner court. 22 Nor shall they take for their wives a widow nor one who was put away. But they shall take virgins of the descendants of the house of Israel or a widow who had a priest before. 23 They shall teach my people to discern between the holy and common and between the unclean and the clean. 24 In a dispute they shall stand in judgment. They shall judge it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my assemblies and they shall keep my Sabbaths holy. 25 They shall not come near any dead person to defile themselves, But they may defile themselves for their father or mother or son or daughter or brother or sister who has had no husband. 26 After they are cleansed, they shall count seven days for them. 27 In the day that they go into the sanctuary to the inner court to minister in the sanctuary, they shall offer their sin offering, says the Lord God. 28 It will be to them an inheritance. I am their inheritance. You shall give them no possession in Israel. I am their possession. 29 They shall eat the food offering and the sin offering and the guilt offering. Every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs. 30 The first of all the firstfruits of everything and every offering of every one of your sacrifices shall be the priest's. You shall also give the priest the first of your dough so that he may cause the blessing to rest in your house. 31 The priests shall not eat of anything that died of itself or is torn, whether bird or animal.
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