1 Then He brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary which faces toward the east. And it was shut.
2 And Jehovah said to me, This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because Jehovah the God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut.
3 As for the prince, because he is the prince, he may sit in it to eat bread before Jehovah; he shall enter by way of the porch of the gate, and go out the same way.
4 Then He brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the house; and I looked, and behold, the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah; and I fell on my face.
5 And Jehovah said to me, Son of man, mark well, see with your eyes and hear with your ears, all that I say to you concerning all the ordinances of the house of Jehovah and all its laws. Mark well the entrance to the house and all the exits from the sanctuary.
6 And say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord Jehovah: O house of Israel, Enough of all your abominations!
7 When you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My sanctuary to defile it; My house; and when you offered My food, the fat and the blood, then they broke My covenant because of all your abominations.
8 And you have not kept charge of My holy things, but you have set others to keep charge of My sanctuary for you.
9 Thus says the Lord Jehovah: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter My sanctuary, including any son of a foreigner who is among the children of Israel.
10 And the Levites who went far from Me, when Israel went astray, who strayed away from Me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity.
11 Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, as gatekeepers of the house and ministers of the house; they shall slay 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 stumble into iniquity, therefore I have raised My hand and sworn against them, declares the Lord Jehovah; and they shall bear their iniquity.
13 And they shall not come near Me to serve Me as priest, nor come near any of My holy things, nor into the Holy of Holies; but they shall bear their shame and their abominations which they have done.
14 Nevertheless I will make them keep charge of the house, for all its labor, and for all that has to be done in it.
15 But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near Me to serve Me; and they shall stand before Me to offer to Me the fat and the blood, declares the Lord Jehovah.
16 They shall enter My sanctuary, and they shall come near My table to serve Me, and they shall keep My charge.
17 And it shall be, that whenever they enter the gates of the inner court, that they shall put on linen garments; no wool shall come upon them while they minister within the gates of the inner court or within the house.
18 They shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen trousers on their loins; they shall not clothe themselves with anything that causes sweat.
19 And when they go out to the outer court, to the outer court to the people, they shall take off their garments in which they have ministered, leave them in the holy rooms, and put on other garments; and in their own garments they shall not consecrate the people.
20 They shall neither shave their heads nor let their hair grow long; but they shall keep their hair clipped and trimmed.
21 No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court.
22 They shall not take as wife a widow or a divorced woman, but take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, or widows of priests.
23 And they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.
24 And in a dispute they shall stand as judges, and judge it according to My judgments. They shall keep My Laws and My statutes in all My appointed times, and they shall consecrate My Sabbaths.
25 They shall not defile themselves by coming near a dead person. Only for father or mother, for son or daughter, for brother or unmarried sister may they defile themselves.
26 After he is cleansed, they shall count seven days for him.
27 And on the day that he goes to the sanctuary to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering in the inner court, says the Lord Jehovah.
28 It shall be, in regard to their inheritance, that I am their inheritance. You shall give them no possession in Israel, for I am their possession.
29 They shall eat the food offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering; every dedicated thing in Israel shall be theirs.
30 The first of all the firstfruits of all things, and every sacrifice of any kind from all your sacrifices, shall be for the priests; you shall also give to the priest the first of your ground meal, to cause a blessing to rest on your house.
31 The priests shall not eat anything, bird or beast, that died naturally or was torn by wild beasts.