1Then he brought me back by way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, the one facing east; and it was shut.
2And Yahweh said to me, “This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter through it, for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has entered through it; therefore it shall remain shut.
3As for the prince, he, being prince, may sit in it to eat bread before Yahweh. He shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and by the same way he shall go out.”
4Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the house, and I looked, and behold, the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh; and I fell on my face.
5And Yahweh said to me, “Son of man, set your heart and see with your eyes and hear with your ears all that I speak to you concerning all the statutes of the house of Yahweh and all its laws; and set your heart to the entrance of the house and to all the exits of the sanctuary.
6And you shall say to the rebellious ones, to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Enough of all your abominations, O house of Israel!
7When you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised of heart and uncircumcised of flesh, to be in my sanctuary, profaning it—my house—when you offered my food, the fat and the blood, and they broke my covenant, in addition to all your abominations.
8You did not keep the charge of my holy things, but you set them as keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.
9Thus says the Lord Yahweh: No foreigner, uncircumcised of heart and uncircumcised of flesh, shall enter my sanctuary—any foreigner who is among the sons of Israel.
10But the Levites who went far from me when Israel went astray, who strayed from me after their idols—they shall bear their guilt.
11Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house and ministering to 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 they ministered to them before their idols and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have lifted my hand against them, declares the Lord Yahweh, and they shall bear their guilt.
13They shall not approach me to serve me as priests, nor approach any of my holy things, the holy of holies; but they shall bear their disgrace and the abominations they have committed.
14But I will appoint them as keepers of the charge of the house, for all its service and for all that is to be done in it.
15But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from me—they shall approach me to minister to me, and they shall stand before me to offer to me the fat and the blood, declares the Lord Yahweh.
16They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall approach my table to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge.
17And when they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen garments; no wool shall come upon them while they minister at the gates of the inner court and inside.
18Linen turbans shall be on their heads, and linen undergarments shall be on their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything that makes sweat.
19And when they go out to the outer court, to the outer court to the people, they shall take off the garments in which they minister and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments, so that they do not consecrate the people with their garments.
20They shall not shave their heads or let their hair grow long; they shall carefully trim their heads.
21No priest shall drink wine when they enter the inner court.
22They shall not take for themselves as wives a widow or a divorced woman, but only virgins of the seed of the house of Israel; but a widow who is the widow of a priest they may take.
23They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and make them know the difference between the unclean and the clean.
24In a dispute they shall stand to judge; according to my judgments they shall judge it. They shall keep my laws and my statutes at all my appointed feasts, and they shall keep my sabbaths holy.
25They shall not go near a dead person to defile themselves; but for a father or mother, for a son or daughter, for a brother, or for a sister who has not belonged to a man, they may defile themselves.
26And after his cleansing, they shall count seven days for him.
27And on the day he enters the holy place, into the inner court to minister in the holy place, he shall offer his sin offering, declares the Lord Yahweh.
28And it shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance. You shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession.
29The grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering—they shall eat them; and everything devoted in Israel shall be theirs.
30And the first of all the firstfruits of every kind, and every contribution of every kind from all your contributions, shall belong to the priests. And you shall give the first of your dough to the priest, to cause a blessing to rest on your house.
31The priests shall not eat any carcass or anything torn, whether of bird or of beast.
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