Text -- Ezekiel 44:1-11 (NET)

The Closed Gate

44:1 Then he brought me back by way of the outer gate of the sanctuary which faces east, but it was shut. 44:2 The Lord said to me: “This gate will be shut; it will not be opened, and no one will enter by it. For the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it will remain shut. 44:3 Only the prince may sit in it to eat a sacrificial meal before the Lord; he will enter by way of the porch of the gate and will go out by the same way.” 44:4 Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple. As I watched, I noticed the glory of the Lord filling the Lord’s temple, and I threw myself face down. 44:5 The Lord said to me: “Son of man, pay attention, watch closely and listen carefully to everything I tell you concerning all the statutes of the Lord’s house and all its laws. Pay attention to the entrances to the temple with all the exits of the sanctuary. 44:6 Say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Enough of all your abominable practices, O house of Israel! 44:7 When you bring foreigners, those uncircumcised in heart and in flesh, into my sanctuary, you desecrate it– even my house– when you offer my food, the fat and the blood. You have broken my covenant by all your abominable practices. 44:8 You have not kept charge of my holy things, but you have assigned foreigners to keep charge of my sanctuary for you. 44:9 This is what the sovereign Lord says: No foreigner, who is uncircumcised in heart and flesh among all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, will enter into my sanctuary. 44:10 “‘But the Levites who went far from me, straying off from me after their idols when Israel went astray, will be responsible for their sin. 44:11 Yet they will be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple, and serving the temple. They will slaughter the burnt offerings and the sacrifices for the people, and they will stand before them to minister to them.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Eze 44:3

¹ tn Heb “to eat bread.”

NET Notes: Eze 44:4

¹ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

NET Notes: Eze 44:5

¹ tn Heb “set your heart” (so also in the latter part of the verse).

² tn Heb “Set your mind, look with your eyes, and with your ears hear.”

³ tc The Syriac, Vulgate, and Targum read the plural. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:618.

NET Notes: Eze 44:6

¹ tc The LXX reads “house of rebellion.”

NET Notes: Eze 44:7

¹ tn Heb “to desecrate.”

² tc The Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions read “you.” The Masoretic text reads “they.”

NET Notes: Eze 44:8

¹ tc Instead of an energic nun (ן), the text may have read a third masculine plural suffix ם (mem), “them,” which was confused with ן (nun) in the old script. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:621.

tn This word is not in the Hebrew text but is supplied from the context.

NET Notes: Eze 44:9

¹ sn Tobiah, an Ammonite (Neh 13:8), was dismissed from the temple.

NET Notes: Eze 44:10

¹ tn Heb “will bear.”