Ezekiel 44:1-29

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 ¹  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 ²  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, ³  watch closely and listen carefully to ⁴  everything I tell you concerning all the statutes of the Lord’s house and all its laws. Pay attention to the entrances ⁵  to the temple with all the exits of the sanctuary. 44:6 Say to the rebellious, ⁶  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 ⁷  it – even my house – when you offer my food, the fat and the blood. You ⁸  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 ⁹  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. ¹⁰ 

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 ¹¹  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. 44:12 Because they used to minister to them before their idols, and became a sinful obstacle ¹²  to the house of Israel, consequently I have made a vow ¹³  concerning them, declares the sovereign Lord, that they will be responsible ¹⁴  for their sin. 44:13 They will not come near me to serve me as priest, nor will they come near any of my holy things, the things which are most sacred. They will bear the shame of the abominable deeds they have committed. 44:14 Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the temple, all of its service and all that will be done in it.

The Levitical Priests

44:15 “‘But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok ¹⁵  who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, will approach me to minister to me; they will stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the sovereign Lord. 44:16 They will enter my sanctuary, and approach my table to minister to me; they will keep my charge.

44:17 “‘When they enter the gates of the inner court, they must wear linen garments; they must not have any wool on them when they minister in the inner gates of the court and in the temple. 44:18 Linen turbans will be on their heads and linen undergarments will be around their waists; they must not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat. 44:19 When they go out to the outer court to the people, they must remove the garments they were ministering in, and place them in the holy chambers; they must put on other garments so that they will not transmit holiness to the people with their garments. ¹⁶ 

44:20 “‘They must not shave their heads ¹⁷  nor let their hair grow long; ¹⁸  they must only trim their heads. 44:21 No priest may drink wine when he enters the inner court. 44:22 They must not marry a widow or a divorcee, but they may marry a virgin from the house of Israel ¹⁹  or a widow who is a priest’s widow. 44:23 Moreover, they will teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the ceremonially unclean and the clean. ²⁰ 

44:24 “‘In a controversy they will act as judges; ²¹  they will judge according to my ordinances. They will keep my laws and my statutes regarding all my appointed festivals and will observe ²²  my Sabbaths.

44:25 “‘They must not come near a dead person or they will be defiled; ²³  however, for father, mother, son, daughter, brother or sister, they may defile themselves. 44:26 After a priest ²⁴  has become ceremonially clean, they ²⁵  must count off a period of seven days for him. 44:27 On the day he enters the sanctuary, into the inner court to serve in the sanctuary, he must offer his sin offering, declares the sovereign Lord.

44:28 “‘This will be their inheritance: I am their inheritance, and you must give them no property in Israel; I am their property. ²⁶  44:29 They may eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and every devoted thing in Israel will be theirs.

[44:3]  ¹ tn Heb “to eat bread.”

[44:4]  ² tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[44:5]  ³ tn Heb “set your heart” (so also in the latter part of the verse).

[44:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “Set your mind, look with your eyes, and with your ears hear.”

[44:5]  ⁵ tc The Syriac, Vulgate, and Targum read the plural. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:618.

[44:6]  ⁶ tc The LXX reads “house of rebellion.”

[44:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “to desecrate.”

[44:7]  ⁸ tc The Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions read “you.” The Masoretic text reads “they.”

[44:8]  ⁹ 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.

[44:9]  ¹⁰ sn Tobiah, an Ammonite (Neh 13:8), was dismissed from the temple.

[44:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “will bear.”

[44:12]  ¹² tn Heb “a stumbling block of iniquity.” This is a unique phrase of the prophet Ezekiel (cf. also Ezek 7:19; 14:3, 4, 7; 18:30).

[44:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”

[44:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “will bear.”

[44:15]  ¹⁵ sn Zadok was a descendant of Aaron through Eleazar (1 Chr 6:50-53), who served as a priest during David’s reign (2 Sam 8:17).

[44:19]  ¹⁶ sn For a similar concept of the transmitting of holiness, see Exod 19:12-14; Lev 10:1-2; 2 Sam 6:7. Similar laws concerning the priest are found in Lev 10 and 21.

[44:20]  ¹⁷ sn The shaving of the head was associated with mourning (Ezek 7:18).

[44:20]  ¹⁸ sn Letting the hair grow was associated with the taking of a vow (Num 6:5; Acts 21:23-26).

[44:22]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “from the offspring of the house of Israel.”

[44:23]  ²⁰ sn This task was a fundamental role of the priest (Lev 10:10).

[44:24]  ²¹ sn For a historical illustration of the priest carrying out this function, see 2 Chr 19:9-11.

[44:24]  ²² tn Heb “sanctify, set apart.”

[44:25]  ²³ sn This law was part of the legal code for priests (Lev 21:1-3).

[44:26]  ²⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the priest) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[44:26]  ²⁵ tc One medieval Hebrew ms, the LXX, and the Syriac along with Lev 15:13, 28 read the verb as singular.

[44:28]  ²⁶ sn See Num 18:20; Deut 10:9; 18:2; Josh 13:33; 18:7.